Airborne:
Transported by air.Internet
An Internet means connecting a computer to any other computer anywhere in the world via dedicated routers and servers. When two computers are connected over the Internet, they can send and receive all kinds of information such as text, graphics, voice, video, and computer programs.
Airborne Internet
There's a new type of service being developed that will take broadband into the air. 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 fiber point of presence their fiber optics are 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.
Introduction to Airborne Internet
At least
three different methods have been proposed for putting communication nodes
aloft. The first method would employ manned aircraft, the second method would
use unmanned aircraft, and the third method would use blimps. The nodes would
provide air-to-air, surface-to-air, and surface-to-surface communications. The
aircraft or blimps would fly at altitudes of around 10 mi (16 km), and would
cover regions of about 40 mi (64 mi) in radius. Data transfer rates would be on
the order of several megabits per second, comparable to those of high-speed cable modem connections. Network users could communicate directly with other
users, and indirectly with conventional Internet users through surface-based
nodes. Like the Internet, the Airborne Network would use TCP/IP as the set of protocols for specifying network addresses and
ensuring message packets arrive.
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.
An airplane specially designed for high altitude flight with a payload capacity of approximately one ton is being developed for commercial wireless services. It will circle at high altitudes for extended periods of time and it will serve as a stable platform from which broadband communications services will be offered. The High Altitude Long Operation (HALO) Aircraft will maintain station at an altitude of 52 to 60 thousand feet by flying in a circle with a diameter of about 5 to 8 nautical miles. Three successive shifts on station of 8 hours each can provide continuous coverage of an area for 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Such a system can provide broadband multimedia communications to the general public.
One such platform will cover an area of approximately 2800 square miles encompassing a typical metropolitan area. A viewing angle of 20 degrees or higher will be chosen to facilitate good line-of-sight coverage at millimeter wave (MMW) frequencies (20 GHz or higher). Operation at MMW frequencies enables broadband systems to be realized, i.e., from spectrum bandwidths of 1 to 6 GHz. MMW systems also permit very narrow beamwidths to be realized with small aperture antennas. Furthermore, since the aircraft is above most of the earth's oxygen, links to satellite constellations can be implemented using the frequencies overlapping the 60 GHz absorption band for good immunity from ground-based interference and good isolation from inter-satellite links.
The A.I Network can utilize a cellular pattern on the ground so that each cell uses one of four frequency sub-bands, each having a bandwidth up to 60 MHz each way. A fifth sub-band can be used for gateways (connections to the public network or dedicated users). Each cell will cover an area of a few square miles. The entire bandwidth will be reused many times to achieve total coverage throughout the 2800 square mile area served by the airborne platform. The total capacity of the network supported by a single airborne platform can be greater than 100 Gbps. This is comparable to terrestrial fiber-optic (FO) networks and can provide two-way broadband multimedia services normally available only via FO networks
The Airborne Network provides an alternative to satellite- and ground-based systems. Unlike satellite systems, however, the airborne system concentrates all of the spectrum usage in certain geographic areas, which minimizes frequency coordination problems and permits sharing of frequency with ground-based systems. Enough power is available from the aircraft power generator to allow broadband data access from small user terminals.
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.
An airplane specially designed for high altitude flight with a payload capacity of approximately one ton is being developed for commercial wireless services. It will circle at high altitudes for extended periods of time and it will serve as a stable platform from which broadband communications services will be offered. The High Altitude Long Operation (HALO) Aircraft will maintain station at an altitude of 52 to 60 thousand feet by flying in a circle with a diameter of about 5 to 8 nautical miles. Three successive shifts on station of 8 hours each can provide continuous coverage of an area for 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Such a system can provide broadband multimedia communications to the general public.
One such platform will cover an area of approximately 2800 square miles encompassing a typical metropolitan area. A viewing angle of 20 degrees or higher will be chosen to facilitate good line-of-sight coverage at millimeter wave (MMW) frequencies (20 GHz or higher). Operation at MMW frequencies enables broadband systems to be realized, i.e., from spectrum bandwidths of 1 to 6 GHz. MMW systems also permit very narrow beamwidths to be realized with small aperture antennas. Furthermore, since the aircraft is above most of the earth's oxygen, links to satellite constellations can be implemented using the frequencies overlapping the 60 GHz absorption band for good immunity from ground-based interference and good isolation from inter-satellite links.
The A.I Network can utilize a cellular pattern on the ground so that each cell uses one of four frequency sub-bands, each having a bandwidth up to 60 MHz each way. A fifth sub-band can be used for gateways (connections to the public network or dedicated users). Each cell will cover an area of a few square miles. The entire bandwidth will be reused many times to achieve total coverage throughout the 2800 square mile area served by the airborne platform. The total capacity of the network supported by a single airborne platform can be greater than 100 Gbps. This is comparable to terrestrial fiber-optic (FO) networks and can provide two-way broadband multimedia services normally available only via FO networks
The Airborne Network provides an alternative to satellite- and ground-based systems. Unlike satellite systems, however, the airborne system concentrates all of the spectrum usage in certain geographic areas, which minimizes frequency coordination problems and permits sharing of frequency with ground-based systems. Enough power is available from the aircraft power generator to allow broadband data access from small user terminals.
WHY AIRBORNE INTERNET?
There are mainly two reasons for the development of Airborne
Internet. They are,
- SMALL AIRCRAFTS TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM.
- NEED FOR A HIGH BANDWIDTH
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.
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.
Need for 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.
fig: Comparision of A.I and Internet
Parameters
|
Internet
|
A.I
|
1.
Distance of Communication
2.
Line of Sight Obstruction
3.
Antenna Weight
4.
Bandwidth
5.
Delay
|
Low
Not
Present
Can be
high
Comparatively
High
Not
Significant
|
Very
High
Present
Must be
Low
Broad
Not
Significant
|
No comments:
Post a Comment