Atmosphere (대기)

Korean Meteorological Society (한국기상학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Weather Barriers of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Operations: A Case Study of the Visibility and Wind Shear around Han-River Corridor

도심항공교통(UAM) 운용 실증 노선의 기상 특성 및 시사점: 한강회랑의 시정 및 바람을 중심으로

  • Wan-Sik Won (Department of Aerospace Industrial and Systems Engineering, Hanseo University) ;
  • Yeon Myung Kim (Department of Aerospace Industrial and Systems Engineering, Hanseo University)
  • 원완식 (한서대학교 항공산업공학과) ;
  • 김연명 (한서대학교 항공산업공학과)
  • Received : 2023.08.14
  • Accepted : 2023.08.23
  • Published : 2023.08.31
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is promising, sustainable and efficient air transportation in a metropolitan area. Korean government has recently announced operation demonstration plans as a step toward commercialization of UAM. However, there is lack of understanding on the potential impact of weather on UAM operation. We collected weather observations from Gimpo International Airport and 5 automatic weather stations (AWS) along UAM corridor of the Han-River to assess weather barriers such as low visibility, wind gust and wind shear. The results show the frequency of low visibility near the corridor fluctuated significantly from year to year depending on the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Seoul. The frequency of high wind speed-shift calculated using 1-minute wind observations was increased not only during the spring season (March, April, and May) but also the beginning of rainy season (Jun). In addition, a chance of high wind shear from 1-minute wind observations varied by the stations, suggesting that the condition is largely affected by topography including a river and high-rise buildings. These basic weather properties suggest that there are substantial weather barriers to UAM operations along the Han-River Corridor, while they cannot properly surveil micro-scale weather conditions in detail such as wind gust and wind shear over the corridor. Thus, this study suggests that potential barriers related to adverse weather need to be evaluated, building high-density weather observations infrastructure prior to UAM demonstration and commercialization.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

이 연구는 2022년도 과기정통부의 재원으로 한국연구재단의 지원을 받아 수행된 개인연구지원사업(RS-2022-00166766)의 지원으로 수행되었습니다.

References

  1. Chauhan, A., and R. P. Singh, 2020: Decline in PM2.5 concentrations over major cities around the world associated with COVID-19. Environ. Res., 187, 109634, doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.109634.
  2. FAA, 2023: Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Implementation Plan, Version 1.0, 40 pp [Available online at https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/AAM-I28-Implementation-Plan.pdf].
  3. ICAO, 2005: Manual on Low-level Wind Shear. International Civil Aviation Organization, 213 pp [Available online at https://skybrary.aero/sites/default/files/bookshelf/2194.pdf].
  4. KMA, 2023a: 2022 Aviation meteorological yearbook, Korea Meteorological Administration, 30 pp.
  5. KMA, 2023b: Meteorological yearbook 2022, Korea Meteorological Administration, 328 pp.
  6. KMA, 2023c: Korea Meteorological Administration website, [Available online at https://www.weather.go.kr/] (in Korean).
  7. Kulwin, N., 2019: Uber Made it Cheaper to Take a Helicopter than a Car to the Airport. [Available online at https://theoutline.com/post/8467/uber-helicopter-airport?zd=1&zi=t7gzjrve].
  8. Lester, P. F., 2013: Aviation Weather: 4th Edition, JEPPESEN, 454 pp.
  9. Ming, W., Z. Zhou, H. Ai, H. Bi, and Y. Zhong, 2020: COVID-19 and Air Quality: Evidence from China. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 56, 2422-2442. doi:10.1080/1540496X.2020.1790353.
  10. MOLIT, 2020: Comprehensive demonstration of drone delivery and taxi using K-drone control system. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, [Available online at http://www.molit.go.kr/mta/USR/N0201/m_36770/dtl.jsp?lcmspage=26&id=95084728] (in Korean).
  11. MOLIT, 2021a: Comprehensive demonstration of Korean urban air mobility (K-UAM) at Gimpo Airport. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, [Available online at http://www.molit.go.kr/USR/NEWS/m_71/dtl.jsp?id=95086186] (in Korean).
  12. MOLIT, 2021b: Operating Concept of Korean Urban Air Mobility (K-UAM) 1.0. UAM Team Korea, 52 pp (in Korean).
  13. MOLIT, 2023: Drone taxis could appear above Seoul from next year... Promotion of demonstration project. [Available online at https://www.korea.kr/news/policyNewsView.do?newsId=148915031] (in Korean).
  14. Moon, M., 2017: Dubai tests a passenger drone for its flying taxi service. [Available online at https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/26/dubai-volocopter-passengerdrone-test/].
  15. NASA, 2020: UAM Vision Concept of Operations (Con-Ops) UAM Maturity Level (UML) 4. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, [Available online at https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20205011091].
  16. Park, M.-S., and J.-H. Chae, 2018: Features of sea-land-breeze circulation over the Seoul Metropolitan Area. Geosci. Lett., 5, 1-12, doi:10.1186/s40562-018-0127-6.
  17. Ragbir, N. K., S. Rice, S. R. Winter, E. C. Choy, and M. N. Milner, 2020: How weather, distance, flight time, and geography affect consumer willingness to fly in autonomous air taxis. The Collegiate Aviation Review International, 38, 19 pp doi:10.22488/okstate.20.100205.
  18. Reiche, C., R. Goyal, A. Cohen, J. Serrao, S. Kimmel, C. Fernando, and S. Shaheen 2018: Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Market Study, Final Report. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 160 pp.
  19. Reiche, C., A. P. Cohen, and C. Fernando, 2021: An initial assessment of the potential weather barriers of Uuban air mobility. IEEE, 22, 6018-6027, doi:10.1109/TITS.2020.3048364.
  20. Reichmann, K., 2020: Uber Elevate Acquired by Joby Aviation. [Available online at https://www.aviationtoday.com/2020/12/08/uber-elevate-acquired-joby-aviation/].
  21. Rodriguez-Urrego, D., and L. Rodriguez-Urrego, 2020: Air quality during the COVID-19: PM2.5 analysis in the 50 most polluted capital cities in the world. Environ. Pollut., 266, 115042, doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115042.
  22. Seoul City 2023: Seoul city, spurring commercialization after UAM demonstration... Demonstration of 2 routes in Yeouido and Jamsil. [Available online at https://www.seoul.go.kr/news/news_report.do#view/387267] (in Korean).
  23. Sloan, J., 2020: Joby Aviation acquires Uber Elevate. [Available online at https://www.compositesworld.com/news/joby-aviation-acquires-uber-elevate].
  24. Thipphavong, D. P., and Coauthors, 2018: Urban Air Mobility Airspace Integration Concepts and Considerations. In 2018 Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, [Available online at https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20180005218].
  25. Volocopter, 2013: Volocopter VC200 - First Flight 2013. [Available online at https://youtu.be/I3VYBVLp32s].
  26. Volocopter, 2019: Volocopter Air Taxi Flies Over Singapore's Marina Bay. [Available online at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/volocopter-air-taxi-flies-oversingapores-marina-bay-300942843.html].
  27. Won, W.-S., R. Oh, W. Lee, K.-Y. Kim, S. Ku, P.-C. Su, and Y.-J. Yoon, 2020: Impact of fine particulate matter on visibility at Incheon International Airport, south korea. Aerosol and Air Qual. Res., 20, 1048-1061, doi:10.4209/aaqr.2019.03.0106.