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ATC A service provided for the purposes of: a) preventing collisions between aircraft and
in the manoeuvring area between aircraft and obstructions; and b) expediting and
maintaining an orderly flow of air traffic. - STANAG 4586
FIS-B Flight Information Service - Broadcast
R Request
UA Unmanned Aircraft
Notes
payload communications requirements (such as ground monitoring video data) are
considered to be a separate issue from the command and control requirements
the GPS navigation signals received from the US GPS satellites at 1,575.42 MHz (the
civilian L1 signal) and at 1,227.60 MHz (the civilian L2 signal) are acknowledged, but are
excluded from the following discussion
for Beyond-Line-Of-Sight operation of the UA, we assume a Sense and Avoid system is
fitted and operational in the UA, and that this system operates autonomously on the
UA, with reports of what is sensed and being tracked included in the status reports
which are transmitted each second
for video data transmission via a satellite link, we have suggested the use of MPEG-2
video compression in which a 720 x 480 pixel frame at a rate of 30 frames per second
requires a bit rate of about 4 Mbps.
EUROCONTROL, FAA and ICAO plan to equip high traffic densities areas with ATC data
links for man and unmanned aircrafts by 2020. The ATC data link will require an
availability of 99.999% and must meet the 95th percentile one-way transit times shown
in the following table (from Pelmoine):
Domain Threshold Objective
En Route 3.0 sec 1.5 sec
Tower 3.0 sec 1.5 sec
Terminal 3.0 sec 1.5 sec
Here are the communications requirements we derive from the following scenarios.
Notes
The GSM 900 / 1800 link is used to reduce the latency in satellite communication link,
but the satellite link is also used to ensure back-up in the event of failure, or,
unavailability of the GSM link.
The Sense and Avoid (S+A) system, if fitted, functions autonomously and no S+A video
information is relayed back to the GCS.
COFDM can be used as a modulation scheme to transmit video information from the UA
at or near the airport to a GCS that is within LOS of the UA on an ISM band, such as the
5.8 GHz ISM band. The 5.8 GHz ISM band has a contiguous 125 MHz bandwidth that can
be subdivided into 15 channels of 8 MHz each for the purposes of video information
transmission. This band is at present not as heavily used as the 2.4 GHz ISM band, which
is heavily used for WLAN communications links. It must be noted that COFDM is
sensitive to Doppler shift, and is degraded in situations where the difference in speed
between the transmitter on the UA and the receiver at the static ground station exceeds
185 kph.
From gate to take-off
Case 1A
From landing to gate
R engine start
VHF channel x (TWR - UA)
voice relay: TWR, ATC to UA R push back
VHF channel y (ATC - UA)
voice relay: UA to TWR, ATC R taxi clearance
VHF FM 118 - 132 MHz
R take off
Notes
If a field is used rather than an airport, then Case 1B is as per Case 1A, except that there
will be no ATC communications.
Notes
sensing of obstacles on
the runway
3 OFF video cameras
sensing runway and runway continuous for situation awareness
each MPEG-2 at 4 Mbps
number and following
via SAT COMMS link
reading signs beside the
runway
ATC acknowledge
(1) GSM 900 / 1800
latency of SatComms link
digitised (eg. using CELP) modem
voice: could be a problem
(2) satellite phone
need live link through take-
downlink UA to GCS modem
off sequence
uplink GCS to UA 4.8 kbps of a 9.6 kbps
availability / integrity is
link
safety critical
R engine start
VHF CH x (TWR - UA)
voice relay: TWR, ATC to UA R push back
VHF CH y (ATC - UA)
voice relay: UA to TWR, ATC R taxi clearance
VHF FM 118 - 132 MHz
R take off
picked up on VHF CH z
relayed via GSM
weather FIS information 900/1800 not time critical
back-up is 4.8 kbps SAT
comms voice relay link
Notes
If a field is used rather than an airport, then Case 1D is as per Case 1C, except that there
will be no ATC communications.
This case could also apply to an emergency landing situation.
Notes
Emergency management
picked up on VHF CH z
relayed via GSM
weather FIS information 900/1800 not time critical
back-up is 4.8 kbps SAT
comms voice relay link
Notes
Emergency management
UA status monitoring
data downlink UA to SAT to GCS satellite phone modem
1 msg / second
data uplink GCS to SAT to UA 4.8 kbps of a 9.6 kbps link
UA control
Notes
Emergency management
ATC identified
UA identified
S+A system failure: detected and reported: flag emergency to ATC
S+A system failure: not detected and / or not reported: not serious in oceanic arena:
serious if UA then processed into more crowded air space on land.
Case 3B Cruise / mission
UA status monitoring
data downlink UA to SAT to GCS satellite phone modem
1 msg / second
data uplink GCS to SAT to UA 4.8 kbps of a 9.6 kbps link
UA control
Notes
latency in a satellite communication link is considered tolerable
GSM 900 / 1800 coverage unreliable or unavailable
Emergency management
ATC identified
UA identified
S+A system failure: detected and reported: flag emergency to ATC and / or perform
emergency landing
** The above information was jointly developed by Tony Henley and Joe Barnard.