The overarching goal of the MECPIP (Mobility-Energy-Coordinated Platform for Infrastructure Planning) project is to develop a mobility-energy-coordinated platform for efficient infrastructure planning to support Advanced-Air-Mobility (AAM) operations. To achieve this goal, the team will collect data from real-world flight tests and battery tests for model validation and calibration; project electric charging demand by modeling flight energy consumption, battery dynamics, and trip requests; assess energy cost, emissions, and reliability from an electric grid perspective; and develop a holistic optimization model for AAM portal siting by considering electric-grid readiness assessment.

This MECPIP project has the potential to contribute towards the aviation community in AAM implementation by (1) collecting full-size AAM vehicle and battery testing data, whose availability is currently limited in the AAM research community; these data are critical to the validation of flight energy consumption models and battery performance research for safe and efficient AAM operations; (2) integrating electric grid assessment models (e.g., energy-cost, emissions, and electric-grid reliability) with existing resources to catalyze the infrastructure coordination between the air transportation industry and electric industry; and (3) synergizing AAM portal siting models with existing infrastructure planning tools by considering unique characteristics of AAM portals.