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TRIMIS

Drones and Egnss for LOw aiRspacE urbAN mobility

Project

DELOREAN - Drones and Egnss for LOw aiRspacE urbAN mobility


Funding origin:
European
European Union
STRIA Roadmaps:
Connected and automated transport (CAT)
Connected and automated transport
Transport mode:
Airborne
Airbone
Transport sectors:
Freight transport
Freight transport
Project website:
Duration:
Start date: 01/12/2019,
End date: 30/09/2023

Status: Finished
Funding details:
Total cost:
€2 448 953
EU Contribution:
€1 805 781

Overview

Background & policy context:

Today’s increasing pace of life and growing culture of immediacy and speed is driving the future of urban air mobility and urban air delivery. Advances in technology will make it possible to combine conventional means of transport with urban air mobility. As for deliveries delayed by the traffic-clogged city streets, an alternative is the urban sky. 

As commercial aviation has been a major paradigm shift for the development of modern society, we are now facing a new leap in mobility services with the introduction of urban air mobility and urban air delivery. Our lives are now depending majorly on immediacy. From our everyday commute to work to the next-minute delivery on our preferred e-commerce platform, we are not good at waiting-in-line. And this has been mostly backed up by fast but robust technology breakthroughs enabling commercial aviation, satellite navigation and intelligent software. We are now facing a new technology breakthrough that will bring us even more immediacy. Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is finally a plausible reality that will bring multimodal fast commutes inside and around urban areas. Combining conventional means of transport with Urban Air Mobility is not only finally feasible, but it is the way to move forward in these very congested traffic areas. Furthermore, road delivery is congesting the streets of our cities and sub-urban areas for our everyday supplies. However, the urban sky is still unexplored, and as technology advances and regulatory frameworks develop further, Urban Air Delivery (UAD) services becomes a reality that could provide not only faster, but cleaner, delivery services, thus leaving the streets for the, still utopic, recreational cycle and walk arounds. 

Objectives:

In this context, the EU-funded DELOREAN project will explore the urban sky to provide faster and cleaner delivery services. Another benefit of flying drone deliveries is that the streets below will be free for cyclists and pedestrians. Moving in this direction, the project will look to the European Global Navigation Satellite System to make urban air mobility a solution.

Methodology:

This project will have two main pillars of research, development and operational implementation for Urban Air Mobility and Urban Air Delivery. The two pillars will provide the individual assets towards the main objective of the project:
 

To develop the navigation and positioning requirements for the challenging urban air services, and demonstrate how EGNSS stands as an enabler of this future city sky.

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