Digital Airline Communications

Digital Airline Communications

15 March 2013

Digital Airline Communications

With airspace around the globe becoming ever increasingly congested, research is being conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Eurocontrol, Europe’s version of the FAA, to develop systems to make the skies safer and air travel more efficient. One area where they are concentrating their efforts is in the communication between aircrews and air traffic controllers. Digital communication over voice communication is the direction they are heading.

Data Link messaging has been around for several decades, first being introduced by Aeronautical Radio Inc. (ARINC) in 1978. Wikipedia, Apr, 2012. It was known as ACARS for Airline Communications and Reporting System. Most major air carriers used this system for time management. It allowed them to keep track of their aircraft and to determine if they were on schedule or not without talking to the aircrew. This was done by sensors on the aircraft reporting their status to the Communication Management Unit (CMU) on the aircraft, which would initiate a digital message being sent to the airline operations. As technology grew they interfaced the CMU with the Flight Management System (FMS). In doing so, this allowed the aircrew to receive updated weather information or a revised fight plan. Further integration with the Flight Data Acquisition Monitoring System (FDAMS) and Aircraft Condition Monitoring System (ACMS) allowed aircraft maintenance departments to monitor aircraft in flight and to be notified through the Data Link of any abnormal conditions during flight.

Noticing the effectiveness of this digital communication system the FAA and Eurocontrol decided to take it to the next level. With the dense airspace in Europe and the eastern seaboard of the United States, something needed to be done about radio saturation. The possibility of a voice communication being misunderstood or an incorrect transfer of an aircraft by an air...