In-flight Broadband Connectivity and Experimentation for Beyond 5G Networks

The 5G business case extend towards the air where in-flight broadband connectivity (IFBC) will be a reality. The market has taken a step in this direction by introducing DA2G (Direct Air-to-Ground) mobile services that is able to guarantee LTE (4G) speeds (data limited to 75Mbps per cell). Moreover, this capacity has to be shared with several aircrafts and shared by on board passengers. In response to aviation stakeholders towards IFBC services, the Next Generation Mobile Alliance (NGMN) has proposed Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for beyond 5G use-cases targeting mobile backhauling for aircrafts. Based on their estimations, each user will have 15/(7.5) Mb/s download/(upload), so that 1.2/(0.6) Gb/s download/(upload) speed is required per aircraft, assuming 20% active users per aircraft and 400 passengers in each aircraft. To achieve these anticipated data rates, quite clearly there is a need for enhanced utilization of spectrum, radio resource and network management and antenna technologies that current systems cannot deliver. To valide the proof-of-concept, experimentation in the lab is the next step on the technology readiness ladder. However, there are limited system level simulation tools that can capture fully the dynamics of the aerial networking medium to test airbourne radio protocols/algorithms, where existing solutions are either confined to 2D network modelling space suitable for legacy ground based networks, or providing minor capability on modelling practical scenarios. This SE (staff exchange) action referred to as AeroNet, aims to advance 5G-based aerial networking protocols and to demonstrate attainable performance through experimentation on a 3D system level simulator to deliver new insights on the performance benefits of analytical design approaches. This will be achieved by implementing the research goal through planned staff exchanges, that will also promote staff training through the transfer of knowledge based on international and inter