1. ATN2003 IEE, London CNS Infrastructure Partnerships Akhil Sharma Senior Manager AIRCOM Service Development

2. ATN 2003 Outline Overview of SITA AIRCOM Data Link Service Airline and Air Traffic use of SITA AIRCOM VDL Mode 2 Partnerships Transition Plans: ACARS->VDL->ATN ATN Service Plans

3. ATN 2003 Airlines or ATS Application System ATS and AOC Internetworking RGS GES SITAMET DHP MSW MSS Global SITA X.25 Service ADLT (Singapore) Primary Backup ADLT (Montréal) AIRCOM Data Link Service VGS

4. ATN 2003 VHF AIRCOM Coverage

5. ATN 2003 Satellite AIRCOM Coverage

6. ATN 2003 SITA introduced the VHF ACARS services (VHF AIRCOM) in the early 1980’s to support movement messages Today, over 100 or the world’s airlines are VHF AIRCOM customers with 4,000 aircraft and and additional 1,000 BizJets The 5000+ aircraft which use the service collectively generate 500,000+ messages per day In addition to basic movement information, AOC applications have evolved to include: – Engine monitoring – Flight planning –Weight & Balance, Takeoff Data Calculation –Weather Information –Fuel information –Gate information ACARS is considered to be a mission critical service Airline Use of ACARS

7. ATN 2003 Increasing numbers of ATS providers around the world have/are planning initial ATS data link services: –Departure Clearance (DCL)/Pre-Departure Clearance Services (PDC) –Oceanic Clearance Services (OCM) –Digital-ATIS (D-ATIS) Services In order to promote global interoperability, the AEEC and Eurocae have developed standards for these services –AEEC 623 (Message formats), Eurocae ED 85, ED 89 and ED 106 (Performance Requirements) SITA provides a D-ATIS Gateway service in order to allow non 623 compliant aircraft access to 623 compliant ground systems and vice versa SITA has launched a series of low cost Air Traffic Service application systems to accelerate deployment Air Traffic Service use of ACARS “Pre FANS”

8. ATN 2003 According to industry estimates, there are approx. 1,200 FANS 1/A equipped aircraft today……...and the number is growing ! To date, FANS 1/A services have been introduced in remote and oceanic airspace, e.g. Pacific, Atlantic Oceans Eurocontrol Maastricht UACC introduced operational FANS 1/A (CPDLC) services via SITA AIRCOM in June 2003 –Maastricht airspace ranks amongst the densest airspace in the world handling up to 4,000 flights/day SITA currently provides direct FANS 1/A communications services to 20 ATS providers including the FAA, Eurocontrol, France, Egypt, Spain, South Africa, Singapore, Australia, Cape Verde and India SITA AIRCOM supports FANS internetworking with other DSPs to ensure maximum availability of services to aircraft operators Air Traffic use of ACARS – “FANS1/A”

9. ATN 2003 VDL Mode 2 One VDL Mode 2 channel provides at least 10 times more capacity increase over one ACARS channel VDL Mode 2 is operational today using single 25 kHz channel shared between service providers Selected by Eurocontrol and the FAA as the initial subnetwork technology to enable CPDLC –Consistent with IATA position

10. ATN 2003 VDL Mode 2/AOA AEEC defined in 1999 an interim architecture that serves as a step towards ATN referred to as “AOA”, “ACARS over VDL AVLC” AOA allows existing ACARS applications to benefit from the higher bandwidth offered by VDL M2 Main benefit, in addition to capacity increase, is that no change required to the interface to airline or ATS ground systems For aircraft, transition from AOA to ATN/VDL Mode 2 will require a software upgrade to the avionics –All ACARS avionics vendors now offer VDL AOA avionics –Several major AIRCOM customers planning AOA retrofits across the majority of their fleets SITA evaluation of VDL AOA service with KLM (B737’s) has demonstrated that the service is working

11. ATN 2003 VDL/AOA/ATN

12. ATN 2003 SITA VGS Architecture interface (8) - X2Narrow band Antenna interface (8) - X1 Wide band Antenna VHF Data Radios: Each VDR can be programmed to handle VHF analog ACARS or VHF Digital Link Mode 2 VHF Ground Computer (VGC) Laptop computer for maintenance Antenna Relay switches Uninterruptible Power Supply interface (1) - X10 GPS source Power Supply Dual Power Supply VGS Management Interface ACARS Processor SITA Ground Network VDL Management Entity Processor ATN Router VDL Subnetwork Connections ACARS and VDL AOA Traffic

13. ATN 2003 SITA deployment of VDL Mode 2 coverage is being driven by two main factors: –Airline customer requirements for increased ACARS capacity in areas where the VHF analogue ACARS frequencies most heavily used and congestion is forecast –Air traffic service providers requiring their Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) to use ATN over VDL –Air traffic service providers have the choice to contract service provision or deploy their own VDL networks VDL Mode 2 Deployment Drivers

14. ATN 2003 SITA/AENA VDL Partnership SITA signed an agreement with the Spanish Air Traffic Service provider, AENA, that will result in: –VDL 2 coverage over entire Spanish terrestrial airspace through 21 AENA owned SITA VGS’ by end 1Q 2004 –AENA responsibility for housing, maintenance and management of the service –Seamless AOC service for SITA VHF AIRCOM customers –Platform for the introduction of CPDLC services over the ATN, planned for 2006 Initial concrete example of the CNS industry/public joint ventures foreseen by the European Commission’s Single European Sky initiative –Provides a pragmatic basis for European regional Air Traffic Service provider entity owned VDL network service

15. ATN 2003 The Architecture SITA ACARS Processor AENA FANS 1/A (CPDLC/ ADS) AENA Pre-FANS ATIS/DCL AIRLINE Host Computer SITA Network Service AENA G/G Network (REDAN) VHF stations (VGS) Network Gateway MADRID BARCELONA Non AENA ATS Host Computer AENA VGS Network Service Boundary R R ATN CPDLC AOC

16. ATN 2003 The Architecture SITA ACARS Processor AENA FANS 1/A (CPDLC/ ADS) AENA Pre-FANS ATIS/DCL AIRLINE Host Computer SITA Network Service AENA G/G Network (REDAN) VHF stations (VGS) Network Gateway MADRID BARCELONA Non AENA ATS Host Computer AENA VGS Network Service Boundary R R ATN CPDLC FANS

17. ATN 2003 The Architecture SITA ACARS Processor AENA FANS 1/A (CPDLC/ ADS) AENA Pre-FANS ATIS/DCL AIRLINE Host Computer SITA Network Service AENA G/G Network (REDAN) VHF stations (VGS) Network Gateway MADRID BARCELONA Non AENA ATS Host Computer AENA VGS Network Service Boundary R R ATN CPDLC Pre-FANS

18. ATN 2003 The Architecture SITA ACARS Processor AENA FANS 1/A (CPDLC/ ADS) AENA Pre-FANS ATIS/DCL AIRLINE Host Computer SITA Network Service AENA G/G Network (REDAN) VHF stations (VGS) Network Gateway MADRID BARCELONA Non AENA ATS Host Computer AENA VGS Network Service Boundary R R ATN CPDLC CPDLC/ATN

19. ATN 2003 The Architecture SITA ACARS Processor AENA FANS 1/A (CPDLC/ ADS) AENA Pre-FANS ATIS/DCL AIRLINE Host Computer SITA Network Service AENA G/G Network (REDAN) VHF stations (VGS) Network Gateway MADRID BARCELONA Non AENA ATS Host Computer AENA VGS Network Service Boundary R R ATN CPDLC AOC/ATN

20. ATN 2003 AIRCOM VDL 2 Coverage

21. ATN 2003 SITA ATN Service SITA plans to launch ATN Service in support of the Link2000+ Pioneer Project by mid 2004 Existing VDL AIRCOM provides coverage over majority of Maastricht airspace Deployment of ATN service requires integration of ground/ground and air/ground ATN Routers

22. ATN 2003 Transition to ATN AOA ATN ACARS VGS RGS ACARS DSP Airline ACARS Host Data Communication Network AVLC LinkVDL2 Link ATN System ATN User Traffic ACARS User Traffic ATN Router

23. ATN 2003 Conclusions Efficiency of airline operations increasingly dependant upon the SITA AIRCOM Data Link Service The use of the current VHF and Satellite AIRCOM service to support ATS communications continues to increase – a true reflection of the benefits provided ACARS ATS applications will continue to play an increasing role given the 10,000+ ACARS equipped aircraft in service today Deployment of FANS 1/A services continues across the globe VDL Mode 2 services are operational today Major airlines are planning to upgrade to AOA to provide enhanced performance to their existing ACARS applications & enable introduction of new applications CNS partnerships, as exemplified by the SITA/AENA agreement, demonstrate a pragmatic way forward to enable ATN/CPDLC introduction SITA’s ATN Service will be shortly launched to meet Link2000+ Pioneer Project requirements

24. Thank You for your attention ! For further information contact akhil.sharma@sita.aero