Applicability of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks in an Aeronautical Environment

Aeronautical Communication are currently based on the OSI protocol based ATN standard, which does not allow aircraft to communicate directly with each other. Several studies are underway within the aeronautical community to replace the OSI-based ATN with the more efficient and widespread TCP/IP protocols. This paper follows this trend but takes it step further and proposes the incorporation of Mobile Ad Hoc Network functionality show as to allow direct aircraft to aircraft communications in a dynamic environment, enhance existing services and provide the infrastructure for future ones. Additionally high speed, directional data links are utilized to offer higher data rates. To achieve this, the TCP/IP protocol stack has been enhanced with functionality necessary for the aeronautical MANET. The new stack includes an enhanced ad-hoc routing protocol, a new addressing scheme and a mechanism that allows for the dynamic management of terminals in a node. Simulations results are provided that provide proof-of-concept for the new aeronautical telecommunications network architecture.