Ipsky: IPV6 for the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network

The ATN is a data communications inter-network that provides its users with a robust and reliable air/ground and ground/ground communications service. The current ICAO standard for the air traffic data network is ATN; it is based on OSI (open standard interconnection) protocols, with adaptations specific to aeronautical applications. At the time of specifying the ATN the Internet Protocol (IPv4) was not capable of meeting its objectives and OSI was expected to be replaced it. For many years, the Internet community knew that IPv4 had many weaknesses that needed to be overcome. Only in the last few years, it has become necessary that these problems be solved quickly. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) established a working group to upgrade the Internet protocol, and specified IPv6. At the moment it is not fully specified, however, there is strong commitment by industry (telecommunication and Internet) to IPv6. The goal of IPSky is to provide an assessment of the adequacy of IPv6, and its ability to fulfill the requirements of aeronautical communications. The interest of IPv6 for air applications is twofold: IPv6 is industry-driven; and IPv6 is an open standard.