Metaverse for Advanced Air Mobility and Vertiports

Entry requirements

Please use this Research Proposal, Personal statement and CV: GUIDE when preparing an application.

Months of entry

Anytime

Course content

Metaverse for advanced air mobility is an innovative concept that blends both virtual and physical environments to facilitate the rise of advanced air mobility (AAM), both urban and rural. These technologies are part of a broader vision of transportation and infrastructure.

The metaverse refers to immersive virtual worlds where users can interact with each other and digital assets. The intersection of the metaverse with advanced air mobility can create many possibilities for optimization.

Vertiports are dedicated facilities designed for the landing, take-off, and maintenance of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) air taxis. As advanced air mobility grows, cities will need to integrate vertiports into existing infrastructure, and metaverse vertiports could assist in several ways:

· Planning & design: in the metaverse, planners and designers can simulate and visualize vertiport locations, optimizing traffic flows, environmental impact, and integration into existing transportation infrastructure.

· Training & simulation: pilots and maintenance technicians can conduct training in a virtual metaverse environment, where they can practice landing, take-off, emergency procedures and maintenance work.

· Operational management: data from physical vertiports can be streamed into a metaverse platform for remote monitoring, enabling authorities or businesses to oversee operations from any location.

· Passenger experience: travellers could interact with vertiports in the metaverse before arriving, customizing their journey and even simulating the experience of flying in an air taxi before physically boarding.

Benefits of metaverse vertiports for advanced air mobility:

· Collaboration: developers, city planners, and stakeholders from different industries can collaborate in the metaverse to design, test, and improve vertiports before committing resources to physical construction.

· Real-time data integration: integrating sensors and data from actual vertiports in the metaverse could help operators make informed decisions, whether it is flight scheduling or resource allocation.

· Public engagement: by offering a virtual representation of vertiports, the public could get a sneak peek into the future of transportation and provide feedback before the actual infrastructure is built. It is very important to get support from local communities before building vertiports and starting advanced air mobility operations.

· Global accessibility: the metaverse could provide access to virtual vertiport experiences for people who may not be able to visit the physical location, whether it's for planning purposes, leisure or even research.

Challenges to consider:

· Technical integration: seamlessly connecting real-world vertiports with virtual platforms could be complex, involving issues of data transfer, security, and synchronization.

· Regulatory and safety standards: virtual simulation must align with real-world regulations, particularly around flight operations, safety protocols, and emergency response. They could also serve as a safe environment to test any changes to regulatory and safety standards.

· Infrastructure cost: developing both physical and virtual systems might incur significant costs, particularly when integrating advanced air mobility technologies into existing cities and regions.

Future potential:

· Virtual airspace and routing: the metaverse could allow for the simulation of complex airspace management systems in urban environments, optimizing advanced air mobility flight paths.

· Blockchain & smart contracts: the metaverse could support transactions and logistics within the vertiport network, ensuring secure, transparent operations like ticketing, fleet management, and cargo delivery.

Ultimately, metaverse vertiports would enhance the capabilities of advanced air mobility, improving accessibility, operational efficiency, and user experience while pushing forward the development of future transportation systems.

The final scope, aims and focus of the postgraduate research will be discussed with an applicant to consider his / her education, professional experience, career aspirations and interests.

Fees and funding

This programme is self-funded.

To enquire about University of Salford funding schemes – including the Widening Participation Scholarship – visit this website.