The UK’s first major air traffic control simulation for advanced air mobility, demonstrating how electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) craft could be safely integrated with conventional air traffic, has been held by the Advanced Mobility Ecosystem Consortium.
The consortium is a Future Flight Challenge programme jointly funded by UK Research and Innovation and includes Vertical Aerospace, Virgin Atlantic, AtkinsRéalis, Skyports, NATS, Connected Places Catapult, Cranfield University and WMG - University of Warwick. Ahead of a first planned real-world demonstration flight in late 2024, the first round of simulations is described by the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) as a ‘pivotal step’ to ‘lay the groundwork for a new generation of electric aircraft becoming commonplace in our skies’.
A new ‘Airspace Manager’ function created for the simulations, which deconflicts pre-filed flight plans from a digital master control room, is also described by NATS as striking the best balance between ‘ensuring safety and providing airspace access to new users without adding to the workload of air traffic controllers or pilots’. It is anticipated the process could ‘one day be almost entirely automated’.
“The airspace manager function and new technologies we’re developing as a conduit between the eVTOL operators and traditional air control, is going to be vital,” commented Anna Postma-Kurlanc, NATS project lead, concluding that the trial simulation “sets a very strong foundation upon which we can continue to build in the coming years.”