Keynote speakers

Thursday’s keynote

Guillaume Malaval

Noise Expert – Environment & Sustainability, European Union Aviation Safety Agency, Europe

Approach to noise regulation of unmanned aircraft in the European Union

EASA approach to noise regulation of UAS („drones”) below 600 kgs and the noise certification of VTOL-capable aircrafts (VCA) will be introduced.


Friday’s keynote

Dr. Stephen A. Rizzi

Senior Researcher for Aeroacoustics, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA

Dr. Stephen Rizzi is the NASA Senior Researcher for Aeroacoustics.  He leads a diverse research team focusing on development of revolutionary tools and methods for perception-Influenced acoustic design of transformative air vehicles, with application to all of NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate programs.  He is author/co-author of over 175 journal and conference publications and is recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal for „sustained and exceptional contributions to the acoustics discipline.”  He is a Fellow of the AIAA, past-Chair of the AIAA Aeroacoustics Technical Committee, and Co-Lead of the NASA Urban Air Mobility Noise Working Group.   

Dr. Rizzi received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University, and his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Community Noise Impact of Urban Air Mobility Vehicle Operations

Advanced air mobility (AAM) missions, carried out by electrically driven air vehicles, are characterized by ranges of less than about 300-500 nm (about 500-900 km) and include both rural and urban operations.  The missions may include public transportation, cargo delivery, air taxi, and emergency response.  While the urban air mobility (UAM) subset of AAM is projected to have high economic benefit, it is also the most difficult to develop because it must overcome many barriers, including those associated with the airspace system, safety, and community noise.

This presentation focuses on the utilization of UAM source noise data for assessment of community noise impact.  Although a limited number of acoustic flight measurement campaigns have been made to characterize the source noise of prototype and preproduction UAM aircraft, prediction-based approaches are primarily considered herein.  Following conceptual design, in which the vehicle is appropriately sized for its intended mission, a comprehensive analysis must be performed for a range of operating conditions spanning the flight envelope to determine the corresponding configurations of the vehicle, that is, the trimmed states.  For each trimmed state, the noise produced by each source, for example, steady and unsteady rotor noise, may be computed and so-called source noise (hemi)spheres generated.  An example source noise hemisphere for a 6-passenger quadrotor reference vehicle in cruise is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: NASA quadrotor reference vehicle (left) and A-weighted overall sound pressure level for loading and thickness noise component (right).

These source data may subsequently be used in various community noise impact analyses.  Several use cases are presented including those supporting noise certification and those for auralizations that may, in turn, be used as part of a perception-influenced design process. Land use planning tools for generating noise exposure maps, including those using simulation and integrated modeling approaches, are also presented.  Finally, use cases supporting development of low noise flight operations, including an acoustic flight simulator and acoustically aware flight control, are considered.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology Project and Transformational Tools and Technologies Project.