Development and implementation of new architecture for robust satellite data unit with software defined radio for airborne network

The objective of this paper is to present the development and implementation of new architecture for robust satellite data unit (SDU) using software defined radios (SDRs) able to transport binary data between an aircraft (A/C) and a ground station (GS) including capabilities to operate into an airborne network (AN). The data to transmit basically comprises multimedia files as well as streaming video. For this, the development of different decision algorithms must be proposed. These algorithms are based on parameters such as flight phase, geographic location, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), latency, channel capacity, type of modulation and frequency availability. The idea is to develop an SDR-based data communication network capable of establishing an optimal link for sending and receiving data from an A/C to a ground station by hops and using different frequencies. This means that each SDR will be considered as an SDU on board an A/C capable of sending data via satellite or through the air-to-air (A/A) links until reaching a GS. Early results, not only in simulation but also in real time, have helped us to progressively implement the algorithms mentioned in the SDUs for data transmission and reception and using adaptive coded modulation at the L-band into an AN. These results will allow us in future to implement this solution in real A/C. The performance is expected to be competitive against terrestrial networks in terms of speed and capacity.