Throughput analysis in Aeronautical Data Networks

The advances in signal processing, rapid-prototyping and an insatiable consumer demand for wireless connectivity is opening a new paradigm of data service, “Aeronautical Data Networks (ADN)”. The desire is to provide low delay and cost effective data network not only for an aeronautical platform, but also terrestrial networks by using aeronautical platforms as a backbone. An aeronautical station could be a commercial plane, a helicopter or any other very low orbit station i.e., Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV), High Altitude Platform (HAP). In this paper, we investigate aeronautical broadband wireless access scheme to provide a ADN capacity analysis. First the geometry and connectivity of an ADN is investigated to present the parameters that effects the throughput of an ADN. Then the network throughput analysis based on finding the maximum number of concurrent successful transmissions method is done to provide an upper bound for the throughput of ADN. Simulation results are presented and it is shown that the analytically derived upper bound is tight under the condition that the aeronautical stations are independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) over the ADN. Numerical results for various possible scenarios depending on ADN geometry are also presented.