First Results of the L-band Digital Aeronautical Communications System (LDACS) Flight Trials in the National German Project MICONAV

Abstract

Today’s VHF voice-based air-ground communication system for tactical aircraft guidance is suffering from increasing saturation of the VHF band in high density areas. Therefore, the European Union (EU) strives for a sustainable modernization of the aeronautical communication infrastructure. In the long-term, air traffic management communication is expected to transition from analog VHF voice communication to a more spectrum efficient digital data communication alternative. The European ATM Master Plan foresees this transition to be realized, among others, through the development and implementation of the L-band Digital Aeronautical Communications System (LDACS). The development of LDACS has already made substantial progress: An LDACS system specification has been produced; transmitter demonstrators were developed to prove the spectrum compatibility of LDACS with existing systems operating in the L-band; and the overall system performance has been analyzed with the help of computer simulations, indicating that LDACS can fulfil the identified requirements. In addition, the LDACS standardization process within ICAO has been initiated in December 2016 and is currently in progress. However, LDACS has not yet been demonstrated outside of the laboratory. Earlier this year - in the German project MICONAV - a prototype for the L-band Digital Aeronautical Communication System (LDACS) has been demonstrated in flight for the first time. This was also the first time that the LDACS data link layer protocol has been implemented and demonstrated outside of the lab. This is a major step towards the broadband air traffic management networks envisaged by SESAR and NextGen. The objective of this talk is to present first results from the LDACS flight trials. It provides an overview of the development of the LDACS demonstrator and the first results of the in-flight evaluation of the LDACS protocol. At the end of the talk an outlook on the performance of future air traffic management applications running on top of LDACS is provided to give an indication of the pivotal changes LDACS may enable in ATM.