Aviation communications emulation testbed

Aviation related applications that rely upon datalink for information exchange are increasingly being developed and deployed. The increase in the quantity of applications and associated data communications expose problems and identify issues to resolve. NASA's Glenn Research Center is developing an aviation communications emulation testbed for studying the communications issues, which arise as datalink applications are employed within the National Airspace System (NAS). The testbed is evolving and currently provides the hardware and software needed to study the communications impact of air traffic control (ATC) and surveillance applications in a densely populated environment. The communications load associated with up to 160 aircraft transmitting and receiving ATC and surveillance data can be generated in realtime in a sequence similar to what would occur in the NAS. The ATC applications that can be studied are the aeronautical telecommunications network's (ATN) context management (CM) and controller pilot data link communications (CPDLC). The surveillance applications are automatic dependent surveillance - broadcast (ADS-B) and traffic information services - broadcast (TIS-B).