Emerging wireless applications in aerospace: Benefits, challenges, and existing methods

Wireless communication is being considered to replace various wired connections in the aerospace industry as it promises a multitude of advantages such as low weight, robustness, ease of system maintenance, modularity, expandability, and low cost Despite popular belief, wireless links can be very secure and reliable too. Wireless applications in aerospace vary from in-flight-entertainment (IFE) that requires huge multiuser, multimedia grade bandwidth to wireless sensing, command, control, and prognostics health monitoring (PHM) applications that require high reliability but low bandwidth. In addition, non interference with aircraft electronics, anti-jamming property, high level of security and a dedicated reserved frequency band are among critical requirements needed for emerging wireless applications in aerospace. Therefore, existing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) wireless solutions are not suitable for direct use in the aerospace industry, and specialized solutions need to be developed. The objective of this paper is to provide a review of existing wireless connectivity methods for various applications, their diverse requirements and shortcomings, and report ongoing research efforts.