Data communications between an airplane Airbus A350 and ground infrastructure Master in ...

115 Pages·2014·5.73 MB·English

Data communications between an airplane Airbus A350
and ground infrastructure

João Nuno Pinto Pereira Tavares

Dissertation submitted for obtaining the degree of
Master in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Supervisors: Prof. António José Castelo Branco Rodrigues
Prof. José Eduardo Charters Ribeiro da Cunha Sanguino

Jury
Chairperson: Prof. Fernando Duarte Nunes (IST)
Supervisor: Prof. António José Castelo Branco Rodrigues (IST)
Members of the Committee: Prof. António Luís Campos da Silva Topa (IST)
Eng. Gonçalo Caldeira Carpinteiro (TAP)

April 2014
To the ones I Love…

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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to thank Professor António Rodrigues and Engineer Gonçalo Carpinteiro for
giving me the opportunity to work on a subject I find extremely interesting and motivating, and for
sharing their knowledge and experience.
I am also thankful to Professor António Rodrigues that as my supervisor gave me appreciated
advices, support and guidance. I would also like to thank Professor José Sanguino (co-supervisor) for
helpful discussions and all the support given.
I am very grateful to Eng. Gonçalo Carpinteiro for is valuable time during these past months and for all
the knowledge, experience, and useful advices shared with me.
To all my friends, who taught me how to take the most out of life, and with whom I shared good
friendship moments. All had an impact on the making of this work due to their encouragement and
motivation.
Last but not least, I would like to give a special thanks to my Parents, Grandparents and brother for all
their faith in me, for all their support in every day of my life, and for all their love. All that I will ever
achieve I own it to you. Also I would like to thank to rest of my family, who have always have been
there for me. Without you this work wouldn’t become possible.

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Abstract
Abstract
The future Airbus A350 is within the next generation of aircrafts that aim to be an extended part of the
airline’s network. The main purpose of this work was to evaluate the benefits of the Wi-Fi Gatelink and
the AMEX over IP selectable options, and to define communication profiles to transmit data items over
IP networks. Taking into account the normal utilization of TAP’s long haul fleet, data scenarios were
built in order to assess the expected throughput requirements. Supported by measurements
performed in Lisbon airport ramp and hangar, the throughput achieved by Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11a, b, g)
and cellular (GPRS, EDGE, UMTS) communication technologies allowed to conclude that the Wi-Fi
Gatelink option should be selected. Moreover, taking into account the technologies available in each
operational scenario (including Wi-Fi), and the characteristics of the data items, four communication
profiles were defined: Flight, Ground and Flight, Ground, and Ground (large and low priority data).
Analysing the costs per MB associated to each transmission technology, as well as the expected
amount of data transmitted using AMEX over IP, allowed to calculate savings of about 6700€ to
26800€ per year, for each aircraft. Finally, an analysis of the impact of e-Operations on passengers’
connectivity revealed that the forecasted amount of data to be transmitted regarding e-Operations is
not large enough to have a significant impact.
Keywords
A350, Wi-Fi, Cellular, AMEX, IP Connectivity, Throughput.

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Resumo
Resumo
O futuro Airbus A350 pertence à próxima geração de aeronaves que pretendem ser mais um nó da
rede na infraestrutura da companhia aérea. O principal objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar se seria
benéfico adquirir as opções Wi-Fi Gatelink e AMEX sobre IP, assim como definir perfis de
comunicação para transmitir itens de dados sobre redes IP. Foram construídos cenários de dados
tendo em conta a utilização típica da frota de longo curso da TAP, com o objectivo de avaliar
requisitos de débito binário. Com o suporte de medições realizadas no aeroporto de Lisboa e no
hangar, concluiu-se que devido ao débito alcançado pelas tecnologias Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11a,b,g) e
comunicação móveis (GPRS, EDGE, UMTS), a opção Wi-Fi Gatelink deve ser selecionada. Por sua
vez, com base nas tecnologias disponíveis em cada cenário operacional (incluindo Wi-Fi), e nas
características dos itens de dados, foram definidos quatro perfis de comunicação: Flight, Ground and
Flight, Ground, and Ground (large and low priority data). Ao analisar os custos por MB associados a
cada um dos métodos de transmissão, bem como a quantidade previsível de dados transmitidos por
uma aeronave que utilize AMEX sobre IP, concluiu-se que num ano seria possível economizar entre
cerca de 6700€ e 26.800 € por aeronave. Por último, conclui-se ainda que a quantidade prevista de
dados associados a operações de voo e manutenção não é grande o suficiente para ter um impacto
significativo na conectividade dos passageiros.
Palavras-chave
A350, Wi-Fi, Celular, AMEX, Conectividade IP, Débito Binário.

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ................................................................................. iv

Abstract ................................................................................................... vi

Resumo .................................................................................................. vii

Table of Contents ................................................................................... viii

List of Figures .......................................................................................... xi

List of Tables .......................................................................................... xii

List of Acronyms .................................................................................... xiv

1
  Introduction .......................................................................................... 1

1.1
  Overview ......................................................................................................... 2

1.2
  Motivation and Contents ................................................................................. 3

2
  Aircraft Domain .................................................................................... 5

2.1
  Aircraft Systems .............................................................................................. 6

2.1.1
  Aircraft on-board network architecture ........................................................................... 6

2.1.2
  Data transmission network architecture ....................................................................... 10

2.2
  Data Transmission ........................................................................................ 12

2.2.1
  Different Data Categories ............................................................................................. 12

2.2.2
  Data Items .................................................................................................................... 13

2.2.3
  Data Scenarios ............................................................................................................. 15

2.3
  Operational Scenarios ................................................................................... 17

2.3.1
  Transit in Portugal ........................................................................................................ 18

2.3.2
  Transit in an Outstation ................................................................................................ 19

2.3.3
  Line Inspection ............................................................................................................. 20

2.3.4
  Light Inspection ............................................................................................................ 21

2.3.5
  Heavy Inspection .......................................................................................................... 22

2.3.6
  Aircraft on Ground (AOG) ............................................................................................ 23

2.3.7
  Flight ............................................................................................................................ 24

3
  Communication Technologies ........................................................... 26

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3.1
  Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) ....................................... 27

3.1.1
  Network architecture .................................................................................................... 27

3.1.2
  Radio interface and performance ................................................................................. 28

3.1.3
  Security and vulnerability to interferences ................................................................... 28

3.1.4
  QoS ............................................................................................................................ 30

3.2
  General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) ........................................................ 30

3.2.1
  Network architecture .................................................................................................... 30

3.2.2
  Radio interface and performance ................................................................................. 32

3.2.3
  Security and vulnerability to interferences ................................................................... 32

3.2.4
  QoS ............................................................................................................................ 33

3.2.5
  Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) .................................................... 35

3.3
  Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) ................................. 35

3.3.1
  Network architecture .................................................................................................... 35

3.3.2
  Radio interface and performance ................................................................................. 36

3.3.3
  Security and vulnerability to interferences ................................................................... 37

3.3.4
  QoS ............................................................................................................................ 38

3.3.5
  High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) ............................................................................. 40

3.4
  Long Term Evolution (LTE) ........................................................................... 42

3.4.1
  Network architecture .................................................................................................... 42

3.4.2
  Radio interface and performance ................................................................................. 44

3.4.3
  Security and vulnerability to interferences ................................................................... 44

3.4.4
  QoS ............................................................................................................................ 45

3.5
  IEEE 802.11 .................................................................................................. 46

3.5.1
  Network architecture .................................................................................................... 46

3.5.2
  Radio interface and performance ................................................................................. 48

3.5.3
  Security and vulnerability to interferences ................................................................... 50

3.5.4
  QoS ............................................................................................................................ 51

3.6
  SATCOM SwiftBroadband (SBB) .................................................................. 52

3.6.1
  Network architecture .................................................................................................... 52

3.6.2
  Radio interface ............................................................................................................. 53

3.6.3
  Coverage ...................................................................................................................... 54

3.6.4
  Performance and QoS ................................................................................................. 55

3.6.5
  Security ........................................................................................................................ 56

3.7
  Availability ..................................................................................................... 57

3.8
  Communication technologies: final considerations ....................................... 58

4
  Data connectivity ............................................................................... 59

4.1
  Wi-Fi Gatelink ................................................................................................ 60

4.1.1
  Performance measurements: objectives and software tools ........................................ 60

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4.1.2
  Measurements and performance ................................................................................. 62

4.1.3
  Results analysis ........................................................................................................... 67

4.2
  IMACS parameterization ............................................................................... 69

4.2.1
  IMACS .......................................................................................................................... 70

4.2.2
  Linking data categories with transmission technologies .............................................. 71

4.2.3
  Communication means definition ................................................................................. 73

4.2.4
  Recommendations on IMPORT function management ................................................ 77

4.3
  Service Level Agreements ............................................................................ 78

4.3.1
  SLA recommendations ................................................................................................. 78

5
  Flight connectivity .............................................................................. 79

5.1
  AMEX over IP ................................................................................................ 80

5.1.1
  Flight transmission scenarios ....................................................................................... 80

5.1.2
  Transmission costs ...................................................................................................... 81

5.1.3
  Transmission performance and Data scenario ............................................................ 82

5.1.4
  Decision ....................................................................................................................... 82

5.2
  Impact of e-operations on PAX connectivity ................................................. 83

5.2.1
  Air traffic considerations ............................................................................................... 84

5.2.2
  Satcom SBB availability ............................................................................................... 85

5.2.3
  Satcom SBB performance ............................................................................................ 86

5.2.4
  Flight data considerations ............................................................................................ 86

5.2.5
  Managing e-operations and PAX connectivity coexistence ......................................... 87

6
  Conclusions ....................................................................................... 89

References ............................................................................................. 93

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