21-06-2014, 02:05 PM
AIRBORNE INTERNET
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. INTRODUCTION
Airborne Internet is a concept that overlays computer network theory and principles into the transportation realm. The goal is to create information connectivity by providing a general purpose, multi-application data channel for people in transit. It is an approach to provide a general purpose high speed digital network to aviation. In doing so it has the potential to provide significant cost savings for aircrafts operators and the FAA, as it allows the consolidation of many functions into a common data channel. Numerous applications can use the same data channel. It gets its name from the fact that it works like the real internet.
Airborne Internet began as a supporting technology for NASA’s Small Aircrafts Transportation System. But there is no reason that A.I should be limited to SATS-class aircraft. All of aviation, and even transportation, has the potential to benefit from A.I. Airborne Internet provide a general purpose data channel that numerous applications can use. By combining application and data functionality over a common data channel, aviation has the potential to significantly reduce costs for equipage on the ground and in the aircraft.
The demand for Internet services is exploding and this creates a strong demand for broadband, high data rate service. It is expected that there will soon be a worldwide demand for Internet service in the hundreds of millions. The growth in use of the World Wide Web and electronic commerce will stimulate demand for broadband services.
Airborne Internet is able to provide aircraft to ground, ground to ground and aircraft to aircraft communications in support of air traffic management, fleet operations, and passenger support services. Air transport aircraft could not only use A.I. for their own purposes, but they could provide a network router function that could sell excess bandwidth to other less bandwidth-demanding aircraft. This network in the sky not only reduces equipage and saves system costs, it could create a revenue stream for air carriers that does not currently exist. Many other applications can utilize the same A.I. data channel. The applications available are only limited by the bandwidth available.
WORLD OF AIRBORNE INTERNET
2.1 WHY AIRBORNE INTERNET?
There are mainly two reasons for the development of Airborne Internet. They are,
2.1.1 SMALL AIRCRAFTS TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM:
The first reason for the development of A.I is SATS. It began as a supporting technology for the NASA’s SATS. NASA is creating an infrastructure for fleets of small aircraft. People won’t have to fly between large cities on jet airliners. Instead, they will be able to fly themselves right to where they want to go. This would speed up air travel. But, it would need a major change in air traffic control to be able to manage thousands of small airplanes filling the skies. That’s where the “Airborne Internet” comes in. This project is being developed along with the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS). The SATS is studying the possibility of a system of 2- to 10-passenger airplanes. People could fly these small airplanes to and from small community or neighbourhood airports. Before this system becomes a reality, there are still many bugs that need to be worked out. Communication is one of the problems that will have to be fixed. The SATS would lead to thousands of inexperienced pilots flying airplanes. They would be flying to and from small airports that don’t usually have much traffic. Without major changes in air traffic control, the chances of plane crashes would greatly increase. That’s why NASA is developing the Airborne Internet.
When people travel, they experience “connectivity down time” in which they are detached from the information that their network provided. Wireless networks are rapidly emerging to help fill this void. People that travel with laptops or personal digital assistants can obtain short term network connectivity from a business establishment when they stop for a break. Airport terminals are becoming popular “hot spots’ for wireless connectivity as people have time before and between flights to connect to the wireless network. The “human connectivity imperative” shows us a glaring absence of network connectivity during travel. While in motion on an aircraft, for example, people again lose the ability to connect. We design transportation systems to interconnect to complimentary forms of transportation. But these designs have ignored the information connectivity needs of the people who use it. The time people spend in transit could be turned into more productive time if network connectivity were available. This can be accomplished using the A.I.
2.1.2 NEED FOR A HIGHER BANDWIDTH:
The second reason is related with the need for a higher bandwidth. The computer most people use comes with a standard 56K modem, which means that in an ideal situation the computer would downstream at a rate of 56 kilobits per second (Kbps). That speed is far too slow to handle the huge streaming-video and music files that more consumers are demanding today. That's where the need for bigger bandwidth – broadband -- comes in, allowing a greater amount of data to flow to and from the computer. Land-based lines are limited physically in how much data they can deliver because of the diameter of the cable or phone line. In an airborne Internet, there is no such physical limitation, enabling a broader capacity.
2 PRINCIPLE & WORKING
The principle behind the A.I. is to establish a robust, reliable, and available digital data channel to aircraft. Establishing the general purpose, multi-application digital data channel connection to the aircraft is analogous to the connection of a desktop computer to its local area network, or even the wide area network we call the Internet. But aircraft are mobile objects. Therefore, mobile routing is required to maintain the data channel connectivity while the aircraft moves from region to region Mobile routing is the ability of a network user to move from one network to another without losing network connectivity. It has been developed and has matured to the point that it is ready to be applied to aviation.
The current internet protocol (IP) is being replaced with a new version that includes provisions for security and mobile routing. It is specifically designed to accommodate the proliferation of wireless network devices that are easily transportable between networks. XML services, a standard way in which software interacts provide the opportunity for all information to be published as soon as it is available. This means the end user has the opportunity to receive near real time data, depending on the situation. XML is independent of the platform, operating system, or the device of the information source and the end user. Currently in aviation, very little information can be updated digitally during flight. At best, some information is updated using the analogue voice channel. Using XML aviation services, aircraft operators could receive automatic updates of weather, landing conditions at the destination airport, turbulence ahead, and other information. Airborne Internet could be the means by which the aviation industry will realize these benefits by providing XML services capability to aircraft.
The A.I Aircraft will house packet switching circuitry and fast digital network functions. The communications antenna and related components will be located in a pod suspended below the aircraft fuselage. To offer "ubiquitous" service throughout a large region, the antenna will utilize multiple beams arranged in a typical cellular pattern. Broadband channels to subscribers in adjacent cells will be separated in frequency. As the beams traverse over a user location, the virtual path through the packet switch will be changed to perform a beam-to-beam handoff.
The airborne Internet won't be completely wireless. There will be ground-based components to any type of airborne Internet network. The consumers will have to install an antenna on their home or business in order to receive signals from the network hub overhead. The networks will also work with established Internet Service Providers (ISPs), who will provide their high-capacity terminals for use by the network. These ISPs have a fibre point of presence -- their fibre optics is already set up. What the airborne Internet will do is provide an infrastructure that can reach areas that don't have broadband cables and wires.
The Airborne Network will offer ubiquitous access to any subscriber within a "super metropolitan area" from an aircraft operating at high altitude. The aircraft will serve as the hub of the Airborne Network serving tens to hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Each subscriber will be able to communicate at multi-megabit per second data rates through a simple-to-install subscriber unit. The Airborne Network will be steadily evolved at a pace with the emergence of data communications technology world-wide. The Airborne Network will be a universal wireless communications network solution. It will be deployed globally on a city-by-city basis.
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
A critical first step in attaining the desirable capabilities of an Airborne Internet is a well-conceived architecture. Aircraft and landing facilities will be interconnected nodes in a high-speed digital communications network providing instant identification and information services on demand with seamless linking to the global transportation system. The Airborne Internet will leverage open standards and protocols for client-server network system architecture that are in development in the telecommunications industry for increased bandwidth for mobile applications.
The secret to how well the Internet works is that it is a distributed network. In a centralized network, all computers are connected to one main server. They compete with each other to use that server. In the Internet, however, there is no central server. Content is stored on millions of computers around the world. And, the information can be accessed by millions more. Routers connect Internet users with what they are seeking. This creates a network that runs better because of the speed of millions of computers working together. A similar system would run the Airborne Internet. It would be a high-speed digital network. Information would be passed between aircrafts and the ground by the Internet. The aircrafts and the ground facilities would be the nodes in the network.
ADVANTAGES
The airborne Internet will function much like satellite-based Internet access, but without the time delay. Bandwidth of satellite and airborne Internet access are typically the same, but it will take less time for the airborne Internet to relay data because it is not as high up. Satellites orbit at several hundreds of miles above Earth. The airborne-Internet aircraft will circle overhead at an altitude of 52,000 to 69,000 feet (15,849 to 21,031 meters). At this altitude, the aircraft will be undisturbed by inclement weather and flying well above commercial air traffic.
Networks using high-altitude aircraft will also have a cost advantage over satellites because the aircraft can be deployed easily -- they don't have to be launched into space. However, the airborne Internet will actually be used to compliment the satellite and ground-based networks, not replace them.
These airborne networks will overcome the last-mile barriers facing conventional Internet access options. The "last mile" refers to the fact that access to high-speed cables still depends on physical proximity, and that for this reason, not everyone who wants access can have it. It would take a lot of
time to provide universal access using cable or phone lines, just because of the time it takes to install the wires. An airborne network will immediately overcome the last mile as soon as the aircraft takes off.
The time people spend in transit could be turned into more productive time if network connectivity were available.
. CONCLUSION
AI is the most recent development in the conventional internet of today. It takes the internet into transportation realms. It would be a high-speed digital network. Information would be passed between aircrafts and the ground by the Internet. Development of the Airborne Internet has already begun.
Mainly three companies are planning to provide high-speed wireless Internet connection by placing aircraft in fixed patterns over hundreds of cities.
Angel Technologies is planning an airborne Internet network, called High Altitude Long Operation (HALO), which would use lightweight planes to circle overhead and provide data delivery faster than a T1 line for businesses. Consumers would get a connection comparable to DSL. The centrepiece of this network is the Proteus plane, which will carry wireless networking equipment into the air. Each city in the HALO Network will be allotted three piloted Proteus planes. Each plane will fly for eight hours before the next plane takes off. After takeoff, the Proteus plane will climb to a safe altitude, above any bad weather or commercial traffic, and begin an 8-mile loop around the city. Each plane will accommodate two pilots, who will split flying duties during their eight-hour flight.
NASA and AeroVironment are working on a solar-powered, lightweight plane that could fly over a city for six months or more, at 60,000 feet, without landing. AeroVironment plans to use these unmanned planes as the carrier to provide broadband Internet access. Helios is currently in the prototype stage.
Sky Station International is counting on its blimps to deliver high-speed Internet access from high altitudes. Sky Station calls its blimps lighter-than-air platforms, and plans to station these airships over at least 250 cities worldwide, one over each city. Each station would fly at an altitude of 13 miles (21 km) and provide wireless service to an area of approximately 7,500 square miles (19,000 square km).
The Airborne Network is capable of providing high rate communications to users of multimedia and broadband services. The feasibility of this approach is reasonably assured due to the convergence of technological advancements. The key enabling technologies at hand include:
• GaAs RF devices which operate at MMW frequencies
• Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)/Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) Technology and Components
• Digital Signal Processing for Wideband Signals
• Video Compression
• Very Dense Memory Capacity
• Aircraft Technology
These technologies are individually available, to a great extent, from commercial markets. The Airborne Network seeks to integrate these various technologies into a service of high utility to small and medium businesses and other multimedia consumers at a reasonable cost.