Page 18 - ITU-T Focus Group on Aviation Applications of Cloud Computing for Flight Data Monitoring - Key findings, recommendations for next steps and future work

ITU-T Focus Group on Aviation Applications of Cloud Computing for Flight Data Monitoring
Key findings, recommendations for next steps and future work

• In view of the above, further considerations on frequency spectrum allocations and bandwidth
requirements may be envisaged in order to properly examine the feasibility of using future data link
systems and recent developments in commercial aeronautical data link services, which covers the latest
developments from various commercial broadband technologies and services for the aeronautical
environment throughout the world.
• No single system exists today that can satisfy all of the GADSS and other real-time data streaming
requirements although the performance standards of space-based ADS-B, to be deployed over the
next two years, will satisfy the near-term GADSS objectives of providing location data at least every
one minute. This capability, along with others discussed in this Report, could be configured to meet the
autonomous distress tracking (ADT) requirements of GADSS.

• The longer term objectives of GADSS flight data recovery, automatic deployable flight recorder (ADFR),
will most likely be realized by developments in broadband capability. The requirements of this capability,
and potential impact on SPECTRUM should be discussed further.
• While it is conceivable that a single system designed to satisfy all the GADSS concepts could be built, it would
require a radical departure from all existing systems and therefore may not be practical or economical.
• That said, equipment existing today on board aircraft and on the ground offers several feasible ways of
implementing real-time flight data streaming within a reasonable space of time.

3.3.2.3.3 On-board aircraft/ground-based surveillance and tracking infrastructure

Satellite-based ADS-B is a future technology that supports surveillance overland and sea. The deployment of
space-based ADS-B capability over the near term enables global surveillance including over 70% of the earth's
surface which is currently outside terrestrial surveillance areas. The projected performance of space-based
ADS-B is consistent with that of terrestrial ADS-B and fully supports the flight tracking recommendations made
by the IATA Aircraft Tracking Task Force (ATTF) in December 2014 and ICAO global aeronautical distress and
safety system (GADSS) concept of operations. See Thales Alenia Space (TAS-D) and Aireon LCC.

3.3.2.3.4 Bandwidth needs analysis for real-time flight data transmission and data link systems
performance – Summary

A study of the bandwidth needs for real-time flight data streaming and resulting data volumes generated as
well as a survey of various terrestrial and satellite data link systems in use on aircraft today are provided in
Deliverable 4, Appendices 4 and 3, respectively, and are summarized below.
a) Bandwidth needs analysis for real-time flight data transmission

There are two possible modes of real-time flight data transmission that may be considered:

• The first mode is continuous real-time flight data streaming at all times even during normal operations;
• The second mode is for triggered transmission of flight data which involves manual or automated
activation of flight data streaming when a distress situation is encountered.
Performing routine and continuous real-time flight data streaming on aircraft generates a relatively low
bandwidth requirement per aircraft but generates the largest global requirement.

Relevant studies, including the report published by BEA after the 2009 Air France Flight 447 accident and
the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Recommendation letter published on 22 January 2015,
recommend that solutions enabling triggered transmission of flight data (TTFD) are employed for aircraft used
on extended overwater operations (EOO).

NTSB proposes that "(flight) data should be captured (and transmitted) from a triggering event until the end
of the flight and for as long as a time period before the triggering event as possible." Performing triggered
transmission of flight data in this manner introduces a higher bandwidth requirement for an aircraft in distress
and the bandwidth need increases closer to the end of the flight and the longer the time period before the

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