Capacity dimensioning for Air Traffic Management (ATM) services in a GEO satellite system with spot beams

The Communications Operating Concepts and Requirements (COCR) for Future Radio Systems (FRS) [EUROCONTROL/FAA, Technical report, May 2007] is a document produced jointly by Eurocontrol (the European organization for the safety of air navigation) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a roadmap document for future development of Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems. Among others it provides a method to estimate the communication link capacity requirement for future ATM services. Nevertheless, the COCR document is written as a general guideline, without taking into account any technological implementation.

In this work we present a methodology to estimate the capacity in terms of communication bit rate requirements for ATM services in a constellation of geostationary (GEO) satellites with spot beams. The complete approach is illustrated using concrete scenario elements and assumptions as well as numerical parameter values along the whole process.

The bit rate requirement per spot beam is determined using a similar approach to the one in the COCR, with some parameters adjusted to fit in a satellite system scenario. Furthermore, the criticality of one particular service message, the A-EXEC, is verified by comparing the required bit rate when it is excluded from the computation. A condition when this criticality applies is also determined.

The result of this work may thus contribute to the assessment of appropriate technologies used for ATM in the Future Communications Study (FCS) framework [EUROCONTROL/FAA, Technical report].