NASA study for establishing baseline requirements for future terminal airspace CNS systems

One of the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) projects is performing the research and development on a robust, next-generation, wireless, wideband, air/ground communications technologies that will enable the significant increase in terminal area communications to support aircraft traffic growth. The first step of the research has been to conduct a requirements and technology assessment study of CNS systems existing and planned for a Class B and Class C airspace (Miami and Fort Lauderdale Airports). This paper focuses on the terminal airspace communications covered in the study for the Miami class B airspace and includes communications carried on by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), airlines, fix base operators, security agencies, passengers and other organizations requiring communications with aircraft. A system logical architecture for the future is described. In the future this logical architecture can be used to assess the use of various broadband communications to perform terminal area CNS support functions