Report of ACP, WG-M/14 Meeting
(Montreal, 2-5 June 2008)
ACP WG-S/1 REPORT19-20 May 2012
AERONAUTICAL COMMUNICATIONS PANEL (ACP)
WG S – Surface Air-Ground Datalink Communication System
First Meeting
Montreal, Canada, 19th – 20th March 2012
Report of ACP WG-S/1 Meeting
Drafted by the Secretary
WG S Meeting 1 Draft Report 2.doc Page8
Report of ACP, WG-S/1 Meeting
(Montreal, 19-20 2012)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Agenda Item 1: INTRODUCTION 3
2 Agenda Item 2: Meeting Organizational and Administative Issues 3
3 Agenda Item 3: Review and approval of the agenda 3
4 Agenda Item 5: Status of relevant work programme of states & organizations 3
4.1 Agenda Item 5.4: SESAR Work Package 15.2.7 3
4.2 Agenda Item 5.1: RTCA Special Committee 223 3
4.3 Agenda Item 5.3 AeroMACS Evaluation Status – ITT 5
4.4 Agenda Item 5.2 Report on EUROCAE WG-82 5
4.5 Agenda Item 5.5 - ENRI Status and work plan for AeroMACS 6
5 Agenda Item 4 - Review and Approval of the WG-S terms of reference (ToRs) 6
6 Agenda Item 6: Development of the SARPS 7
6.1 Work Scope and Objective 7
6.2 Document Outline 7
7 AGENDA ITEM 9: Date and Place for Next Meeting 8
8 APPENDIX A – LIST OF ATTENDEES 9
9 APPENDIX B – Agenda 10
10 Appendix C – Terms of Reference for WG-S 11
11 APPENDIX D – List of Action Items 12
12 APPENDIX E - Items for Follow-Up 12
13 APPENDIX F - Work Assignments for SARPs Development 13
WG S Meeting 1 Draft Report 2.doc Page8
Report of ACP, WG-S/1 Meeting
(Montreal, 19-20 2012)
This meeting report follows the chronological order in which agenda items were disposed.
1 Agenda Item 1: INTRODUCTION
The Working Group Rapporteur, Aloke Roy opened the first meeting of WG-S. Following which, the meeting participants introduced themselves to the meeting.
2 Agenda Item 2: Meeting Organizational and Administative Issues
The Rapporteur and Secretary outlined the organisational and Administrative Issues.
3 Agenda Item 3: Review and approval of the agenda
The meeting agenda was presented and reviewed. Certain items moved in order to accommodate the availability of remote participants. Approval of the agenda was moved by Aloke Roy and Seconded by Brent Phillips. The final agenda is given in Appendix B.
4 Agenda Item 5: Status of relevant work programme of states & organizations
4.1 Agenda Item 5.4: SESAR Work Package 15.2.7
Luc Lommaert presented WP02, Report on AEROMACS activities in Europe. A general introduction on the overall goal of SESAR SJU and the Single European Sky concept was addressed and the different SESAR phases were described.
With respect to the SESAR AeroMACS program, EUROCONTROL has reported to ICAO WGS - as P15.2.7 WA7 (Standardisation and worldwide interoperability) task leader - all contributions made to AEROMACS standardization agencies notably EUROCAE, RTCA and AEEC. Within the overall AeroMACS standardization process the purpose of each contribution was explained.
The contents of all work activities and deliverables of both P15.2.7 and P9.16 projects were detailed and the actual status of all these activities was provided as general information to the forum.
The ICAO WGS forum was asked to take note of this information.
This led to a discussion on the timeline for the Working Group which was covered in greater detail under Agenda Item 6.
4.2 Agenda Item 5.1: RTCA Special Committee 223
Arthur Ahrens presented IP02 - Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communications System Profile. Although this paper provided details on the development of the AeroMACS profile it also provided a useful status update on the work of RTCA 223 and by extension EUROCAE.
The profile document has been reviewed by the industry as part of the RTCA Final Review And Comment (FRAC) process. The contents of the document are to specify the special adaptations required to develop WiMAX based wireless equipment designs for use for mobile wireless services on the airport surface. Some of the required changes include shifting the frequency of operation from the existing wireless bands to the 5000 to 5150 MHz frequency spectrum, the specification of the emissions mask required for adjacent channel and out of band compatibility, and the requirement to remain under the noise floor specified for compatibility with the Low Earth Orbit satellite services. The final point that the profile document specifies are the equipment setting required to ensure international compatibility. This will also apply to equipment not covered by a TSO. That is equipment on vehicles other than aircraft.
In the presentation the meeting was advised that MOPS would be available for Final Review and Comment (FRAC) later in 2012. Of interest to the meeting was a listing of the mobile and stationary applications which AeroMACS was expected to support, i.e;
Mobile Applications
· ATC Communications with any aircraft (anywhere on the airport surface.
o ATC communications () with any vehicle in the airport movement area (runway and taxiways, but not ramp area where airlines control)
o Tower Data Link System (TDLS) for flight clearances
o Loading FMS via CMU with 4D trajectories and modifications
· AOC, Advisory, and non-ATS voice/data between airlines and pilot
o Collaborative decision making and 4D trajectory negotiations
o EFB data, GPS and AIS updates; hazards advisories; NOTAMS
o Surface management, gate and ramp control
o Graphical weather corresponding to 4D trajectory
· Mobile SWIM and airport surface users
o Publish and subscribe; receive/“listen” only
o Fire, safety, snow removal, de-icing (in movement area)
o Airport operations security; security video from cockpit and cabin
· Navigation database updates.
Stationary Applications:
· Navigational Aid Monitoring and Maintenance
· Voice Remote radio
· Airport Surveillance
This led to an interesting discussion on the Radio Spectrum requirements for AeroMACS. During this the meeting noted that the recent world radiocommunication conference had not agreed to an additional allocation to the aeronautical mobile (route) service in the frequency range 5000-5030 MHz. An allocation however was made to the aeronautical mobile (route) service in the frequency band 5030-5091 MHz although the intention, but not specified in the Radio Regulations, of this allocation was for use by unmanned aircraft systems. It was brought to the attention of the meeting that if the SARPs for AeroMACS were to mirror the RTCA and EUROCAE standards and quote a frequency range of 5000-5150 MHz then the SARPs would not be aligned with the RadioRegulations.An alternate argument was put forward that in at least one State allocations in the national frequency tables will permit such use, and in order to have interoperability for aircraft flying into that state, the development of SARPs to cover the frequency range 5000-5150 MHz was justified.
After discussion the meeting agreed to refer the issue to Working Group F for clarification.
ACTION ITEM 1-1: The Secretary to refer spectrum issues to WG-F for clarification.
The issue of frequency management as a means to control total interference to co-frequency Globalstar feeder links was also raised with the following conclusions. Europe would probably rely on the Frequency Management Group (FMG) for this task. North America would use internal means while the remaining Regions would rely on the ICAO Regional Offices. ICAO HQ would however provide some oversight of this process.
ACTION ITEM 1-2: The Secretary to inform the FMG and ICAO Regional Officers of their role in supporting AeroMACS frequency management.
IP02 generated a great deal of discussion during which a number of points emerged:
· For AeroMACS it will be necessary to check the level of security to support multi-cast.
· The WiMAX Forum had been approached to approve the use of the aviation spectrum for AeroMACS. Frequency step size was also a concern in this regard as many vendors equipment did not meet the current AeroMACS requirement.
Item for Follow Up: 1-1: Monitor the availability/feasibility of AeroMACS equipment which supports 250KHz steps sizes.
ACTION ITEM 1-3: Roberto Agrone to check the level of security needed to support multi-cast.
4.3 Agenda Item 5.3 AeroMACS Evaluation Status – ITT
Ward Hall presented WP04 – AeroMACS Evaluation. This paper provided an overview of the Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communications System (AeroMACS) prototype test bed deployed at the Cleveland Hopkins (CLE) airport. The test bed is being used to conduct fixed and mobile tests of AeroMACS network performance in an airport environment to provide inputs to standards development and guide design and deployment of future systems. The evaluation results support development of the AeroMACS Profile specification and Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) documents. Another key item covered in this paper was the finding that there were definite benefits to the use of MIMO (Multiple Input/Multiple Output) techniques. Namely an increase in data rate for a given transmitter power.
4.4 Agenda Item 5.2 Report on EUROCAE WG-82
Armin Schlereth presented WP-03. Some of the key points raised were as follows:
· WG-82 had worked with RTCA, SESAR, the WiMAX Forum and the SANDRA Project. (Seamless Aeronautical Networking Through Integration of Datalinks, Radios and Antennae).
· The SESAR work revolved around two projects 15.2.7 – focusing on end-end considerations and 9.16 – focusing on the airborne aspects.
· WG-82 was working with RTCA 223 on two deliverables – MOPS and the profile.
· WG-82 itself was also working on MASPS and MOPS for ground equipment.
The meeting was advised of the following schedule for completion:
· TS/Profile - Q2/2013
· MOPS - Q2/2013 (dependency with SESAR activities)
· MASPS - end 2013”
The secretary mentioned that the output of the SANDRA project would be of benefit to WG-S and WG-I, especially due to the work that both groups on the MIB. Armin Schlereth advised that he could act as a contact point for SANDRA.
ACTION ITEM 1-5 : The Secretary to coordinate with Armin Schlereth to obtain information on the SANDRA project.
4.5 Agenda Item 5.5 - ENRI Status and work plan for AeroMACS
ENRI presented WP05 which described the ENRI five-year plan to develop and validate base station and user terminal equipment for AeroMACS. This is scheduled for completion in 2016.
Among the key conclusions of the work done so far were the following:
· MIMO provided various benefits included improved performance and increased protection from masking and shadowing effects.
· Careful consideration should be given to base station location to minimize masking and shadowing effects.
ENRI also stated that they would be quite willing to participate in interoperability testing with other organizations.
5 Agenda Item 4 - Review and Approval of the WG-S terms of reference (ToRs)
Aloke Roy proposed new terms of reference which are given in Appendix C. Aloke then pointed out the special challenges facing WG-S:
· Accommodating ICAO rules while maintaining the requirement to use COTS equipment, especially equipment certified by the WiMAX Forum.
· Equipment must be globally interoperable
· Equipment must also support the ICAO standards for ATN/IPS.
· Coordination with other ICAO bodies needed, ie: WG-F, WG-I and NSP Spectrum Sub-Group.
In the ensuing discussion the following points were made:
· AeroMACS would be the only technology under consideration.
· SARPS would be the absolute minimum needed for interoperability.
· WiMAX security provisions would be followed as much as possible while attempting to harmonise with the ICAO provisions for the ATN.
The issue of interference with radio-telemetry systems was raised. It was agreed that this would be referred to WG-F. Given its importance it was also added to the ToRs.
ACTION ITEM 1-4: Robert Witzen to refer issues of interference with radio-telemetry systems to WG-F. (Luc Lommaert to assist if necessary).
The Secretary informed the meeting that the ICAO Air Navigation Commission (ANC) had already been briefed on the formation of WG-S and its major tasks and had approved of these. He went on to say that, the ToRs defined at this meeting were in accordance with this approval.
6 Agenda Item 6: Development of the SARPS
6.1 Work Scope and Objective
In the opening discussion, the FAA explained that due to internal funding milestones it would be helpful if work on the draft SARPS could be completed in 2012. It was then explained that validation activities under the SESAR programme would continue until 2013.
In the ensuing discussion it was agreed that the two needs were not incompatible. This is based on the fact that if constructed properly, most of the requirements requiring validation would reside in the guidance material/technical manual. This would therefore allow all efforts to be dedicated to the SARPs in 2012 with work on the guidance material/technical manual taking place in 2013. Once all validation work was complete, the SARPS and guidance material would then be submitted for approval together with a prospective publication date of 2014.
6.2 Document Outline
The group formulated the following draft outline and work assignments for the AeroMACS SARPs.
DEFINITIONS
INTRODUCTION
· Classes of applications/services that can be supported by AeroMACS
o Initial draft to be produced by EUROCONTROL
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
· General applicability – only on airport surface
· Mandatory carriage – write a paragraph/req similar to AMS(R)S SARPS section 4.2.2
o Initial draft to be produced by Luc Lommaert
RF CHARACTERISTICS
· Spectrum/Channelisation
· Interference Potential/Compatibility with existing services/Immunity from Interference/Susceptibility.
· Emissions
o Initial Draft to be produced by Luc Lommaert
PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS
o Initial Draft to be produced by ITT (Ward Hall, Natalie Zelkin)
SYSTEM INTERFACES
o Specify interface requirements at high level, which is implementation independent
o Initial Draft to be produced by Aloke Roy
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
· Prioritization/pre-emption
· Initial Draft to be produced by Aloke Roy
Once initial drafts have been produced further work on the SARPs, to be done by a core team with regular collaboration comprising: Brent Phillips, Roberto Agrone, Ward Hall, Natalie Zelkin, Yamauchi (liaison with WiMAX Forum), Aloke Roy, Frederic Durand, Luc Lommaert and Vaughn Maiolla.