HOW SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT AIR TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE: A EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY CONTRIBUTION TO THE SINGLE EUROPEAN SKY AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT RESEARCH INITIATIVE

摘要

The steady growth in air traffic in Europe may soon reach a limit in dense areas, due to the shortage of air/ground communication capacity between aircraft and air traffic control centres in the VHF band. To address the issue, the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) programme shall implement a new ATM System for 2020. That system could either be solely terrestrial-based or make use of satellites complementing the terrestrial system, depending on the respective technical and economic merits of each solution. Satellite communications offer several advantages, however satellites have been scarcely used by aviation for ATM so far, mostly in low-density airspace, and several misgivings stand in the way of serious consideration being given to their capabilities. Given this context, the European Space Agency has started the Iris initiative under the umbrella of ESA's programme of Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES). The present paper shall present users requirements, explain the role satellite communications can play, present the Iris Programme and provide a preliminary overview of the ATM system design.