As part of a closing event on October 9, the project's diverse scientific results were extensively presented to the project sponsor and funding body.
Led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Volker Gollnick and Daniel Kloock-Schreiber as speaker and coordinator from the Institute of Air Transportation Systems at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), the project aimed to develop holistic scientific and methodological system capabilities within an expanded academic network in Hamburg. The goal was to design new mobility concepts from technical, operational, social science, and legal perspectives. Twelve institutes from five Hamburg research institutions actively contributed to the project.
Using Hamburg as a case study, the following areas were explored:
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Demand for Urban Air Mobility from local districts
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Public acceptance of airborne vehicles
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Acceptance of air taxi use cases in Hamburg
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Airspace structures and flight planning
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Safe flight operations through conflict avoidance via appropriate sensor technology
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A model-based overall system simulation for Hamburg
These topics were developed and studied by the project partners: the Institute of Air Transportation Systems, the Institute of Transport Planning and Logistics, and the Institute of Aircraft Production Technology at TUHH; the Institute for Human Resources and Labor, the Chair of Automation Technology, the Chair of General and Biological Psychology, the Chair of Public Law (with a focus on Economic and Environmental Law), and the Chair of Electrical Energy Systems at the Helmut Schmidt University (HSU); the Department of Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering and the Department of Computer Science at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW); the Chair of Digital City Science at the HafenCity University (HCU); and the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) Institute of Air Transport.
The integration of engineering, social sciences, and legal disciplines in a joint interdisciplinary research group resulted in a unique capabilities profile among Hamburg’s universities—rarely found even internationally.
As the funding body, BWFGB expressed deep appreciation during the final event for the breadth and depth of expertise demonstrated and for the IT-based, cross-institutional collaborative environment that was established.
The project demonstrated that the development and implementation of airborne urban mobility in Hamburg is feasible and integrable, with evident demand. However, such a system would not relieve ground traffic but instead serve as a complementary offering. Acceptance studies revealed a nuanced picture—ranging from cautious interest to skepticism—depending on the application.
The detailed results were presented to the scientific community in a dedicated session featuring eight presentations at the 2024 German Aerospace Congress.
BWFGB and the project participants agreed that the project was a major success for Hamburg in both scientific methodology and substantive results. It has established a globally unique interdisciplinary methodology for researching complex systems of societal relevance. Beyond its core findings, the project also served as an incubator for more than 10 subsequent application-oriented projects exploring the implementation of airborne urban mobility in greater depth. The Institute of Air Transportation Systems once again fulfilled its role as system architect and integrator.
Contact
Hamburg University of Technology
Institute of Air Transportation Systems
Univ. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Volker Gollnick
volker.gollnick@tuhh.de
