Enhanced digital air-ground communications for a safer, more efficient aviation ecosystem

The SESAR-supported and European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) funded ATN Multilink Expansion in European Airspace (AMEA) project is on a mission: to address the increasing congestion of Europe's current networks. To do so, it's working to accelerate the modernisation of air traffic management (ATM).

As air traffic continues to grow and airspace operations become increasingly complex, the aviation industry demands reliable and secure digital communication solutions capable of improving efficiency, safety and sustainability.

Helping to answer that demand is AMEA.

With the aim of driving the transition towards a data-driven ATM system, the SESAR JU-supported demonstrator project looks to enable a robust, secure and multilink air-ground communication ecosystem.

"We want to deliver the solutions that will support the future needs of European aviation - a future where aircraft in the sky, infrastructure and terrestrial networks on the ground and satellites orbiting in space all operate as a fully connected and secure digital aviation network," says Carsten Schwarz, AMEAproject coordinator and Programme Manager for Emerging Capabilities at Collins Aerospace.

AMEA is demonstrating the future hybrid air-ground communications network for aviation, where a multilink ecosystem combining VHF, satellite and cellular communications enables seamless switching between terrestrial and satellite links, intelligently routes data across multiple paths, and provides greater availability, global coverage and high-bandwidth connectivity to support safer, greener, more resilient and more digital air traffic management.

Accelerating the adoption of the Iris satellite communication service

Building on the achievements of the ESMA demonstrator project, AMEA is accelerating the adoption of the Iris satellite communication service by trialling next-generation air-to-ground communication technologies in European airspace. "While ESMA successfully validated the initial capabilities of these multi-link technologies, AMEA marks a decisive step forward by moving from technical and operational validation to mass demonstration," explains Schwarz.

One of those steps involves accelerating the deployment and validation of the Iris satellite datalink communication service.

The satellite-based data communication system, which was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Viasat, is designed to modernise ATM by allowing aircraft to securely share internet-based flight data via L-band satellite connections. The aim is to alleviate pressure on the terrestrial VHF radio link currently being used and to provide the required level of performance for Automatic Dependent Surveillance Contract (ATS-B2), a datalink-based technology that allows different types of information to be obtained directly from the aircraft's flight management system without pilot interaction.

"Thanks to AMEA, Iris connectivity will be expanded to Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) through the routers and the communication service provider's connections," says Schwarz. "AMEA will also ensure coordination between the ground service providers responsible for delivering Iris to all users."

CINEA has provided funding to further incentivise airlines to install and activate the necessary airborne communication systems for utilising Iris.

Enabling secure digital communication through ATN/IPS

In a second lab-based demonstration exercise, AMEA will further mature the avionics and ground infrastructure of the next generation of communication protocols: the aeronautical telecommunication network internet protocol suite (ATN/IPS).

The goal of the demonstration is to show how air and ground communication can be kept secure from start to finish. To do so, it will use a special system to manage digital security keys called Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

"PKI is a security framework that enables secure digital communication by managing cryptographic keys and digital certificates," explains Schwarz. "It ensures the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of data exchanged over networks, countries, airspaces and continents."

The demonstration will also focus on making sure different communication networks work well together and that new aircraft systems can connect smoothly with older air traffic control systems using special gateways to help them talk to each other.

The implementation of the ATN/IPS will affect the entire communication chain from end-to-end, including ground infrastructure, data links and avionics.

Accelerating the transition to the Digital European Sky

All the project's solutions and operational use cases will be tested and validated via large-scale and lab-based demonstrations in real operational environments and involving equipped aircraft, airline operators, and communication service and technology providers, as well as ANSPs.

While the project has yet to start the validation exercises and flight tests, the AMEA team is confident the project has built a solid foundation from which it can deliver on its goal of enabling a multilink air-ground communication ecosystem.

That confidence is rooted in the fact that the project consortium brings together a critical mass of leading aircraft manufacturers, communication service providers, avionics suppliers, airlines and ANSPs, each of which brings the expertise, resources and vision needed to manage the complex integration and expansion of multilink capabilities across Europe. "Aligning all these key stakeholders behind common goals and objectives during the short proposal phase is the foundation of our future success," says Schwarz.

According to the project consortium, that future will be one defined by a seamless and complementary combination of terrestrial and space-based communication systems capable of enhancing communication resilience, increasing airspace capacity and, ultimately, accelerating the transition to the Digital European Sky.

"By enhancing digital air-ground communications across the European airspace, AMEA will help deliver a safer, more efficient and more resilient aviation ecosystem," concludes Schwarz.

Follow the demonstrator's progress.