Urban Air Mobility
Hanwha Systems, in cooperation with the Korea Airports Corporation (KAC), is building a cooperation system to develop Urban Air Traffic Management (UATM) systems and construct vertiports with global players in the urban air mobility (UAM) industry at the Paris Air Show. A vertiport is an area set aside to be used by new types of aircraft like air taxis and drones.
Hanwha Systems announced on June 21 (local time) that it has signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MOU) for UAM infrastructure business cooperation with the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR), Europe’s top aeronautical research institute. Under the agreement, Hanwha Systems, KAC, and NLR will promote cooperation in the development of core technologies related to the operation of UAM infrastructure (UATM and vertiports).
Established in 1919, the NLR is considered one of Europe’s most authoritative aeronautical research institutions and conducts research in various fields, including aircraft, systems, and transportation. It is a leading participant in projects like the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) and the Air Mobility Urban-Large Experimental Demonstrations (AMU-LED) project, a UAM demonstration project promoted by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and conducted in the U.K., the Netherlands, and Spain.
Meanwhile, Hanwha Systems and KAC signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Urban Air Ports (UAP), a U.K. UAM infrastructure startup, on June 22 (local time). The three parties will review options such as the application of Hanwha System’s UATM system in constructing overseas vertiports and ways to activate domestic and foreign vertiports with KAC.
UAP, specializing in the construction of vertiports, a key infrastructure facility for UAM airports, started a pilot operation of Air-One, a UAM vertiport, in Coventry, a central industrial city in the U.K., last year. UAP plans to introduce Air-One in 65 cities in major countries, including the U.S., France, Germany, Australia, and South Korea.
Hanwha Systems plans to complete the production of an eco-friendly UAM prototype by the end of this year and is concurrently constructing UAM navigation and control solutions (CNSi) and UATM systems. It is currently developing a UAM flight simulation according to terrain, weather, noise, and radio environment, and an interlocking system between the UATM system-flight operator-vertiport.