As urban air mobility (UAM) becomes more integrated into the national airspace system, the aerospace and defense industries are at a major inflection point. Transformation to the digital enterprise and technological breakthroughs will soon open a new era of airspace that is autonomous, sustainable, and efficient. Despite their potential, these innovations may be hampered by complexity and compliance challenges.

A 5-part podcast series from Siemens is now available to guide the industry through key discussion on eVTOL design and development and how finding the right technologies is key to success and profitability.
 

Exciting Future Ahead for UAM

Dale Tutt, Vice President of Aerospace & Defense at Siemens Digital Industries describes his vision for the future where UAM systems are integrated into the national airspace system. Autonomous intra-city and intra-regional flights will travel times, street congestion, and vehicle emissions.

“You go to places like Los Angeles or Dallas or big cities all over the world, where they’re looking to unlock the gridlock, and replace it with the freedom and flexibility of air taxis, saving people time and money… It will really change the face of our mobility all around the world,” Tutt says.
 

Industry Challenges

UAM companies face many of the same trends and complexities as the rest of the aerospace industry such as the need to reduce costs and get to market faster.

They also face unique challenges. eVTOL aircraft are very different vehicles than traditional, piloted and runway-dependent aircraft. As a result, there are complex technical challenges in both structural aerodynamics and propulsion as well as software development. Additionally, UAM companies face unique market demands, such as heightened expectations for production rates of eVTOL designs.

One of the challenges discussed in the podcast series is aerodynamic design. Due to the variety of propulsion configurations available for an eVTOL vehicle and the importance of weight considerations, companies need to consider aircraft design and management of flight phases.
 

Role of Simulation in the Industry’s Future

Platform developers are increasingly taking a multi-disciplinary systems approach to development that optimizes key performance metrics. Getting on the path of digital transformation is crucial for companies seeking to quickly reach design development certification, says Durrell Rittenberg, Director, Simcenter Experience Product Management.

A comprehensive digital twin makes it possible to quickly identify different solutions and approaches – enabling engineers and technicians to focus on innovation and creativity. It also allows ideas to be developed in concert with knowledge of how innovation in one discipline helps or hurts implementation objectives of another.

It’s important for the eVTOL community to leverage digital validations for their designs, says Rittenberg, because these aircraft do not have a historical analog. Achieving aircraft certification requires ensuring all mechanisms and applications are correct – and that means verifying critical cases against flight tests, if possible.

One podcast in the series gives an example from AUVSI Air Advocacy Committee member Joby Aviation, one of the first companies to develop and innovative strategy for eVTOL development. Their aircraft did not have an analog they could compare with and identify solutions from. By partnering with Siemens early on, they were able to identify a “blown wing configuration” approach to resolve aerodynamic and cooling issues. Joby’s work with Siemens and government entities allowed the company to make significant progress in a short timeframe.
 

Siemens solutions for UAM

Siemens Xcelerator brings together all the services, software, solutions, and cloud applications into a single portfolio and scales to any size company or program to help companies accelerate their digital transformation, improve productivity, and achieve certification. Siemens is also a leader in manufacturing automation, which can help make UAM companies more robust and optimized.

Siemens is turning AAM and eVTOL complexity into a competitive advantage for their customers – today and well into tomorrow. Check out the podcast series here and learn more about Siemens’ solutions for the UAM industry and eVTOL companies here.