1. Light communication Use case: low latency audio in the cockpit
May 2015
doc.: IEEE /0496r1
November 2017
Light communication Use case: low latency audio in the cockpit
Date:
Authors:
Name
Company
Address
Phone
Simon Bazin
FACTEM
Emilien Baur
AIRBUS
Valentin Kretzschmar
Michel Malnoë
Nikola Serafimovski
pureLiFi
Simon Bazin (FACTEM)
Edward Au (Marvell Semiconductor)

2. Outline Context Origin of need Description of use case Conclusion
November 2017
Outline
Context
Origin of need
Description of use case
Conclusion
Simon Bazin (FACTEM)

3. Light communication in the cockpit: Context
January 2016
doc.: IEEE /1472r0
November 2017
Light communication in the cockpit: Context
Context:
AIRBUS, FACTEM, XLIM part of a Cleansky 2 project : Aircraft Light Communication (ALC)
Purpose: demonstrate LC capabilities, and in particular LC for audio headset
Demonstrator in a flight simulator by December 2019
“This project has received funding from the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No ”
Simon Bazin (FACTEM)
Edward Au (Huawei Technologies)

4. Light communication in the cockpit: origin of need
January 2016
doc.: IEEE /1472r0
November 2017
Light communication in the cockpit: origin of need
AIRBUS wants to provide wireless headsets to aircraft crew
Wireless = increased comfort, potential safety benefit
Main motivations to choose LC against RF:
Security: reduced risk of attacks or eavesdropping
Safety: resilient to EM perturbations, guarantee of service
Worldwide availability, free spectrum
Cockpit
Simon Bazin (FACTEM)
Edward Au (Huawei Technologies)

5. Light communication in the cockpit: origin of need
January 2016
doc.: IEEE /1472r0
November 2017
Light communication in the cockpit: origin of need
Main constraints (cont’d):
Fully operational whatever the ambient light conditions (incl. night flight)
Up to 4 headsets at the same time
Standardized solution wanted
Coexistence with other applications: LC internet connection
Simon Bazin (FACTEM)
Edward Au (Huawei Technologies)

6. Light communication in the cockpit: Description of the use case
January 2016
doc.: IEEE /1472r0
November 2017
Light communication in the cockpit: Description of the use case
Bidirectional Audio communication
LC Access point (one or several) inside cockpit and connected to Audio Server
From one to four Terminals (Audio Headset + Microphone) 6
Simon Bazin (FACTEM)
Edward Au (Huawei Technologies)

7. Light communication in the cockpit: Description of the use case
January 2016
doc.: IEEE /1472r0
November 2017
Light communication in the cockpit: Description of the use case
General
Optical
Near InfraRed on both links
Downlink: 890 nm
Uplink: 940 nm
1 (or several) Access Point
Up to 4 Terminals
Coverage
Full cockpit coverage 7
Simon Bazin (FACTEM)
Edward Au (Huawei Technologies)

8. Light communication in the cockpit: Description of the use case
January 2016
doc.: IEEE /1472r0
November 2017
Light communication in the cockpit: Description of the use case
Performance
Multi-User: Up to 4 concurrent users
Down link data rate: 2 Mbps
Uplink data rate: 2 Mbps / user
Latency < 3 ms - Challenging!
PER < 10^(-4) (with the latency requirement in mind: no possibility to re-send lost packets)
Full Duplex Communication 8
Simon Bazin (FACTEM)
Edward Au (Huawei Technologies)

9. Light communication in the cockpit: Multi-Application Use Case
January 2016
doc.: IEEE /1472r0
November 2017
Light communication in the cockpit: Multi-Application Use Case
Quality of Service required to tackle different streams (Data, Audio) from different terminals within the same Access Point range
Coexistence of different applications:
Audio Headsets
Tablets
Simon Bazin (FACTEM)
Edward Au (Huawei Technologies)

10. November 2017
Conclusion
Proposal: consider implementing low latency communication in future LC amendment:
Data rates greater than 2 Mbps
At least one PHY mode that would result in latency of less than 3 ms
Enable full duplex PHY layer able work on two different frequencies
Enable quality of service on the MAC packets
Simon Bazin (FACTEM)