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Objectives
Air traffic management via satellite offers many benefits for the future aeronautical communications infrastructure. Satellites can provide seamless and nearly global coverage over land masses, oceans and remote areas. This gives air traffic controllers enhanced possibilities to guide aircraft efficiently even under adverse conditions.
The Future Communications Infrastructure (FCI), initiated by EUROCONTROL and the FAA will be the key enabler for new ATM services and applications that will bring operational benefits in terms of capacity, efficiency and safety. Currently, great effort is taken in order to enable the transition to the FCI, i. e. the paradigm shift from mainly voice-based communications to mainly data-based communications.
The task of the Iris programme is to develop the satellite infrastructure suitable to support the expected data and voice load. In order to dimension this satellite system appropriately, a qualified idea of the magnitude of the communication load is required.
The University of Salzburg assistance to the Iris project focuses on developing as well as simulating models of the air traffic situation with respect to the timeframe of 2013 and 2025. Thus, the resulting information provided will be of essential value for the dimensioning of the satellite communications system.
Challenges
- Establish an accurate prediction of air traffic to expect,
- Determine the data services destined for the Future Radio System (FRS) most suitable for the Iris satellite communications system,
- Carry out simulations based on the resulting figures of the air traffic estimation simulations as well as the defined data services. As substantial data exchange with an ESA Iris simulator is to be carried out, the exact exchange format has to be specified.,
- After processing by the Iris simulator, the overall results are evaluated.
Plan
The University of Salzburg assistance rendered to ESA consists of several tasks:
- PIAC Estimation,
- Information Volume Simulation,
- Support to Communication Standard Assessment.
The project started in December 2007 and is scheduled for a duration of 9 months.
Current Status
The following tasks have been achieved:
- Estimation of PIAC values,
- Identification of relevant FRS data services,
- Specification of a data exchange format ,
- Completion of the final version of Deliverable 1: PIAC Analysis Report,
- Completion of the final version of Deliverable 2: Volume Analysis Report ,
- Completion of the final version of Deliverable 3: Simulation Tool ICD,
- Extensive generations/simulations of FRS data communications,
- Statistical evaluation of the simulation results as well as the expected flight movements,
- Visualization of performance statistics,
- Evaluation of ICOS and Phoenix projects simulation results.
The project is completed.