Fiber-like aircraft satellite communications : FAST, an Aerospace Valley project - system architecture and protocol stack design

Abstract : Aeronautical communications systems are experiencing a fast evolution due to digital migration which demands new perspectives and solutions in order to define a reliable data link communication. This paper presents a project called FAST: Fiber-like Aircraft Satellite communications. The project is funded by Aerospace Valley (a competitiveness cluster for aeronautics, space and embedded systems) in France and gathers industrial and academic partners. The objective is to design a versatile satellite communication system and to develop and demonstrate key technologies (active antenna, proxies' software ...). A focus will be placed in this paper on the global system design, the definition of supported services and the network and protocols structure. The main challenge is to converge heterogeneous traffics on the same satellite link with high reliability and availability. The proposed services cover classical aeronautical communications ATC/AOC along with "new generation" services such as telemedicine and On-board Security surveillance.