Prospects of Urban Air Mobility in Belgrade, Serbia

The idea of urban air mobility is steadily gaining popularity for its enormous potential to radically change the way modern cities are functioning and are being planned. In its present form, it relies on numerous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) of different sizes that will perform a number of tasks: deliveries, transport, surveillance and control, etc. On the other hand, to progress further, urban air mobility will also require abundant infrastructure on the ground (heliports, charging stations, communication hubs, etc.) as well as large amounts of energy that should be generated primarily from renewable resources. There are still many technological challenges to solve, such as efficient aircraft design, quiet rotors, electrical propulsion and storage, autonomous flight, optimized routes, etc. This paper describes an initial study of possible operation of several different UAVs (from the smallest to medium size) including the estimation of their required power and expected performance (such as useful weight, range and endurance) and proposes some options for future urban air mobility over Belgrade