Airborne Internet
To reach that goal, the system aims to create a scalable, general purpose, multi-application data channel for people in transit.
The original concept proposed in 1999 suggested an open system with a scalable architecture: one that is a general purpose, multi-application data channel, for all communications, navigation and surveillance exchanges.
Airborne Internet also provides the potential to be used by the Federal Air Marshals, airline operations, and flight crew for security information purposes.
One of the earliest suggestions of what came to be known as “Airborne Internet,” took place in July 1999 at a NASA Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS)[6][7] Planning Conference.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s Ralph Yost[8] suggested a civil system for airborne network connectivity that started as a supporting technology for SATS.
Although it was ultimately used by SATS in their multi-aircraft, high volume operations flight demonstration at Danville VA,[10] NASA chose not to invest further in the development of Airborne Internet.
The first system in the FAA’s Airborne Internet R&D program was developed by Project Management Enterprises Inc. (PMEI), of Bethesda, Md., headed by Prasad Nair.
Internal GPS could optionally be used to provide own-ship position data, which could then be shared (as a simple application) with other network users to enhance situational awareness.
Important proof-of-concept flight tests were conducted at the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center, in late July 2006, using the system developed by PMEI.
The Airborne Internet project was the first to conduct flight tests in the FAA Technical Center’s Bombardier Global 5000 Business Jet.
The project engineers successfully relayed messages and simulated 4-dimensional flight planning information from one aircraft to another, and then to the ground station, over an extended airborne network.
Airborne Internet technology offered potential solid support for the FAA’s NexGen air traffic management system, which required implementation of 4-dimensional trajectory flight planning.
· “Shared Situational Awareness”, Net-Centric Operations · Position Reporting, Broad-area broadband, Data & Voice, Security, Responsiveness, and User-tailored information · Real-time free-flow of info from private, commercial, & government sources · Push/pull processes, secured according to needs and priorities · Common awareness of day-to-day ops, events, crises · Aircraft are additional “nodes” in network · Integrated surveillance system across government · Complete interoperability for ALL classes of aircraft · Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) relay · Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) · Fully supported the operational needs of the FAA’s NexGen program for Network Enabled Access (NexGen Con Ops 2.0, Jun 2007, Joint Program Development Office (JPDO).
