9th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting & 8th Annual Electric VTOL Symposium
Jan. 26–28, 2021
Virtual
Call for Papers — abstract deadline extended to Oct. 1!
Overview
Technical experts from industry, academia and government will speak at the Vertical Flight Society’s 8th Annual Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Symposium and 9th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting, to be held completely virtually on Jan. 26-28, 2021. The meeting will feature technical papers and presentation related to autonomous VTOL aircraft, while the Symposium will feature invited presentations, panel sessions and discussions on electric and hybrid electric VTOL aircraft, with a focus on urban air mobility.
8th Annual eVTOL Symposium
Electric and hybrid-electric propulsion is an exciting new approach to vertical flight aircraft design and the 8th Annual eVTOL Symposium is a unique opportunity for designers, developers, innovators, investors, regulators, infrastructure providers, end users, media and key influencers to share knowledge and work towards realizing the eVTOL revolution. This is also a tremendous networking opportunity for those new to the VTOL industry.
The Vertical Flight Society has been leading efforts in electric VTOL with workshops starting in 2014, and the Electric VTOL News website, featuring the World eVTOL Aircraft Directory.
9th Biennial Autonomous VTOL Technical Meeting
The 21st century has seen a continued emphasis on Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) and greater autonomy and automation for both military and civilian applications. Unmanned aircraft are in varying stages of development all over the world, and continue to expand into the civil and military sectors for a variety of uses. Autonomy is being used to unmanned versions of manned helicopters for dull, dirty and dangerous military cargo missions. In addition, the operator-interface and human factors can be one of the most significant contributions to UAS safety and successful operations. Correspondingly, technologies and regulation are being developed to safely operate UAS, and integrate them into commercial and military airspace.
Meanwhile, automation and various levels of autonomy are being used in modern civil helicopter cockpits, while the military’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) aircraft will need to be optionally-manned or optimally-manned. Autonomy is also a key enabler for new classes of vehicles for civil missions — such as personal air vehicles, urban air mobility and air taxi missions — using electric or hybrid-electric propulsion (eVTOL).
This biennial meeting is an excellent opportunity to learn about and discuss with academic, industry, and military engineers from around the world the latest advancements in manned/unmanned, electric/hybrid/turboshaft-powered, and civil/military autonomous VTOL aircraft technology.
Invitation: Papers are invited in the areas of autonomous or unmanned air vehicles and control stations, including the following:
- Civilian and military platforms of all sizes, ranging from micro vehicles (MAVs) through full-scale manned aircraft, and the full range of autonomy and associated enabling technologies
- Fully autonomous, ground-controlled, and optionally manned vehicles
- All aspects of operator interface design
- Air vehicle and operator control stations
Download the Call for Papers for more information.
Short Course:
A 1-day Short Course on Electric VTOL Design will be taught onsite on Monday, Jan. 25 (8 am - 5 pm), the day before the conference and symposium begins. The course will be taught by Dr. James Wang, one of the leading figures in electric VTOL aircraft development.