Hostname: page-component-77c78cf97d-tlp4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-23T22:55:04.070Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Towards a new approach to ensure end-to-end reliability of aeronautical data communications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2025

V. Lala Open the ORCID record for V. Lala [Opens in a new window] ,
A. Pirovano Open the ORCID record for A. Pirovano [Opens in a new window]  and
J. Radzik Open the ORCID record for J. Radzik [Opens in a new window]
V. Lala*
Affiliation:
Fédération ENAC ISAE-SUPAERO ONERA, Université de Toulouse, France
A. Pirovano
Affiliation:
Fédération ENAC ISAE-SUPAERO ONERA, Université de Toulouse, France
J. Radzik
Affiliation:
Fédération ENAC ISAE-SUPAERO ONERA, Université de Toulouse, France
*
Corresponding author: V. Lala; Email: soa-valencia.lala@enac.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The aeronautical telecommunication network (ATN) aims to provide reliable end-to-end communications even for those including the air-to-ground segment and in particular for data link applications. The existing ATN, known as ATN/OSI, is based on OSI protocols since its first deployment. The OSI model implementation in ATN communicating entities causes great complexity in network management, particularly in terms of Internet network interoperability. Therefore, since 2010, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) proposed a migration to ATN over Internet protocol suite (IPS), called ATN/IPS. Thus, this research work focuses on specifying the reliability mechanisms required for air ground data link applications in future ATN/IPS. To achieve this, the transport protocols performance is assessed based on simulations using an ATN model developed considering the ICAO standards. The modeled legacy application enables to generate traffic based on real controller-pilot data link communications (CPDLC) log files from French area control centre (ACC). The air-to-ground subnetworks are characterised using time series delay induced from previously modeled VDL Mode 2 data link analysis. As proof-of-concept, CPDLC messages exchange from aircraft to controller and future applications that transmits heavier files from ground-to-board are simulated. Transport protocols performance are evaluated with respect to the most constraining requirements. The simulation results highlighted the limitations of both connection-oriented transport protocol class 4 (COTP4) and TCP. This enabled to provide a preliminary overview of a new QUIC-like reliable protocol that should meet the heterogeneous requirements of the legacy and the eventual future ATN/IPS applications.

Keywords

Data link communicationend-to-end reliabilityATN/IPSCOTP4TCP

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 129 , Issue 1334 , April 2025 , pp. 1001 - 1027
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal Aeronautical Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Apaza, R.D. and Popescu, L. The way to the future has already started: ICAO Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN) using Internet Protocol Suite (IPS) Standards and Protocol evolution update, IEEE/AIAA 37th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), 2018, pp 1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahmoud, M.S.B., Pirovano, A. and Larrieu, N. Aeronautical communication transition from analog to digital data: A network security survey, Comput. Sci. Rev., 2014, 11, pp 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ICAO. Technical Specifications for ATN using ISO/OSI Standards and Protocols, Part III – Upper Layer Communications Service (ULCS) and Internet Communications Service (ICS), ICAO Doc 9880, 2016, second ed.Google Scholar
ICAO. Manual for the ATN Using IPS Standards And Protocols, ICAO Doc 9896, 2010, first ed.Google Scholar
ICAO. Manual for the ATN Using IPS Standards And Protocols, ICAO Doc 9896, 2015, second ed.Google Scholar
RTCA Special Committee 214. RTCA DO-350A/EUROCAE ED-228A Safety and Performance Requirements Standard for Baseline 2 ATS Data Communications (Baseline 2 SPR Standard), RTCA/EUROCAE, March 2016.Google Scholar
Eurocontrol European Aviation Challenges of Growth, Brussels, Belgium, Technical Report 2, Autumn/Winter Skyway, 2018. Available Online, Accessed October 15, 2024, https://www.eurocontrol.int/sites/default/files/publication/files/2018-autumn-winter-skyway-issue-69.pdfurl.Google Scholar
Federal Aviation Administration Commitments, Implementation, and Plan, NextGen Annual Report, 2020. Available Online, Accessed October 15, 2024, https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-06/NextGenAnnualReport-FiscalYear2020.pdfurl.Google Scholar
ICAO Manual of Technical Provisions for the Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN), ICAO Doc 9705, third ed.Google Scholar
ICAO. Manual On Detailed Technical Specifications For The Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN) Using ISO/OSI Standards And Protocols - Part I - Air-Ground Applications, ICAO Doc 9880, 2016, second ed.Google Scholar
ICAO. Manual On Detailed Technical Specifications For The Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN) Using ISO/OSI Standards And Protocols, Part IIB : Ground-Ground Application – ATS Message Handling Service (ATSMHS), ICAO Doc 9880, 2016, second ed.Google Scholar
ICAO. Manual On Detailed Technical Specifications For The Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN) Using ISO/OSI Standards And Protocols, Part IIA : Ground-Ground Application – ATS Interfacility Data Communications (AIDC), ICAO Doc 9880, second ed.Google Scholar
ICAO. Global Operational Data Link Document (GOLD), ICAO, 2013, second ed.Google Scholar
Fantappiè, P., et al. Future Communications Infrastructure (FCI) Functional Requirements Document (FRD), Program H2020-SESAR-2015-2, Deliverable D5.2.010, Ref. Ares(2018)3966781, June 2018. Available Online, Accessed June 14, 2024, https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e5bc833861appId=PPGMSurl.Google Scholar
Postel, J. Transmission Control Protocol, RFC 793, September 1981, doi: 10.17487/RFC0793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, V., Braden, R. and Borman, D. TCP Extensions for High Performance, RFC 1323, doi: 10.17487/RFC1323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Postel, J. User Datagram Protocol, RFC Editor, RFC 768, doi: 10.17487/RFC0768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deering, S. and Hinden, R. Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification, RFC Editor, RFC 2460, doi: 10.17487/RFC2460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polese, M., Chiariotti, F., Bonetto, E., Rigotto, F., Zanella, A. and Zorzi, M. A survey on recent advances in transport layer protocols, IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutorials, 2019, 21, (4), pp 3584–3608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhee, I., Xu, L., Ha, S., Zimmermann, A., Eggert, L. and Scheffenegger, R. CUBIC for Fast Long-Distance Networks, RFC 8312, February 2018, doi: 10.17487/RFC8312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iyengar, J. and Swett, I. (Eds) QUIC Loss Detection and Congestion Control, RFC 9002, May 2021, doi: 10.17487/RFC9002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mascolo, S. and Grieco, L. Additive increase early adaptive decrease mechanism for TCP congestion control, 10th International Conference on Telecommunications, ICT 2003, vol. 1, pp 818–825.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allman, M., Paxson, V. and Blanton, E. TCP Congestion Control, RFC 5681, September 2009, doi: 10.17487/RFC5681.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Özmen, S., Hamzaoui, R. and Chen, F. Survey of IP-based air-to-ground data link communication technologies, J. Transp. Manag., 2024, 116, pp 102579.Google Scholar
Ehammer, M., Gräupl, T. and Rokitansky, C-H. TCP/IP over aeronautical communication systems–Effects on bandwidth consumption, IEEE/AIAA 28th Digital Avionics Systems Conference, IEEE, 2009, pp 4–A.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EUROCONTROL/FAA. Communications Operating Concept and Requirements for the Future Radio System, COCR Version 2.0, May 2007, Available Online, Accessed October 15, 2024, https://www.eurocontrol.int/sites/default/files/field_tabs/content/documents/communications/cocr-future-radio-system-v.2.pdfurl.Google Scholar
Muhammad, M., de Cola, T., Kissling, C. and Berioli, M. Reliable aeronautical services protocol: motivation, design, and performance, IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), IEEE, 2013, pp 3003–3008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lala, V., Pirovano, A. and Radzik, J. Rationale for a new transport protocol in the aeronautical telecommunication network, IEEE/AIAA 42nd Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), October 2023, pp 1–8, doi: 10.1109/DASC58513.2023.10311286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langley, A., et al. The QUIC transport protocol: design and internet-scale deployment, In SIGCOMM, ACM, 2017, pp 183–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, T., Floyd, S., Gurtov, A. and Nishida, Y. The NewReno Modification to TCP’s Fast Recovery Algorithm, RFC 6582, April 2012, doi: 10.17487/RFC6582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Honda, M., Huici, F., Raiciu, C., Araújo, J. and Rizzo, L. Rekindling network protocol innovation with user-level stacks, ACM Comput. Commun. Rev., 2014, 44, (2), pp 52–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karn, P. and Partridge, C. Improving round-trip time estimates in reliable transport protocols, SIGCOMM 87Proceedings of the ACM Workshop on Frontiers in Computer Communications Technology, August 1987.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvinen, I., Kojo, M., Raitahila, I. and Cao, Z. Fast-Slow Retransmission Timeout and Congestion Control Algorithm for CoAP, RFC, https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-jarvinen-core-fasor-02.html.Google Scholar
Paxson, V., Allman, M., Chu, J. and Sargent, M. Computing TCP’s Retransmission Timer, June 2011, RFC 6298, doi: 10.17487/RFC6298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, V. Congestion avoidance and control, Comput. Commun. Rev., 1988, 18, (4), pp 314–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar