A Metrics-based Method for Evaluating Corridors for Urban Air Mobility Operations

Evaluating a potential air corridor is an essential step in the planning and organization of urban air mobility operations. Metrics typically used for this purpose are evaluated by simulation and optimization, which can be time and resource consuming. We propose to explore metrics to evaluate urban air corridor design that (1) are based on traffic data, and (2) provide temporal and spatial (i.e. multi-objective) purpose-specific insights, without the need for simulation. The metrics will account for different stakeholder interests, such as, safety from legacy traffic and environmental impacts, in the evaluation of the corridor designs. For this study, the corridor is described as a rectangular cuboid composed of several smaller cuboids based on the vertical and lateral distance thresholds derived from FAA regulations. Aircraft time within a cuboid, the number of aircraft within the cuboid within a certain period and location slices of the corridor are used to evaluate the proposed air corridors. The paper also discusses methods for choosing the best corridors from a given set as well as the best corridor for a given region. The methodology is demonstrated with a case study based on air traffic data within 150 miles of Edwards Air Force Base in Los Angeles, California. Experiments show that the proposed metrics can help stakeholders gain both spatial and temporal insights without the need for simulation.