Massimiliano Amirfeiz, a member of the project coordination team, details the technologies used by SANDRA and their expected impact on future aeronautics.
AIRBUS COCKPIT RADIO COMUNNITCAION TRIAL
The SANDRA technology was successfully tested in trial flights in Germany, prompting the European Commission to select the flagship project for its communications around the new Horizon 2020 research programme. Its newly developed technology involves connecting all aircraft applications and services to a single integrated aeronautical communication system based on networks, radio transmission and satellite links, which is global, digital and safe. This can result in overly complex, disparate and inefficient communications which may potentially delay his reactions to unforeseen events.īesides being inefficient, the current system cannot meet upcoming aeronautics challenges, such as congestion, insufficient capacity at airports, the need for increased data traffic, and requests for better cabin and passenger communication systems.Īs part of the Single European Sky Initiative, SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) - a joint effort by the EU, Eurocontrol and industry to modernise and provide a high performance air traffic control infrastructure in Europe - is studying the evolution of aeronautical communications, while focusing on air traffic control and airline operational communications.Ĭoordinated by Selex ES and made up of 30 partners from Europe's leading aviation technology industry and research organisations, the SANDRA consortium has taken a more radical approach instead, which is able to revolutionise in-flight communications. Forget high-speed access to real-time information: the pilot operates in an isolated bubble where he must rely on decades-old analogue voice communications and non-IP low bit-rate data links.
Whilst more and more airlines provide their customers with in-flight access to the internet, pilots still have to work with technology from another era. The SANDRA project set out to improve aircraft by means of a coherent digital architecture. Coping with these needs and the resulting overcrowded sky requires top-notch communication technologies - but the sector is not quite ready yet. Air transportation is expected to at least double by 2050.
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