CITIES, REGIONS AND MUNICIPALITIES
We help municipalities prepare for the impact of Urban Air Mobility. Together, we create a strategy for innovative aerial services and a plan for the very low-level airspace, which considers local need and conditions. We support your operations and help integrate the plans into your sustainable development strategy.
1. Demand assessments
Innovative aviation will grow significantly in the coming years. Drone services are already widely used in cities, but mainly flown within visual line of sight (VLOS). A strong growth curve in drone services has started with drones routinely flying longer distances (BVLOS).
Drones collect data from the environment into digital twins and produce a variety of information to support decision-making. Drone logistics is starting to scale up, and with the help of it, companies in your area can create completely new services and speed up goods transportation. In healthcare, drones are already used around the world to transport urgent medical suppliers and samples. In the future, people will also be transported by new types of vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft that are much quieter than current helicopters and use electricity or hydrogen to fly. Aircraft carrying people will first spread in big megacities, and from there spread to be part of everyday life also in the rest of society.
Drones are a part-solution for environmentally sustainable development. Correctly used, drones can be used to curb the growth of the carbon footprint and create more equal services for citizens, but it is not automatically greener than other means of transportation. The context must be understood.
A. Demand assessment of aerial operations
Innovative aerial services include the use of drones in various flight operations, which collect data from the environment to support decision-making. These include, for example, quality control and progress monitoring of road and construction sites, land surveying, inspections of the electricity distribution network, determining the maintenance needs of park areas, condition inspections of roofs and facades, and planning the need for snow removal on streets.
There are numerous different innovative aerial services. They utilize many different sensor technologies, from standard digital cameras to laser scanners and invisible wavelength sensors. After analysing the collected data, the information can be transferred to a digital twin or further analysed and refined into actionable insights.
In the demand assessment of innovative aerial services, we scout the municipality or region stakeholders’ current use of and future demand for drone services in their own operations. We document what kind of advantage private and public stakeholders can gain from aerial services.
B. Demand assessment of innovative / urban air mobility
Innovative air mobility include goods or people transportation within the municipality, regionally or internationally.
Aircraft carrying people will become more common in ten years, initially in large megacities, but drone logistics will quickly become a part of the rest of society as well. Especially emergency medical services and rescue organisations are interested in the new capability these vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft offer. In the demand assessment of innovative transport services, we scout the demand for drone logistics services by companies and operators in the region. We document where the demand is concentrated as well as the expected service level and acceptable cost structure.
With the help of the demand assessment, municipalities, cities and regions can update their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) with the expected impact of Innovative Aerial Services .
2. Regional or municipal strategic analyses and roadmaps
Strategic analyses and roadmaps gives the municipalities, cities or regions a fact-based picture of the expected impact of innovative aerial services on business, municipalities and residents.
We will create a regional growth forecast for innovative aerial services, as well as map expected socio-economic effects. We can analyse the effects on the transportation carbon footprint, on the services of the municipality or the region (for example SOTE services), and the competitiveness of companies. In addition to impact assessments, we create a road map for development with supporting actions, be it in the role of a market follower, a value seeker, an enabler or a frontrunner.
The research can focus on the full impact of innovative aerial services or a subset, for example the effects of drone logistics within the municipality or the impact of international drone logistics on the entire region.
3. Proof-of-Concept projects
Drones can collect data from the environment using many different sensor technologies. The analysed data is used to produce important information and support decision-making.
Drone logistics can increase the competitiveness, quality of life, and cost savings in a region. To ensure the identified benefits, it is often first necessary to proof the new concepts locally, ideally in a live environment. We have years of experience running close to a hundred demonstrators and advanced test flights. We have led international drone logistics operations as well as air taxi flight at airports. We have a very strong expertise in manned and unmanned aviation, including demanding BVLOS flights, and we always put safety first.
In Proof-of-Concept assignments, we support selected drone operators with the required risk assessments and help obtain necessary authority permits. We have carried out and supervised numerous flight tests with different drone operators in Finland and in other EU countries. Based on these experiences, we can evaluate the professionalism and ability of each of the drone operators participating in the experiment to safely conduct the intended flight operations.
Before starting a Proof-of-Concept project, we help determine key performance indicators (KPI) and objectives for the experiment including how the KPI’s will be measured. We ensure flight safety, and make sure that the KPI’s are measured. After the flights, we prepare a report that documents the process and evaluates the objectives.
By working with us, you can be sure that the tests are safe and conducted in accordance with regulations, that the objectives are clear and progress is measured.
