System-wide information management for aeronautical communications

Interactions among airborne and terrestrial elements in an aeronautical environment may be enhanced by using common mechanisms for data transport and information management. These mechanisms can support a variety of applications, such as controller-pilot communications, surveillance, scheduling, traffic management, airline operations and others that vary widely in their respective requirements for security, performance and availability. This work presents an architectural framework for system-wide information management (SWIM), providing common data transport and information management services in an air traffic management environment. Although, the architecture is potentially global in scope, the focus of this work is the national airspace system. The Internet protocol family with common off-the-shelf technology and products can provide the necessary functionality and service characteristics - security, performance and availability - in a realizable and cost-effective manner for SWIM. This paper begins with a description of the SWIM environment before addressing the primary architectural issues and approaches in creating SWIM using common Internet protocol (IP) standards. Among the key aspects addressed are routing, mobility, security, compatibility with legacy onboard aircraft networks, support for varying quality of service (QoS) classes, multicast and information management. A list of acronyms and a reference list follow the presentation.