GROUND STATION AND RELATED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AIR-GROUND AND GROUND-AIR COMMUNICATIONS BASED ON VDL MODE 2 AND LDACS TECHNOLOGIES

摘要

The invention concerns a ground station (25) for air-ground and ground-air communications, configured to provide an airline operational communications (AOC) service and an air traffic control (ATC) service. The ground station (25) includes gateway means (253) coupled to: communications networks (13) connected to airline remote stations (14) for providing the AOC service; and one or more air-ground routers (18) connected through one or more boundary intermediate systems (19) to one or more air navigation service provider remote stations (15) for providing the ATC service. The gateway means (253) are configured to receive, through the communications networks (13), uplink AOC messages that are sent by the airline remote stations (14), carry information items related to the AOC service, and are intended to be transmitted, each, to a respective one of first aircrafts (11,12) requiring both the AOC service and the ATC service. The gateway means (253) are configured also to receive, from the air-ground router (s) (18), first uplink ATC messages that are sent by the air navigation service provider remote station (s) (15) to said air-ground router (s) (18) through the boundary intermediate system (s) (19), carry information items related to the ATC service, and are intended to be transmitted, each, to a respective first aircraft (11,12). The ground station (25) further includes ground-based VDL2 wireless communication means (251) coupled to the gateway means (253) and configured to: carry out radio communications based on VDL Mode 2 technology; receive, based on VDL Mode 2 technology, first downlink AOC messages and first downlink ATC messages from one or more of the first aircrafts (11,12); and provide the gateway means (253) with the first downlink AOC messages and the first downlink ATC messages. The first downlink AOC messages carry information items related to the AOC service, and are intended to be routed, each, through a respective communications network (13) to reach a respective airline remote station (14). The first downlink ATC messages carry information items related to the ATC service, and are intended to be routed, each, to a respective air-ground router (18) to reach a respective air navigation service provider remote station (15) through the boundary intermediate system(s) (19). The gateway means (253) are further configured to route: each first downlink AOC message through the respective communications network (13) to reach the respective airline remote station (14); and each first downlink ATC message to the respective air- ground router (18) to reach the respective air navigation service provider remote station (15) through the boundary intermediate system(s) (19). The ground station is characterized by further including ground-based LDACS wireless communication means (252) coupled to the gateway means (253) and configured to: carry out radio communications based on LDACS technology; receive, based on LDACS technology, second downlink AOC messages and second downlink ATC messages from one or more of the first aircrafts (11,12), and third downlink ATC messages from one or more second aircrafts (16,17) requiring only the ATC service; and provide the gateway means (253) with the second downlink AOC messages, the second downlink ATC messages and the third downlink ATC messages. The ground- based VDL2 wireless communication means (252) are further configured to: receive, based on VDL Mode 2 technology, fourth downlink ATC messages from one or more of the second aircrafts (11,12); and provide the gateway means (253) with the fourth downlink ATC messages. The second downlink AOC messages carry information items related to the AOC service, and are intended to be routed, each, through a respective communications network (13) to reach a respective airline remote station (14). The second, third and fourth downlink ATC messages carry information items related to the ATC service, and are intended to be routed, each, to a respective air-ground router (18) to reach a respective air navigation service provider remote station (15) through the boundary intermediate system(s) (19). The gateway means (253) are further configured to: route each second downlink AOC message through the respective communications network (13) to reach the respective airline remote station (14); route each second, third and fourth downlink ATC message to the respective air-ground router (18) to reach the respective air navigation service provider remote station (15) through the boundary intermediate system(s) (19); receive, from the air-ground router (s) (18), second uplink ATC messages that are sent by the air navigation service provider remote station (s) (15) to said air-ground router (s) (18) through the boundary intermediate system(s) (19), carry information items related to the ATC service, and are intended to be transmitted, each, to a respective second aircraft (16,17); and selectively provide the uplink AOC messages, the first uplink ATC messages and the second uplink ATC messages to the ground-based VDL2 wireless communication means (251) and/or the ground-based LDACS wireless communication means (252). The ground-based VDL2 wireless communication means (251) are further configured to: put in one or more low- priority queues the uplink AOC messages received from the gateway means (253); put in one or more high-priority queues the first and second uplink ATC messages received from the gateway means (253); transmit, based on VDL Mode 2 technology, the first and second uplink ATC messages present in the high-priority queue (s) to the respective first and second aircrafts (11,12,16,17); and transmit, based on VDL Mode 2 technology, the uplink AOC messages present in the low-priority queue (s) to the respective first aircrafts (11,12) only when there are no first and second uplink ATC messages in the high-priority queue (s). The ground-based LDACS wireless communication means (252) are further configured to periodically broadcast over one or more predefined LDACS broadcast channels: groups of predefined LDACS broadcast messages, wherein said groups of predefined LDACS broadcast messages carry information items identifying the communications networks (13); and single predefined LDACS broadcast messages carrying address (es) of the air-ground router (s) (18).