<p>Charles Alcock is managing editor of the AIN Media Group, having rejoined the company in 2019. He has been an aviation journalist since 1986, and previously worked for AIN from 1990 to 2017, most recently as editor-in-chief. His main focus is on covering new aviation technology and business models, as well as international news.</p>
<p>Having been raised in the London area, Alcock studied at the University of Manchester in the UK and earned an honors degree in Politics and Modern History. He speaks English and French, and some German.</p>


Managing Editor

<p><span><span><span>Airbus’s Acubed innovation center this week rolled out the latest version of a simulation tool that it says will help support the integration of uncrewed aircraft into controlled airspace. The USim platform—which has been in development since 2020 with the support of more than 100 stakeholders including NASA, the FAA, EASA, and Eurocontrol—will now be made available to companies and other organizations working on all aspects of advanced air mobility, including the development of drones and eVTOL air taxis, uncrewed traffic management (UTM), and other infrastructure.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>According to Acubed, USim provides a digital twin of each element in the UTM ecosystem. The company says the technology will give stakeholders a risk-free environment in which to test planned operations and verify interoperability between existing services.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>“We use a combination of actual data and statistical approximations to model the various components of the ecosystem in our simulations,” Scot Campbell, project executive of Airbus UTM at Acubed explained to <strong>FutureFlight</strong>. These models allow us to simulate operations at scale, and are refined as more operational data is collected.”</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>Silicon Valley-based Acubed, which&nbsp;the European aerospace group established in 2015, is still working on the business model for allowing new customers to use USim. It says USim will be able to quickly simulate thousands of flight hours to expedite research and development work.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>The company expects the tool to be used to develop fundamental aspects of flight operations, such as flight planning and the impact of navigation errors on operations. Researchers will also be able&nbsp;to use it to explore how uncrewed aircraft traffic can be deconflicted in shared airspace while ensuring safe, efficient, and fair access to the skies for the advanced air mobility services that are expected to proliferate soon.</span></span></span></p>
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            <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item">  <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/futureflight/import/Airbus%20UTM_%20USim_1.png" width="2770" height="1536" alt="The USim platform is being used by agencies such as NASA and Eurocontrol to integrate new aircraft into controlled airspace." title="The USim platform is being used by agencies such as NASA and Eurocontrol to integrate new aircraft into controlled airspace. (Image: Airbus UTM Acubed)">

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            <div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">The USim platform is being used by agencies such as NASA and Eurocontrol to integrate new aircraft into controlled airspace. (Image: Airbus UTM Acubed)</div>
      
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<figcaption>The USim platform is being used by agencies such as NASA and Eurocontrol to integrate new aircraft into controlled airspace. (Image: Airbus UTM Acubed)</figcaption>
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<p><span><span><span>“As a federated system UTM relies on the distributed management of airspace,” Campbell&nbsp;explained in a <a href="https://acubed.airbus.com/blog/airbus-utm/airbus-ut-ms-u-sim-brings-advanced-simulation-technology-to-researchers-exploring-future-traffic-management-operations/">blog published</a> on December 13. “Rather than operating under a centralized management and control authority, UTM is instead served by a network of entities and service providers that manage traffic based on negotiation, the sharing of data, common regulations, and authoritative data. The presence of these varied entities, each with its own priorities, adds an additional layer of complexity to understanding tomorrow’s UTM challenges. Simulation provides an indispensable tool to explore and assess this complexity.”</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>Acubed is taking a cloud-based software-as-a-service approach to deploying the digital twin technology, which it says will help researchers across multiple&nbsp;organizations to use USim for collaborative projects. The company hopes that new users would be able to test the interoperability of their vehicles and operating systems with other stakeholders, rather than doing siloed research that could become obsolete.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>NASA has been using the USim platform to validate its <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-08-05/nasa-steps-urban-air-mobility-automation-trials-vertiport-lab">AAM concept of operations</a>, with Acubed’s sister company Metron Aviation participating in the agency’s <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-06-04/nasa-adds-more-partners-its-advanced-air-mobility-national-campaign">AAM National Campaign</a> as one of seven industry partners. Airbus’s UTM team has also used the technology for work with Eurocontrol to develop the U-Space concept for uncrewed aircraft operations, which&nbsp;is expected to be rolled out in Europe during 2023.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>USim has also been deployed as part of the European Commission-backed SESAR project to modernize air traffic management across the continent. This work has included the AURA project to conduct rapid simulation exercises to validate how U-Space traffic could be integrated into controlled airspace with existing aircraft. This collaborative work is supported by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.</span></span></span></p>
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            <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item">  <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/futureflight/import/CityAirbus%20NextGen%20over%20MUC%20Illustration.jpg" width="2363" height="1565" alt="Airbus and partners are modelling how eVTOL aircraft, like its CityAirbus NextGen, could operate in and around major cities like Munich in Germany." title="Airbus and partners are modeling how eVTOL aircraft, like its CityAirbus NextGen, could operate in and around major cities like Munich in Germany. (Image: Airbus)">

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            <div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Airbus and partners are modeling how eVTOL aircraft, like its CityAirbus NextGen, could operate in and around major cities like Munich in Germany. (Image: Airbus)</div>
      
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<figcaption>Airbus and partners are modeling how eVTOL aircraft like its CityAirbus NextGen could operate in and around major cities like Munich. (Image: Airbus)</figcaption>
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<p><span><span><span>Acubed played a key role in the early stages of <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2021-10-22/how-cityairbus-nextgen-could-be-just-first-movement-advanced-air-mobility">Airbus’s plans</a> to develop an eVTOL aircraft, by building and flight testing the <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2021-11-03/new-airbus-scale-innovation-unit-could-boost-technology-breakthroughs">single-seat Vahana technology demonstrator</a> in 2019. The group subsequently opted to advance its ambitions with the larger <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/aircraft-program/cityairbus-nextgen?model=vahana">CityAirbus NextGen</a> concept, and it is now working to have a <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-07-28/airbus-builds-test-center-work-cityairbus-nextgen-evtol-aircraft">full-scale prototype</a> ready to start flight testing in 2023.</span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Charles Alcock

The USim tool developed by Airbus's Acubed innovation center can simulate thousands of flight hours to help develop uncrewed traffic management and other aspects of the advanced air mobility ecosystem. (Image: Airbus UTM Acubed)

Airbus Offers USim Tool for Fast-track Simulation of Advanced Air Mobility Operations

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