B-VHF - an overlay system concept for future ATC communications in the VHF band

In this paper, the European research project B-VHF is introduced which is funded by the European Commission and has started in January 2004. The main goal of the B-VHF project is to prove that it is feasible to establish a multi-carrier based overlay system for future air traffic control (ATC) communications in the very high frequency (VHF) band without causing interference to the legacy VHF systems. Note this overlay system concept enables in-band transition from the current to a future ATC communications system and, thus, allows future ATC communications to stay in the advantageous and protected VHF band. The focus in this paper is on the technical approach for realizing the overlay concept. Thus, the technology behind B-VHF are described in detail and how it is applied for realizing an overlay system in the VHF band.