UAM - Global Urban Air Summit 2019 starter den 3. september - Key questions - FINN

GUAS 2019 will “drive industry forward”

Katherine Simmons talks to Sameer Savani, Head of Innovation and Engineering at ADS, about what delegates can expect from the Global Urban Air Summit 2019

From innovation to regulation, physical to digital infrastructure, all of the challenges for the air mobility sector will be up for discussion next week at the inaugural Global Urban Air Summit (GUAS).

The event will include two days of conference sessions, networking, knowledge sharing and demonstrations, with the international community brought together by GUAS set to play a key strategic role in driving the industry forward. The event will showcase the latest innovations in global air mobility and discuss all of the elements which will shape the future of air travel.

Sameer Savani, Head of Innovation and Engineering at ADS, outlines what delegates can expect from this brand new event to FINN’s Katherine Simmons (KS).

KS: This is the first edition of GUAS. What will delegates experience at this inaugural event?

SS: GUAS is a conference-led event which will bring together a mix of keynote speakers and key players within the industry. It will bring together discussions and panel debates which will stimulate conversation between the key stakeholders.

There will be an exhibition and workshop sessions on the second day which will be the catalyst for debate in key topics, these will offer something different from the traditional conference sessions. 

KS: Can you outline some of the biggest topics which will be covered at GUAS? 

SS: One of the biggest areas for discussion will be around markets. It really comes down to understanding the market, the size of the market and where the real value proposition will be.

As well as the operators, we will be focusing on the complex regulatory environment. This is not just in relation to the vehicles, but also with regards to how it links up to existing and new infrastructure as well as other environments, for example, how urban air will integrate with motor vehicles and airport facilities. All of those elements cluster together as enablers of the sector, as well as the vehicles themselves.

There is a need for both physical and digital infrastructure plus support requirements and how all of these different aspects merge together to drive this forward – a third of the sessions will cover this topic.

KS: Describe some of the key challenges which will be discussed for: innovators, regulators and government? 

SS: Innovators will have to gain and understanding of what it means to be in aviation, which is a highly regulated and safety driven industry. It is a new experience for them, learning how aviation works. Regulators can enable innovation. There is a real opportunity to work with innovators, ensuring key processes and competitive support are in place.

There are around 170 urban air concept aircraft around the world at the moment. At some point these will consolidate into fewer models and this will depend on understanding the type of vehicle needed and how this will develop. We need to understand first where the 'sweet spots' are and what the system of the future should look like.

Another challenge is around understanding the part of the sector which other people want to play in. There’s no credible indication yet that it will be those making the vehicles will make money. As yet, it is unclear where the value in the sector will be which will determine what part people will be investing in.

The UK government is investing in the sector, but it won’t be enough to help shape regulation to ensure and enable the infrastructure and facilities. However, it can also be a useful source of public source data, such as that provided by Transport for London on passenger numbers and this can be made public to innovators.

KS: What part will GUAS play in driving forward the strategic development of the urban air mobility sector?

GUAS is the first event of its kind in a sector is increasingly building interest. It will be a strategic event but we want to concentrate more on practical engagement within the sector.

The key will be ensuring sure there is a 365 days a year approach to this event. We want that engagement to carry on through Farnborough, through ADS and through key industry followers. We have to look at building communities of interest throughout the year. The event is being developed with key government departments, and, unlike others within the sector, we have also made it affordable for anyone interested in the issues which will be covered.

In terms of how it fits with Farnborough International, two years is a long time within the sector – urban air mobility is closer to the automotive sector in terms of developments and in terms of the speed it moves.

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Lightweight production 4.0: designing for fast ramp up of urban air vehicles

KomyMirror makes forgotten duty free a thing of the past

New urban air mobility concepts will change the way we move in and above metropolitan areas. The democratic approach, catering to the masses through platform and sharing models, will result in exponentially increasing demand for vehicles once regulations fall into place. Despite unclear timelines, vehicles are designed today to enter long certification processes as soon as possible. The key challenge for manufacturers is to ensure that components can be produced cost-efficiently at low volumes but have the potential to scale 10-50 times as markets unfold.

On a functional level, manufacturers must balance structural weight, payload and range for intended missions. This usually mandates the use of lightweight fibre composites. Manufacturing of composites is either manual, slow and costly, or requires equipment with high upfront investments and little flexibility once installed. 3D printing, on the other hand, offers great flexibility, but doesn’t meet requirements for mechanical properties and scaling volumes yet.

‘Bridging the gap between productivity, flexibility and production costs’

Fibre Patch Placement (FPP) bridges the gap between productivity, flexibility and production costs and offers efficiency even at low volumes. Adapted to the size and complexity of a component, the technology works additively in "sensible increments", enabling challenging 3D geometries with complex fibre orientation. The robots of the SAMBA production platforms place discrete fibre elements (patches) on calculated positions, thereby realising complex layups fully automated. The technology-specific software ARTIST STUDIO, compatible to existing composite design suites, supports engineers with CAD, CAM and FEA functions and reduces development time for complex parts significantly.

The production platforms can process multiple materials such as carbon fibre, glass fibre, adhesive films, or copper mesh prepreg on a single platform. This allows manufacturers to automate the layup of sandwich structures, further contributing to extreme lightweight constructions with a remarkably improved performance-to-weight ratio. In addition, glass and carbon fibres can be easily mixed to balance structural properties with material cost. Featuring additive manufacturing following bionic principles, FPP consumes 25-50 per cent less material than other technologies by eliminating production scrap and optimising fibre architecture. Therefore, also the buy-to-fly ratio is remarkably improved.

Output rates scaled without new training

Given the short set-up times of SAMBA systems, manufacturers can economically produce very different parts on a single system. This flexibility is a key enabler for scaling up production volumes fast. Usually, composite production processes change significantly when increasing volumes tenfold or more, e.g. from 100 to 1,000 plus per year. With different production processes, the fibre laminate and therefore structural properties change. The result: costly re-qualifications of the parts and a slow ramp-up process, as new processes also require training and reset the learning curve of production staff. With FPP, however, only the number of production cells increases. More productions cells become dedicated to certain parts, and output rates scale fast and efficiently without new training. Since the laminate doesn’t change, manufacturers don’t need to re-qualify components.

FPP technology has demonstrated 20-60 per cent cost and time savings in the production of (multi-material) composites compared to manual lay-up in conventional aerospace. This improves the cost position of manufacturers especially when they most need it: during the scale up. In a nutshell: with elevated flexibility and scalability for high-performance lightweight structures, FPP enables production automation that ramps-up as fast and economically as urban air vehicles conquer the skies.

* At the Farnborough Global Urban Air Summit (GUAS) in September 3-4, Cevotec’s Managing Director Thorsten Groene will speak about the challenges composites pose to manufacturers of urban air vehicles and points out the unique solutions Fibre Patch Placement offers for production automation and scaling.