_________________________________________________________________________
References:
1. https://vtol.org/events
2. https://www.verticalmag.com/press-releases
_________________________________________________________________________
The conference features technical paper presentation related to autonomous VTOL aircraft, while the Symposium will feature invited presentations, panel sessions and discussions on electric and hybrid electric VTOL aircraft, with a focus on urban air mobility.
Information is available at www.vtol.org/autonomous.
The Vertical Flight Society is holding the 6th Annual eVTOL Symposium concurrently with its 8th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting in Mesa, which will feature more than 40 technical papers on eVTOL technologies, unmanned VTOL aircraft (aka “drones”), and various levels of autonomy for manned/unmanned civil/military helicopters and eVTOL aircraft.
In addition, VFS is hosting two new eVTOL short courses in conjunction with the event, taught by experts in their fields:
“Electric VTOL Design”
“Electric VTOL Aeromechanics & Acoustic Prediction Software.”
The Society has led an extensive effort to educate and inform the community of the promise and challenges of eVTOL and has 50 hours of video lectures and presentations available online.
Overview:
6th Annual eVTOL Symposium
Electric and hybrid-electric propulsion is an exciting new approach to vertical flight aircraft design and the 6th Annual eVTOL Symposium is a unique opportunity for designers, developers, innovators, investors, regulators, infrastructure providers, end users, media and key influencers to share knowledge and work towards realizing the eVTOL revolution. This is also a tremendous networking opportunity for those new to the VTOL industry.
The 6th Annual eVTOL Symposium will feature 60 speakers over 10 sessions covering all aspects of transformative electric and hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft, including:
- Progress in Electric VTOL
- Challenges in Electric VTOL
- System Safety
- Standards/Regulations
- Vehicle Technologies; Missions and Applications
- eVTOL Opportunities
- Infrastructure/Passenger Experience
- Autonomy and Air Operations
- eVTOL for Good.
Recent urban air mobility market reports commissioned by NASA and analytic companies (e.g. Morgan Stanley and Roland Berger) suggest that up to 100,000 such eVTOL aircraft could be flying commercially in 20 to 30 years time as part of an emerging $500 billion to $2 trillion eVTOL market.
The Vertical Flight Society has been leading efforts in electric VTOL with workshops starting in 2014, and the Electric VTOL News website, featuring the World eVTOL Aircraft Directory .
8th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting
This biennial meeting is an excellent opportunity to learn about and discuss with academic, industry, and military engineers from around the world the latest advancements in manned/unmanned, electric/hybrid/turboshaft-powered, and civil/military autonomous VTOL aircraft technology.
The 8th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meetingwill feature almost 40 speakers over five sessions covering UAV Design, Analysis and Testing, UAV Aerodynamics and Noise, UAV Controls, Flight Dynamics and Navigation, and eVTOL and VTOL Design.
The 21st century has seen a continued emphasis on Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) and greater autonomy and automation for both military and civilian applications. Unmanned aircraft are in varying stages of development all over the world, and continue to expand into the civil and military sectors for a variety of uses. Autonomy is being used to unmanned versions of manned helicopters for dull, dirty and dangerous military cargo missions. In addition, the operator-interface and human factors can be one of the most significant contributions to UAS safety and successful operations. Correspondingly, technologies and regulation are being developed to safely operate UAS, and integrate them into commercial and military airspace.
Meanwhile, automation and various levels of autonomy are being used in modern civil helicopter cockpits, while the military’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) aircraft will need to be optionally-manned or optimally-manned.
Autonomy is also a key enabler for new classes of vehicles for civil missions — such as personal air vehicles, urban air mobility and air taxi missions — using electric or hybrid-electric propulsion (eVTOL).
_________________________________________________________________________
DETAILS:
Invited Presentations (Subject to Change)
Banquet Keynote: "Autonomy at Bell," Michael Thacker, Executive VP for Technology & Innovation, Bell
Plenary Presentations: Needs for Future Autonomous VTOL Aircraft [Tues. Jan. 29 - 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon]
Moderator: Dr. Ram JanakiRam, Boeing
- “Autonomy for Next Generation VTOL Systems,” Dr. Bill Lewis, Aviation Development Director, US Army
- “The Electric VTOL Revolution,” Mike Hirschberg, Vertical Flight Society
- Mark Jordan, Boeing Autonomous Systems
- “Army VTOL UAS Development Efforts,” LTC Mike Osmon, US Army, Aviation Development Directorate
- “Agility, Cyber and Emerging Technologies for Naval UAS,” Dr. Robert Ernst, NAVAIR PMA-266
- "NASA Research Supporting Vertical Flight and UAM," Dr. Colin Theodore, NASA Ames
- "Needs for the Uber Elevate Ecosystem," Mark Moore, Uber
eVTOL Session 1: Progress in Electric VTOL [Tues. Jan. 29 - 1:30 to 3:30 PM]
Moderator: Mike Hirschberg, Vertical Flight Society
- Bob Labelle, CEO, XTI Aircraft
- Zach Lovering, Vahana Project Executive, A³ by Airbus
- Ben Tigner, President, Karem Aircraft
- Troy Rutherford, Senior Director for eVTOL, Boeing NeXt
eVTOL Session 2: Challenges in Electric VTOL [Tues. Jan. 29 - 4:00 to 5:30 PM]
Moderator: Chris Silva, NASA
- "Observations from Exploration of VTOL Urban Air Mobility Designs," Chris Silva, NASA Ames
- "UAM Propulsion," Dr. Paula Dempsey, NASA Glenn
- "Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) Failure Modes," Patrick Darmstadt, Boeing
- "Gust Rejection," Nick Brake, Emperical Systems Aerospace
- "VTOL Flight Control for Safety," Justin Paines, Chief Test Pilot, Joby Aviation
eVTOL Session 3: System Safety [Wed. Jan. 30 - 8:00 to 10:00 AM]
Moderator: Dan Newman, Boeing
- Chris van Buiten, VP Innovations, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company
- Starr Ginn, Deputy Aeronautics Research Director, NASA Armstrong
- Kyle Heironimus, Innovation Engineer, Bell
- Ife Ogunleye, Acting Manager, Policy and Regulation Section, FAA
- Clément Audard, Rotorcraft Safety Coordinator, European Aviation Safety Agency
eVTOL Session 4: Standards/Regulations [Wed. Jan. 30 - 10:30 AM to 12:00 noon]
Moderator: Tom Gunnarson, Lead of Regulatory Affairs, Kitty Hawk
- Anna Dietrich, Co-Founder, Terrafugia
- Ajay Sehgal, Chief Engineer, KBRWyle
- Dr. Mark D'Angelo, Aerospace Standards Engineer, SAE International
- Greg Bowles, VP, Global Innovation & Policy, GAMA
- Andy Supinie, Aircraft Certification Office, FAA
eVTOL Session 5: Vehicle Technologies [Wed. Jan. 30 - 1:30 to 3:30 PM]
Moderator: Johnny Doo, International Vehicle Research
- “Hybrid Electric Propulsion System Advantages And Disadvantages Compared To All Electric Propulsion And All Traditional Engine-Driven Propulsion,” Eric Blumer, Director of Advanced Technologies, Honeywell
- "New Lithium Sulfur Battery Development," Bill Andrews, CEO, Nextech Batteries
- "Fuel Cell Technology," Rick Sickenberger, Teledyne Energy Systems
- “Development and Demonstration of an Autonomous Optical Launch and Recovery System,” Avinash Gandhe, Scientific Systems Company, Inc.
- "A Multi-Physics Prognostics Framework for Urban Mobility Operations," Dr. Amine Chigani, CTO & VP Engineering, Sentient Science
eVTOL Session 6: eVTOL Missions and Applications [Wed. Jan. 30 - 4:00 to 5:30 PM]
Moderator: Michael Dudley, NASA Ames
- Michael Dudley, NASA Ames: eVTOL Roadmapping
- Candice Carter: Group 2 – Intracity Missions
- Seren Webber: Group 3 – Intercity Missions
- Johnny Doo, IVR: Group 4 – Public Service Missions
eVTOL Session 7: eVTOL Opportunities [Thurs. Jan. 31 - 8:00 to 10:00 AM]
Moderator: Mike Hirschberg, Vertical Flight Society
- “A Review of Current Technology and Research in Urban On-Demand Air Mobility Applications,” Nicholas Polaczyk and Enzo Trombino, Iowa State University
- "Enabling Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and eVTOL Operations," Steve Jacobson, Autonodyne
- "A Venture Capitalist's Perspective on eVTOL," Peter Shannon, Levitate Capital
- Carl Dietrich, Co-Founder/CTO, Terrafugia
- Francesco Giannini, Aurora Flight Sciences
eVTOL Session 8: Infrastructure/Passenger Experience [Thurs. Jan. 31 - 10:30 AM to 12:00 noon]
Moderator: Michael Dyment, Managing Partner, NEXA Advisors
- “Global Vertiport Infrastructure Opportunities,” Michael Dyment, NEXA Advisors
- “Vertiport Integration Constraints,” Rex Alexander, 5 Alpha
- "Vertiport Design Possibilities," Mark Pilwallis, Gannett Fleming
- "eVTOL Noise Considerations, Dr. Ken Brentner, Penn State University
- "Air Vehicle Factors Affecting Occupant Health, Comfort, and Productivity," Bernard D. Adelstein, NASA Ames Research Center
eVTOL Session 9: Autonomy and Air Operations [Thurs. Jan. 31 - 1:00 to 3:00 PM]
Moderator: Bruce Holmes, SmartSky Networks
- "NASA UTM," Parimal Kopardekar, NASA
- “Collaborative Autonomy for VTOL Operations,” Bimal Aponso, Associate Division Chief for Aeronautics, Intelligent Systems Division, NASA Ames Research Center
- Frank Matus, Director, Digital Aviation Market Development – Americas, Thales
eVTOL Session 10: eVTOL for Good [Thurs. Jan. 31 - 3:30 to 5:30 PM]
Moderator: Johnny Doo, International Vehicle Research
- "Distributed On-Demand TVF Search & Rescue & Disaster Relief Network," Johnny Doo, IVR
- "eVTOL for Search & Rescue," Eddie Bennet, The Ripper Group, Australia
- "eVTOL applications for Fire Fighting," Michael Ralston, Menlo Fire District, California
- "Traffic Management and Drones/eVTOL for Good," Jessie Mooberry, A³ by Airbus
- "A Unique eVTOL Concept and Applications," Arnaud Didey, Neoptera
