Aircraft Data Networks Research Articles

Cloud based VoIP Application in Aircraft Data Networks

There has been a high increase in air traffic for the past ten years and to attract more customers many in-flight facilities are introduced by the carriers. These include Video-OnDemand, use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) etc. To provide these facilities the VoIP technology is used more often. But maintaining VoIP infrastructure along with the Aircraft Data Network equipment’s will be more cumbersome for the carriers, along with the added infrastructure cost. Thus an improvised architecture has been proposed which helps carriers provide these facilities to the customers in a cost effective and reliable manner. Most of the aircraft communications to the ground rely on satellite for providing these services to the customers. The proposed method uses satellite communication along with cloud based VoIP to provide an efficient quality of service to the passengers. The ground stations used for satellite communication would be connected to a high speed Storage Area Network, to which the cloud network on which the VoIP application is running is also connected. So that whenever a passenger on the flight sends a message/data to the VoIP application first it would be send to the ground stations via the satellite which is then accessed through the SAN server, thus in turn providing faster, reliable and efficient communication to the customers.

The Evolution of Aircraft Data Networks

paper presents the evolution of Aircraft Data Networks (ADN)'s. It describes various Avionics data network protocols based on the Avionics systems architecture. The paper describes the evolution from a simple point-to-point protocol presented in ARINC 429 to a shared data bus protocol presented in ARINC 629. Finally, the new Data network based on AFDX (Avionics Full-duplex Ethernet) is discussed. AFDX is a new standard based on Ethernet technology and able to handle today's requirements. A brief comparison between the three different protocols is presented. The comparison shows that AFDX provides better performance and flexibility without losing the compliance with safety, redundancy and reliability of Avionics requirements

A Robust Physical Layer for Aircraft Data Networks Based on MIL-STD-1553

A Robust Physical Layer for Aircraft Data Networks Based on MIL-STD-1553

Air data systems - integrated multi system wireless networks

Aircraft data networks are fast becoming more of a necessity due to their support for user mobility. Many aircraft manufacturers are planning to deploy data networks within their airplanes and provide internet connectivity to their passengers. While a data network within the aircraft and passenger access to it causes some security concerns, it open up some safety enhancement opportunities. With internet connectivity within the airplane, the activity within the airplane can be monitored in real-time from the ground station. Also, using the high bandwidth satellite links, the flight critical data could be downloaded to a server in the ground station in real-time flight or periodically, thereby enabling real-time flight status monitoring. In a multi-system environment where a mobile node can utilize multiple interfaces and simultaneously connect to multiple providers, new opportunities exist for efficient location management strategies spanning heterogeneous cellular wireless networks. An integrated framework is developed for location management in such a multi-system, fourth generation (4G) wireless networks. This information-theoretic framework allows each individual sub-system to operate fairly independently, and does not require the knowledge of individual sub-network topologies. An efficient location management in such a loosely coupled network is designed by having a mobile node view its movement as a vector-valued sequence, and then transmit this sequence in an entropy coded form to the network. Ill. 2, bibl. 8 (in English; summaries in English, Russian and Lithuanian).

AIRBORNE SOFTWARE: COMMUNICATION AND CERTIFICATION

This paper discusses the distributed nature of airborne software intensive systems. The concept of fly-by-wire, the issues of safety, component communication, and certification are on the forefront of modern airborne applications. Since the communication between variety of on- board systems and subsystems is of paramount importance, the paper discusses the properties of new bus standard based on the Ethernet protocol gaining recognition and widespread use in large commercial aircraft. Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX) addresses quality of service, determinism, and reliability required in an aircraft environment. AFDX has reduced the cost of aircraft data networks, increased network capability, and supported determinism required by the airborne system certification guidelines system.

A GENERIC SIMULATION MODEL FOR END-TO-END DELAYS EVALUATION ON AN AVIONICS SWITCHED ETHERNET

AFDX (Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet, ARINC 664) used for modern aircraft such as Airbus A380 represents a major upgrade in both bandwidth and capability for aircraft data networks. Its reliance on Ethernet technology helps to lower some of the implementation costs, though the requirement for guaranteed service does present challenges to system designers. Thus, the problem is to prove that no frame will be lost by the network (no switch queue will overflow) and to evaluate the end-to-end transfer delay through the network.Several approaches have been proposed for this evaluation. Network calculus gives a guaranteed upper bound on end-to-end delays, while simulation produces more accurate results on a given set of scenarios. In this paper, the focus is on the end-to-end delays distribution. An important problem is the great number of different flows, since the evaluation has to be conducted on each flow. We use a simulation approach to show that different network architectures can lead to the same end-to-end delays distribution. Thus, we propose a generic simulation model for the evaluation of end-to-end delays distribution.

Security, Internet Connectivity and Aircraft Data Networks

Internet connectivity, which was in experimental stages only a few years ago, is a reality today. Current implementations allow passengers to access the internet for pleasure, and, in some cases, secure VPN access is provided to corporate networks. Several researchers are looking at the possibility of the existence a total of three networks: passenger network (PN), crew network (CRN), and the control network (CON). Researchers envision an architecture where these three networks will co-exist in an airplane. The available internet connectivity can be utilized for transporting flight critical information like cockpit flight data recorder (CFDR) data, digital tight data recorder (DFDR) data, cockpit voice recorder (CVR) data and controller pilot data link communication. In addition, the internet connectivity could also be used for other safety mechanisms like video surveillance and remote control of the flight. Security is one of the major concerns that affect the successful deployment of aircraft data networks (ADN) and other safety features. Several studies have been carried out to secure the network using firewalls and intrusion detection systems but so far no study has focused on securing the communication channel (between the aircraft and the ground station) and its impact on the ADN. The scope of this research is to determine the viability and need of a security mechanism. The research will also focus on the performance of different security architectures and determine their usability in the framework of an ADN.

Security, Internet Connectivity and Aircraft Data Networks

Security, Internet Connectivity and Aircraft Data Networks

Aviation Data Networks

Aircraft data networks are fast becoming more of a necessity due to their support for user mobility. Many aircraft manufacturers are planning to deploy data networks within their airplanes and provide internet connectivity to their passengers. While a data network within the aircraft and passenger access to it causes some security concerns, it open up some safety enhancement opportunities. With internet connectivity within the airplane, the activity within the airplane can be monitored in real-time from the ground station. Also, using the high bandwidth satellite links, the flight critical data could be downloaded to a server in the ground station in real-time flight or periodically, thereby enabling real-time flight status monitoring. The information technology (IT) revolution, combined with people’s need to access information quickly, has resulted in the explosive growth of the Internet in the past decade. An integrated security framework requires a careful consideration of the security features of the network within an airplane. Potentially, the aircraft could consist of three kinds of networks namely passenger network, crew network and control network. The security protocol implemented must ensure a proper separation of these networks and also watch for any security protocol violations. Ill. 5, bibl. 4 (in English; summaries in Lithuanian, English and Russian).

Aviation data networks: security issues and network architecture

The information technology (IT) revolution, combined with people's need to access information quickly, has resulted in the explosive growth of the Internet in the past decade. Ubiquitous access to the Internet has become an essential component of a mobile workforce, and multiple mechanisms are being devised to ensure seamless connectivity to corporate resources. An integrated security framework requires careful consideration of the security features of the network within an airplane. Potentially, the aircraft could consist of three kinds of networks, namely: passenger network, crew network, and control network. The security protocol implemented must ensure a proper separation of these networks and also watch for any security protocol violations. In this paper, the authors review existing aircraft data network standards, security provisioning, and security threats associated with the aircraft data networks. In addition, the authors also analyze the security threats associated with different network architectures.