AIS and MET data link services modeling and analysis

Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) and Meteorological (MET) Data Link Services are being developed by the aviation community. Standardization activities are taking place in RTCA Special Committee (SC) 206. This paper describes a satellite communication (SATCOM) data link model developed and used to analyze a use case in which en route aircraft receive AIS and MET data. This modeling and analysis effort was performed to support the development of an analysis process to evaluate potential delivery methods for AIS/MET data link services. The analyzed use case describes envisioned future flight operations encountering convective weather activity while en route. It identifies a scenario in which AIS/MET data link services are established by all aircraft participating in the use case. These aircraft receive MET and AIS updates from the ground while traversing the defined use case volume. The updates will provide improved situational awareness for the flight crew. This paper discusses the use case and identifies the technical characteristics of the transmitted AIS/MET messages. It also describes the message time sequence diagram developed for the use case and implemented in the simulation model. The generic SATCOM model developed to analyze this use case is then presented. The model components, assumptions, and parameters are identified. Simulation results obtained for the AIS/MET use case are presented. Results have been obtained for each of the performance metrics identified as part of the SC-206 architecture characterization activities. They include 95^th percentile latency values for each AIS/MET message type, throughput, and utilization as a percentage of data link capacity.