Utilising real-flight demonstration to improve urban air mobility

Overview

As urban air mobility (UAM) becomes more commonplace within airspaces across Europe, rules and regulations must be developed in order to ensure safe deployment.

Many UAM vehicles will be automated without a pilot present, and will share the same airspace as traditional, manned aircraft. These UAM solutions are expected to impact freight, emergency, security and mobility services, and will require collaboration between different industries to ensure smooth and efficient delivery.

The EU-funded AMU-LED project was a collaborative project composed of all relevant stakeholders affected by UAM development, including operators, regulators, traffic management and end users, as well as public and airborne industries. It was framed within the SESAR Joint Undertaking.

AMU-LED sought to design and deliver a concept of UAM operations, developing new rules and regulations that could be implemented into mixed traffic environments. This involved defining the specifics of urban air missions and verifying them through simulations and real-flight demonstrations. The project ran for over two years and concluded in February 2023.

ANRA Technologies is a provider of airspace and mission management solutions. It was one of the key contributors to the AMU-LED consortium, providing software to support simulated and live vehicle demonstrations across Europe.

Approaching Horizon Europe for new opportunities

Before becoming involved with Horizon Europe and AMU-LED, ANRA Technologies first approached UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Innovate UK to scope out potential projects.

“We approached UKRI and explained which areas we would like to work in,” said Ajay Modha, Business Unit Head at ANRA Technologies UK. “We had a conversation and they pointed us to webinars they were hosting and different potential opportunities.”

Horizon Europe offered the tools to help ANRA Technologies find a suitable consortium. “You can share your information with all other organisations registered on the system, so there are tons of networking routes if you’re looking for new partners or have ideas that you want to take to the next stage,” explained Ajay.

“It’s pretty straightforward because they have all the rules, guidelines and templates that inform you on what you need to provide.” This included guidance from Innovate UK on how to write a winning proposal, for example.

“That kind of support is really important,” added Ajay.

Overall, the ANRA Technologies team found value in working with Horizon Europe and hope to be involved with future projects. “It’s added considerable value to our roadmap because we’ve learned things we didn’t know previously. Working with different users across different organisations in Europe has allowed us to fill in the gaps of our puzzle,” said Ajay.

“Our engineers who worked with different European partners as part of AMU-LED have learned so much and upskilled considerably. Their careers have been enriched as part of the Horizon Europe programme and we’ve seen growth in the UK and on the continent.”

About the funding

This project is set to run until the end of May 2026 and is being funded by Horizon Europe with the allocated budget of €12M (including an EU contribution of €6.9M). This project aims to develop procedures and systems that enable the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) accommodation in all types of airspace with a focus on the vertiports operations.

Call Topic: HORIZON-SESAR-2022-DES-IR-01-WA4-1 – Fast Track Innovation and Uptake U-space and Urban Air Mobility

Project Coordinator: Eurocontrol – European Organisation for The Safety of Air Navigation, Belgium

To find out more, visit ANRA Technologies website.

You can also visit the Horizon Europe website at the link below for more information.

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