Optimal multi-floor vertiport layout design

Urban air mobility has emerged as a promising solution for alleviating traffic congestion and enhancing mobility in densely populated areas. Given the safety risks associated with urban environments, such as tall buildings and other obstacles, the spaces available for vertiports are highly constrained. To address these challenges, vertiport layouts must be optimized to ensure efficient resource utilization and maximize operational capacity. This article introduces a multi-floor vertiport layout problem that determines optimal designs by considering both spatial availability and operational constraints. Unlike previous studies, which often determined vertiport layouts heuristically based on representative topologies, the proposed approach guarantees the optimality of the resulting layout design and is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of constraints. Two illustrative examples of optimal vertiport layouts—single-level and multi-level—are presented, demonstrating practical applications of the proposed optimization problem. The findings of this study provide valuable insights to support decision-making for vertiport planners, constructors and operators.