Tour-Based Network Design and Demand Forecasting for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)

Abstract

Verbatim from Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons. Not paraphrased, not summarized.

Tour-Based Network Design and Demand Forecasting for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Mohammed Almasabi, Dr. Yu Zhang, & Sasan Mahmoudinazlou Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) has emerged as an alternative urban transportation with a promising feature that bypasses congestion with an environmentally friendly, safe, quiet, and on-demand eVTOL fleet. Our research focuses on the demand for AAM and its influencing factors, using a tour-based demand model to better understand urban travel patterns. This approach is superior to trip-based models as it captures the connectivity of trips within a tour for more accurate transportation forecasting. Our study utilizes Integer Programming (IP) to design and anticipate the AAM network and demand with an optimization objective to minimize the general cost for travelers, a well-known strategy in transportation planning. By focusing on travelers' complete tours, our model offers a more realistic representation of actual travel experiences. Inspired by the work of Wu & Zhang (2021), we further enhance the hub-and-spoke network design for AAM, in the Tampa Bay Area. The results indicate promising demand for the emerging AAM mode, with 1,407 tours switched to AAM creating 2814 daily trip demand across 40 vertiports and representing 0.79% of candidates tours; however, user demand is highly sensitive to transfer times and delay time. Moreover, users prefer short access/egress times and distances, and driving is preferred for access/egress outbound trips and transit is a popular choice for inbound access/egress. The scenario where transit with adding reasonable waiting times shows a slight impact on overall demand but changes mode choices for access and egress, increasing dependency on driving and hired services. Notably, work commutes dominate AAM's purpose. Overall, the findings suggest that AAM’s success depends on vertiport placement that enhances accessibility, and the need for strategic and comprehensive planning to create efficient and competitive transportation alternatives.

Author

• Almasabi, Mohammed Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Keywords

• Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)
• Access/Egress
• Vertiport
• Advanced Air Mobility