TUHH Open Research
 

Lateral efficiency, separability, and passenger comfort for urban air route network designs

Journal
Journal of guidance, control, and dynamics  
Citation
Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics (in Press): (2026)
Publisher DOI
10.2514/1.G009903
Publisher
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
This paper presents an improved structure for an urban air route network, based on a node-edge grid. The enhanced network incorporates additional edge directions to increase routing flexibility. Flights are assigned to different flight levels according to the semicircular rule while complying with legal requirements of minimum and maximum flight altitudes. The routing algorithm integrates nonlinear penalization functions for large heading changes and large bank angles to improve passenger comfort. Furthermore, flights conducted against the primary direction of their respective flight level are penalized. The routes computed using three distinct network concepts are evaluated based on newly developed metrics for efficiency and safety. The evaluation also includes a full-day simulation of all flights to detect separation conflicts and ensure operational safety.
DDC Class
388: Transportation
629.1: Aviation
Funding(s)
Urbane Lufttransportsimulation: Simulationsbasierte Entwicklung von Infrastruktur- und Betriebskonzepten zur Bewertung der Chancen und Risiken des Aufbaus urbaner Luftmobilität am Beispiel der Metropolregion Hamburg  
Funding Organisations
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWE)  
More Funding Information
This work was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), which was renamed during the project period to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), within the national aviation research program LuFo VI-1 (funding code 20E1911), and by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy within the Bavarian Aerospace Program (funding code ROB-2-3410.20-04-11-15/HAMI-2109-0015).