Development and Flight Test Analysis of Lift+Cruise Type Scaled UAM

Urban air mobility (UAM) refers to an aviation transportation system that utilizes vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft for the safe and convenient transportation of passengers and cargos. VTOL aircraft can be categorized based on their propulsion methods, such as vector thrust, lift+cruise, and multi-rotor. In this study, the lift+cruise-type two-seater UAM aircraft is investigated. THe aircraft was equipped with a lift motor attached to the wings for the VTOL and multicopter flight, whereas a pusher motor was installed for the fixed-wing flight. A 20% scale UAM circraft was developed, and the power consumptions under various flight scenarios were analyzed through flight tests. In a multicopter flight, power consumption was found to decreas during forward flight at 10–15m/s compared to hovering, with a subsequent increase beyond a certain speed. In a fixed-wing flight, power consumption was proportional to the cube of the flight speed. Given that UAM operations involve missions, such as take-off, ascent, transition/reverse transition, flight time, and endurance distance, these factors were compared and analyzed based on data obtained from flight tests at 30% and 0% remaining battery capacities. Battery remaining capacity was determined by considering emergency situations and battery lifespan. With 30% remaining capacity, an estimated flight time of 39 min and an endurance distance of 46.58km were obtained. Assuming 0% remaining capacity, the flight time was calculated to be approximately 60 min, with endurance distance of 71.49km.