Autonomous Advanced Aerial Mobility â\euro“An End-to-end Autonomy
Framework for UAVs and Beyond
Abstract
Developing aerial robots that can both safely navigate and execute
assigned mission without any human intervention â\euro“ i.e., fully
autonomous aerial mobility of passengers and goods â\euro“ is the
larger vision that guides the research, design, and development efforts
in the aerial autonomy space. However, it is highly challenging to
concurrently operationalize all types of aerial vehicles that are
operating fully autonomously sharing the airspace. Full autonomy of the
aerial transportation sector includes several aspects, such as design of
the technology that powers the vehicles, operations of multi-agent
fleets, and process of certification that meets stringent safety
requirements of aviation sector. Thereby, Autonomous Advanced Aerial
Mobility is still a vague term and its consequences for researchers and
professionals are ambiguous. To address this gap, we present a
comprehensive perspective on the emerging field of autonomous advanced
aerial mobility, which involves the use of unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for
various applications, such as urban air mobility, package delivery, and
surveillance. The article proposes a scalable and extensible autonomy
framework consisting of four main blocks: sensing, perception, planning,
and controls. Furthermore, the article discusses the challenges and
opportunities in multi-agent fleet operations and management, as well as
the testing, validation, and certification aspects of autonomous aerial
systems. Finally, the article explores the potential of monolithic
models for aerial autonomy and analyzes their advantages and
limitations. The perspective aims to provide a holistic picture of the
autonomous advanced aerial mobility field and its future directions.