Advanced and Urban Air Mobility (AAM/UAM) Tech Talk with Biruk Abraham

Learn more about Biruk and our other speakers HERE.

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) include manned and unmanned, highly autonomous, and pilot-supervised aircraft of varying size and mission operating safely and responsibly in the National Airspace System (NAS). These can include both electric and hybrid aircraft. While in its infancy today, advances in electric propulsion and control systems, computer systems, sensors, precision position and navigation information, and other technology are facilitating the development and operation of these new air vehicles. These new operations must meet the required standards to safely operate in the NAS in terms of the overall integrity of the vehicle and its adherence to the rules in a given airspace. 

Beyond new air vehicles, advanced air mobility requires a vastly more capable flight environment. Gaps exist between today’s NAS and what the community envisions. Tying together air vehicles, airspace, navigation, surveillance, communications, information, and infrastructure is a challenge the FAA and industry must tackle together. So, where do we begin and how do we coordinate the process, given innumerable system interdependencies and needs of different stakeholders?

The basis on this talk will center on how the FAA is collaborating with industry and NASA on many aspects of UAM. In particular how these air vehicles will likely operate with increasing degree of automation in a performance-based ATM environment. Whether through delivery of goods in urban environments, linking rural areas to population centers through passenger and cargo aviation, or an entirely new methods of passenger travel within a metropolis and its surrounding areas, these modes of transportation can make aviation a part of daily life.