1. ICAO ATN/IPS Standardization (Internet Protocol Suite) Current Status
AMHS Workshop, Chiang Mai,
21 – 23 January 2008
Loftur Jónasson
Secretary Aeronautical Communications Panel (ACP)
ICAO ANB/CNS
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2. Outline Current Work program Present and planned documents
ICAO ATN/IPS Doc 9896
Impact on current and future AMHS implementations
The presentation is divided into four subjects.
We will look at the current work program of working groups of the Aeronautical Communications Panel, involved with development and maintenance of the ATN SARPs and related guidance material.
We will take a brief look at the status of the current and new ATN material being developed by ICAO.
We will look at the new ATN/IPS Manual being developed by ACP Working Group I, Document 9896.
Finally, I will attempt to discuss briefly, the impact of the current standardization within ICAO on current and future AMHS implementations.
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3. Current Work Program ICAO Changes …
From 36th Session ICAO Assembly;
“Change towards developing performance based SARPs”
“give more strength to outside Standards-making organizations and utilizing their work within the ICAO framework, thus avoiding duplication of work”
“to reduce the overall activity of panels and to refocus the Secretariat more on implementation of Standards and less on Standards-making”
From ICAO Secretariat
Review of the work program by the ANC of all Panels. Beginning this year, work will need to demonstrate a direct linkage to a result area in the approved budget.
New work activities will need to be proposed using the Air Navigation program issue form and process agreed by the Air Navigation Commission (ANC)
Assembly, a conference held every three years, in which all contracting states participate, is the ultimate authority of ICAO. An assembly will provide longer term guidance on ICAO policy, typically in terms of Assembly resolutions. During the 36th Assembly, it was decided that SARPs should be become more performance based, that more strength should be given towards outside Standards making organizations and utilizing their work wihtin the ICAO framework, in order to avoid duplication of work between related standardization organizations, I could mention EUROCAE and RTCA as an example. And finally, to reduce the overall activity of panels and to refocus the Secretariat more towards the implementation of standards.
As I am sure all of you know, the ICAO budget has also been trimmed down.
As a result of this, the work program of all panels is being reviewed. Any work item of a panel activity will have to have a direct link to the approved budget of the Organization, and new work activities will not be undertaken within panels, unless they have been agreed by the Air Navigation Commission.
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4. Current Work Program ICAO Annex 10, Volume III, Part 1
Restructured to become more high-level
Amended version accepted last May at ACP/1; it introduces two technical options for ATN deployment: “ATN/OSI” and “ATN/IPS”
State letter from ICAO invited comments on the proposed amendments by 15 Oct Responses to the comments have been consolidated by the Secretariat and have been agreed to by the ANC
The Annex 10 amendment proposal will be submitted to the Council for final approval in March 2008
The foreseen applicability date of the amended Annex 10 is November 2008
And now for the current work program:
The current ATN SARPs, as contained in Annex 10, Volume III, Part I have been restructured to become more high level. The amended version was developed by ACP/1 last May, This version introduces two technical options for ATN deployment, the ATN/OSI and the ATN/IPS. Following a review by the Air Navigation Commission, these amended SARPs were introduced to States for comments in June last year. Comments from States have been received, responses consolidated by the ICAO Secretariat, and addressed and agreed by the Air Navigation Commission.
The Annex 10 amendment proposal will be submitted to the ICAO Council for final approval in March. It is foreseen that the SARPs amendment will become applicable on the 20th of November this year.
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5. Current Work Program ICAO ACP WG Maintenance (WG-M)
ICAO ACP Maintenance Procedures
Former ATNP maintenance procedures are no longer applicable since the ACP re-organisation
ACP WG-M is now responsible for maintenance
Tentative WG-M meetings are scheduled once a year and the meeting will be convened if there are issue to address (next tentative date is June 2008)
Any Proposed Defect Reports (PDRs) are to be forwarded to WG-M chairman and ACP Secretary
Here we have a few bullets on the maintenance of the current ATN/OSI material.
The former ATN Panel maintenance procedures are no longer applicable since the ACP reorganization
ACP Working Group M is now responsible for maintenance of the OSI material, as well as other Manuals on Ground-Ground or Air-Ground communications. I could mention HF Data Link, VDL Mode 2, the Aeronautical Mobile Satellite (Route) Service or AMS(R)S Manual, and so on.
Working Group M meetings will be scheduled as needed. The next meeting is tentatively foreseen for June this year.
All PDRs for Documents 9705/9880 need to be forwarded to the Working Group M Chairman, Mr. Robert Frazier and to me.
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6. Current Work Program WG-I Scope
Working Group Internet (WG-I) is tasked to define the Internet Protocol Suite (IPS) of the ATN and conclude by November 2008
WGI concentrates its work on the following document set:
Annex 10, Volume III, Part 1
Doc 9896 “Manual for the ATN using IPS standards and protocols” which will contain several parts covering technical provisions and guidance material (will be a merge of current drafts of ATN/IPS manual and guidance material)
The ATN IPS is principally driven by de-facto IP industry standards
Working Group I, on the other hand is developing SARPs and guidance material, for the Internet Protocol Suite. This working group is continuing the work of the former ACP Working Group N. WG-N developed the new ATN/IPS SARPs which are now about to be included in Annex 10, Volume III, Part I, by November this year.
The working group I is now developing detailed technical specifications and guidance material in support of the SARPs. This material which will be finalized by the middle of the year, will be published as the new ATN/IPS Manual, Doc 9896, which is referenced in the SARPs.
The ATN/IPS material being developed could be described as a toolbox approach; the material references the appropriate RFCs as described in the de-facto standards of the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), and also including relevant implementation guidance.
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7. Present and Planned Documents Status of current ICAO ATN/OSI Documents Doc 9705, Doc 9880 & Doc 9739
Document 9705 (ATN/OSI Manual): instead of releasing Edition 4, Document 9880 is being prepared
Part I Air-ground applications (CM/PM-CPDLC) => has been approved, pending publication
Part II Ground-ground applications
Part IIA (AIDC) => has been approved, pending publication
Part IIB (ATSMHS) => has been approved, pending publication
Part III (ULCS) => not yet approved, work in progress
Further migration of Doc 9705 Edition 3 content to Doc 9880 has been suspended temporarily due to lack of ICAO resources
Doc 9739 (ATN/OSI Guidance Material): Unlikely that Edition 2 (available on old ATNP website) will ever be published
And now on Present and Planned Documents.
This slide shows the current status of documents 9705 and 9880.
Maintenance of 9705 has been stopped, and the relevant material in 9705 is now in the process of being moved into Part I, Air-ground applications has now been approved for publication. Part II, including the OSI/AIDC and AMHS has also been approved. Part III, on ULCS has not yet been finished.
Approved, in this context means approved for publication under the authority of the Secretary General. The approved parts of 9880 are currently in the process being edited for publication. Document 9880 can be downloaded on the ACP website.
Any further migration of the content of 9705 to Document 9880 has been temporarily suspended, due to lack of resources within the Organization. You can find Edition 2 of Doc 9739 on ATN/OSI guidance material on the old ATNP website. It is unlikely that this material will ever be published.
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8. Present and planned documents Coexistence of the ATN/OSI and ATN/IPS
ICAO Reference Documents
Annex 10 SARPS will introduce ATN/IPS in parallel to ATN/OSI
Doc 9705 Edition 3 (+ PDRs) is still applicable but will eventually be superseded by Doc 9880 Part IIB
Doc 9896 (ATN/IPS) will have provisions for ATSMHS over TCP/IP while specifying an IPv6 network service
External Reference Documents
Mature Standards referenced rather than developing our own
RFCs developed by the Internet Society (ISOC) Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) are referenced in the new Annex 10 amendment and Doc 9896 as appropriate.
EUROCAE and RTCA documents may also be referenced.
The new ATN/IPS SARPs will introduce the ATN/IPS in parallel to ATN/OSI.
Parts of Document 9705 Edition 3 are still applicable, but it is gradually being superseded by 9880, Part IIB in the case of AMHS. The new Doc will contain the provisions for ATSMHS over TCP/IP, specifying an IP version 6 network service.
The ATN/IPS SARPs, and Document 9896 reference external documents containing mature standards to the extent possible, mainly referencing the RFCs developed by the Internet Society’s Internet Engineering Task Force. It is likely that we will reference the work of other organizations as well, for instance EUROCAE WG-67 in the case of Voice over IP.
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9. ICAO ATN/IPS Doc 9896 “Networking”
Under development in WG-I, ground networking elements are relatively stable, based on IPv6 and BGP routing
Compatible with on-going IP implementations
Includes:
Networking protocols
Provisions for mobility management
Provisions for security (IPSec, SSL/TLS, ATN Security)
VoIP material (references)
And now for a few slides on the structure of the new ATN/IPS Manual
The Manual will be divided into three main parts. Networking, Applications and Guidance Material.
The Networking Part includes the material shown on this slide. The material being developed is compatible with on-going implementations. It includes specifications or appropriate references for the Networking Protocols, provisions for mobility management, provisions for security such as IP-Security and SSL or TLS. Voice over IP material will most likely be included by reference to the material currently being developed by EUROCAE WG-67
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10. ICAO ATN/IPS Doc 9896 “Applications”
Similar to the ATN/OSI Manual Document 9705/9880, the ATN/IPS Manual Document 9896 will contain application-related provisions, especially to accommodate already existing applications:
ATSMHS: RFC2126/RFC1006 (1st step), other IP native alternatives will be considered e.g. SMTP (potential 2nd step)
AIDC/OSI: Too complex to migrate; no existing implementations. OLDI/FMTP is being considered as one alternative. Other alternatives may be used as well.
A/G applications: Re-direction of Dialogue Service invocations to a TCP interface is being considered
CM: Will involve changes, assess alternatives in IP environment
ULCS: Support within the ATN/IPS may not be required
New applications developed at a later stage to utilize the ATN/IPS, may be accommodated individually, in Doc 9896, or in other Documents which reference the ATN/IPS SARPs
The Part on Applications will include provisions for an IPS implementation of applications which have already been implemented with the ATN/OSI.
This includes provisions for AMHS over IPS, by means of RFC2126 or Other IP alternatives such as SMTP may also be considered at a later stage as a potential second step.
The other ATN/OSI application which has been implemented to date is air-ground CPDLC. Currently the WG is not developing a replacement for the CPDLC implementation of ATN/OSI over VDL Mode 2. However, the working group is developing necessary provisions on Context Management, Mobility, Security and such, to provide a generic IPS methodology for use by Air-Ground datalinks.
It does not look like that AIDC/OSI will be migrated. OLDI/FMTP is being considered as an alternative. Other alternatives similar to the current Aerothai implementation of the AIDC may also be considered.
New IPS applications developed at a later stage may be accommodated individually, in Doc 9896, or in other Documents which would then reference the ATN/IPS SARPs
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11. ICAO ATN/IPS Doc 9896 “Guidance Material”
ATN/IPS Input – Guidance Material
Connection oriented and connectionless transmission
Transport layer addressing
Multicast services for surveillance
AS numbering and addressing schemes
IPv4/IPv6 migrations and translation
Inter-domain routing
Quality of Service (QoS) management …
The Part on Guidance Material will include implementation guidance in particular on issues such as:
Connection oriented or connectionless usage
Transport layer addressing
Multicast services
AS numbering and addressing schemes
IP version 4 to IP version 6 migrations and translation
Inter-domain routing and Quality of Service Management.
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12. Impact on current and future AMHS implementations
A dual stack implementation is envisaged to support both ATN/OSI and ATN/IPS when necessary
I have been taught that a presentation should always contain graphics. I was flattered to see my only two graphics copied in another presentation, presented to us yesterday.
This graphic just states the obvious. Now that we seem to be going for two dissimilar networks in support of the AMHS, dual stack implementations will be necessary at the boundaries between regions implementing OSI on the one hand and IPS on the other hand.
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13. Impact on current and future AMHS implementations
AMHS implementations over IPv4 and IPv6 are interoperable
This slide on the other hand addresses a different issue. There has been some confusion on the potential need for a dual stack approach to support IP version 4 and IP version 6.
As illustrated on this slide, the solution using AMHS over RFC1006 over IPv4 together with an IPv4-to-IPv6 translator in form of NAT-PT or SIIT or similar, is compatible with the solution of using AMHS over RFC2126 over IPv6.
RFC1006 over NAT-PT is a short-term option provided by industry, while solutions using RFC2126 are becoming available. This solution should be discouraged in the longer term however, mainly because of two reasons. The IETF is dropping support of NAT-PT. The additional protocol/network-address translation needed with this approach adds to the complexity of the implementation
SIIT (Stateless IP/ICMP Translator
NAT-PT (Network Address Translation – Protocol Translation)
BIS (Bump In the Stack)
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14. Impact on current and future AMHS implementations
Industry support for the IPS is guaranteed for the foreseeable future
Support for the ISO/OSI stack is dwindling, and costs are increasing. The Telecom Industry has largely dropped the X.25/X.400 based services in favour of TCP/IP
Now, we could ask why are we developing an IPS alternative to OSI.
During the last decade we have seen rapid dwindling of support for the ISO/OSI stack. Availability of off-the-shelf OSI solutions is getting to be very limited, and costs of solutions offered are increasing. The Telecom Industry has dropped the X.25/X.400 based services in favour of native TCP/IP services.
On the other hand, it seems obvious that industry support for the Internet Protocol Suite is guaranteed for the foreseeable future.
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15. Impact on current and future AMHS implementations
The ACP WG-I is developing ICAO material which will enable implementation of the ATN, solely based on the IPS. The WG-I recommends that to the extent possible, implementation of ATN/IPS material should be promoted
The ICAO NAM, CAR/SAM and NAT/EUR regions have opted for implementing the AMHS, using the IPS
In the AFI region there are plans for dual stack solutions
It has been suggested that the MID region may even delay implementation of the AMHS and go directly to SMTP over IPS, a possible alternative to the AMHS
Ongoing discussions within ICAO on whether to adopt a native IPS “industry standard” type solution as an alternative to AMHS, for instance using SMTP
The first bullet on this slide is a rather obvious statement. Working Group I of the Aeronautical Communications Panel, is the Working Group which is developing ICAO material to enable ATN applications based on IPS solutions. Working Group I recommends that at this stage, to the extent possible, implementation of the ATN using the IPS should be promoted.
The ICAO North American, Caribbean/South American regions and the North Atlantic/European regions have opted to use the IPS for implementing the AMHS.
In the African and Indian Ocean region there are plans for dual stack solutions.
We learned from vendors yesterday that countries in the Middle East region are equipping with AMHS capable systems. Yet it has been suggested in that region to wait and delay implementation of the AMHS and go directly to SMTP over the IPS instead, a possible alternative to the AMHS.
Currently there are ongoing discussions within ICAO on whether to adopt a native IPS industry standard type solution as an alternative to the AMHS, for instance the SMTP protocol
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16. Impact on current and future AMHS implementations
The figure below is from an information paper presented by China to the APANPIRG ATNICG/1, in May 2006
Trends already indicate that the end state will most likely be SMTP over IPS
My final slide.
On this slide you see a figure that I noticed in an information paper presented to the ATNICG/1 in May As you can see on this figure, they were considering SMTP as one of the alternatives to be provided.
It seems likely at this stage that ICAO may standardize SMTP as a message transfer protocol. On the other hand, we do have to acknowledge the fact that AMHS is already being implemented in several regions, and that adoption of a new alternative will take some time, even when it seems to be simple and straight forward as in the case of SMTP. I noted yesterday that some of the vendors do already provide SMTP gateways.
This concludes my presentation.
Thank you.
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