"Spam in a can"

...the role of that human being vis-a-vis the role of automatic controls of all aspects of spacecraft and launcher operations became a subject of some controversy. Many, including the astronauts' fellow test pilots in the X-series tests at Edwards Air Force Base in California, considered the Mercury astronaut to be "Spam-in-a-can," a passive passenger in the space flight. Many of the engineers working on Project Mercury preferred that option, believing that automatic controls could protect human cargo more effectively than the human cargo could control the mission....

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter7.html

Reports are circulating of person-carrying, fully autonomous, battery-powered drones entering the marketplace later this year.   Can it be done safely?  

TK295, URSS Sochi Runway 02, Sep 27 2016 TC-JLP A319 ATC Intervention in Go-Around

There is a difference in the reported actions (turn left) and the flightradar24.com data (turn right) after commencing a particular missed approach at Sochi in Sep, 2016.  The FR24 data offers a climbing right turn, whereas avherald depicts a left turn direct.  

SAVE: Surveillance alarm ADS-B state Verified against Expected state for clearance and procedure

Surveillance alarm triggered by

ADS-B aircraft state

Verified against

Expected aircraft state for clearance and procedure

TK6491 747-400F MyCargo/ACT Airlines, Manas Airport (FRU/UCFM) in Bishkek

Did a false glide slope lead TK6491 astray?  Never have heard of this before.

A 747-400F cargo plane with 4 crew crashed near Manas Airport, in a residential area just past runway 26 at about 07:18 local time (2017 01 16 0117Z).  All aboard and 35 on the ground perished.

SU1008 UMKK/KGD Kaliningrad A321 VP-BES Runway 24 Departure

An Aeroflot A321departed runway 24 at UMKK Kaliningrad on Jan 03 2017 20:54.

Weather reports include forecast medium braking in wet snow, poor visibility, low ceilings with thunderstorms in the area, and a heavy crosswind.  The airplane ended up on the right side of the runway, about 5,500 feet from the runway threshold.  The crosswind was from the right, so the airplane deviated into the crosswind.

Runway 24 is 8202 feet long at 31 feet MSL.

flightradar24,com ADS-B data for SU1008

Connected Airplane 2017 - Are we there yet?

Jet Airways 9W2374 Goa Dabolim Airport Runway 26 Excursion

Postcards from Skylab - Christmas in Space 1973

Stockings hung for Christmas 1973 - Skylab SL-4

Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA)

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3229456-Thieving-Magpie-Using-on-board-GSM-GPRS-services.html

LMI2933 LAMIA AVRO RJ85 Medellín Deadstick

LMI2933 approach to SKRG.  The airplane position is plotted as a function of time (where it effectively flows to the left). The airplane initially arrived with conceivably enough fuel to complete the approach and landing safely.  The airplane entered a holding pattern and on the back side of the second circuit departed the holding pattern with apparently total engine failure.

Galloping Gertie

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened to fanfare in July, 1940 having been constructed over the previous two years as a Public Works Administration Project.  The bridge donned the name "galloping gertie" during construction, giving to its narrow profile and insufficient stiffness. The bridge famously collapsed on Nov. 7, 1940.

“Pence Plane” EA3452 Overrun

FCC 15.247 (c) 2 Smart Antenna Systems - Powering Line-of-Site Aeronautical Communications

The FCC issued Report and Order 04-165 on July 12, 2004.  The Smart Antenna System (SAS), capable of forming multiple antenna beams, forged a pathway to frequency reuse and ultimately powers the unlicensed air-to-ground networks being developed by SmartSky Networks and Gogo.  A review of the FCC 15-247 offers an understanding of an overall system architecture and performance estimates.

FCC Grants Harris authorization for Ground and Fixed Airborne Radios (SmartSky)

FCC Grants for Harris Ground and Airborne radios

Using Unlicensed Spectrum for Air-to-Ground Networks

Gogo has announced an initiative to utilize unlicensed spectrum to power an new Air-to-Ground (ATG) network.  They profess a beam-forming network deployed to their 200 plus ground stations will deliver 100 Mbps.  I believe that it is possible both Gogo and SmartSky are pursuing a similar technology.  The following is my analysis on SmartSky, to which it may relate to Gogo ATG as well.

Bluetooth Low Energy - Guiding our Way in the Future

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) refers to a low power broadcast mode commonly referred to as a beacon (Bluetooth beacon, iBeacon).  BLE broadcast is a limited protocol intended to be received only by proximate user devices (less than 100 meters).  The beacon presents "effectively" a unique serial number.  An application can lookup the location of a beacon by its serial number.  An application can use the BLE beacon-derived position to trigger appropriate actions.

Aircraft Tracking using ADS-B - We've come a long ways!

Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast, or ADS-B, is revolutionizing Air Traffic Control.  With some minor enhancements to the aircraft transponder, space-based ADS-B can become the cornerstone of an ICAO Autonomous Distress Tracking service, mandated for new aircraft starting in 2021.  Such an installation may also allow the removal of one of the required Emergency Locator Transmitters.   The use of satellite data link and navigation together with ADS-B are powering emerging Performance Based Navigation initiatives as well.

Aireon Space-based ADS-B

Second Generation Ku/Ka Satcom (PP792) Taking Shape

PP792 Ku/Ka Satcom Block Diagram

ADS-B Telemetry from EK521

Within minutes of the incident, Flightradar24.com published a time history of the ADS-B transponder transmissions from EK521.
REVISED with a closer look at the last 32 seconds and adding in position data.
REVISED with a summary plus a look at earlier arrivals wind effects
REVISED with the revelation that EK545, arriving ahead of EK521, had similar speed profile
REVISED with Boeing 777 procedures at end

Cybersecurity and Phased Arrays - PP848 and PP792

The Ku/Ka satcom subcommittee met the last two weeks to progress the latest AEEC standards and characterstics defining secure broadband connections and satcom equipment.  Airbus expects to use PP848 for securing non-safety communications, bringing an unexpected urgency to completion of IPSec end-end functional definitions. PP848 will offer an optional means to segregate both passenger and non-safety aeronautical communications with a commercial broadband radio, such as Ku/Ka satcom.  PP792 builds upon ARINC 791 to characterize emerging flat-panel antennas, especially phased array antennas, as well supplier-specific guidance for installing antenna systems using either 791 or PP792.

Aviation Data Link - Security, Segmentation, QoS

Beginning in 1978, aircraft data link emerged using a VHF network named ACARS (Aircraft Communication, Addressing and Reporting System).  ACARS is a purpose-built, store-and-forward, character-based, messaging service.  Within just over ten years, ACARS was extended to Inmarsat L-band satcom and HF radio.  Five years later (1995) ACARS was delivering Air Traffic clearances. Today Iridium SBD (short-burst data) and even cellular radios communicate ACARS messages. How is the industry migrating to embrace and secure IP networks, and will ACARS ever go away? How are broadband radios being applied to support airplane health monitoring or EFB?

Air Safety Investigation

The first and foremost response to any incident is rapid rescue and for sympathy to victims, survivors, and those that loved them.

Timely alerting and accurate aircraft position is the key to rapid response.

Moving beyond rescue becomes recovery.  At this point the motivation is to collect the remains of those lost and as much of the airplane itself.  Assembly of the airplane parts into a skeleton gives a foundation to check and verify various failure scenarios.

Regardless of the cause of catastrophe, airplane structure and systems are designed to be fault tolerant.  Crash survivability is a paramount endeavor.  Materials are evaluated for their contributions to post-crash fire and smoke.  While the first objective is to understand what led to the catastrophe, just as important is to understand what can be improved to enhance prevention and survivability.

Double Secret Environmental Conditions and Test Procedures for Airborne Equipment

RTCA produces DO-160, Environmental Conditions and Test Procedures for Airborne Equipment

RTCA DO-160G Sections

OneWeb: Key Characteristics and Aero Application

The public has its first good glance into what is OneWeb

Aero Antennas: Bigger is Better!

ThinKom and QEST are both promoting Ka-band flat panel antennas that use about a 25" aperture for receive.  ARINC 791 provisions can support at least a 30" aperture, as shown by Gogo with 2Ku.  Should a Ka antenna be built as big as possible, or is there any size that is "big enough"?

As time moves forward, will service levels going up (due to evolving user behaviors) outrace the cost of services going down (due to expanding capacity and lower costs to launch capacity)?

How valuable will a larger antenna be if trends run away from expectations?

It Takes a Village

Delivering a consistent Internet experience to an airline passenger demands adequate provisioning for the peak periods (highest contention ratios).  It may take many satellites with overlapping coverage to aggregate sufficient capacity to meet the demands in any "hotpot".

Show Me the Gbps: When 1 + 1 > 2

Some airlines offer passengers connectivity for free, others make the passengers pay, and in the end most will offer a mix of free and pay services.  Will the airplane radio be able to meet the needs of the passenger?  What about the radio network?  How will that evolve over the next ten years?  This feasibility analysis takes a look at the US market to reveal the technical requirements for a satellite network to meet the demand from a "typical" large US airline and from four such large US airlines.

Both Ku-band satellites and Ka-band satellites can serve any foreseeable airline passenger connectivity market.  Because of concentrated demand, a single large US airline under the heaviest demand cannot be served from a single orbital slot by 2026.  It takes a family of orbital slots with satellites offering overlapping coverage to aggregate the spectrum needed at the busiest airports.  A family of satellites offers a robust and scalable solution to grow as demand grows, applying the newest technology incrementally along the way.

Average Data Rate and Usage - Use Cases

Every Internet access session is a unique experience generating a unique amount of usage (as measured broadly in MBytes). Light, average, heavy and future make up four categories. For each usage scenario, there are three use cases: all streaming, all Internet access, or split evenly between the two. The session duration and the amount of time off-line is another dimension. A short session will have less off-line time than a longer session.

My Take on "Take-Rate"

Satellite 2016 - Day 1

Software defined payloads, beam-forming arrays, and unfurling antennas are just a few of the technologies to power the digital satellite revolution.  The challenge is to reach a price point that is competitive with terrestrial alternatives and with enough capacity to serve the addressable markets.

Reflecting on the Boeing 727

http://www.boeingimages.com/ Boeing 727

The first flight of the Boeing 727 began with a center-engine surge after takeoff.  It settled down quickly.  In any case, the tail-mounted configuration made engine-out handling much easier than wing-mounted engines. The outer leading-edge slats got stuck deployed (symmetric) as the aero loads overwhelmed the actuator.  It was going to take more than a few hiccups to keep Lew Wallick and his crew from two plus hours inflight, including landing configuration stalls, using flaps 40, using less than 2000 feet of ground roll in the first landing - and a big thumbs-up!  The first flight was on Feb. 9, 1963, fifty three years ago. I was almost five years old, living about 150 miles north in Vancouver and completely oblivious.  Yet my own personal first flight would be on a 727 just six years later.

Cisco Forecast: One mobile device needs 150 kbps today, 500 kbps in 2020

Beam Hopping, Beam Forming, Frequency Reuse, and the Quest for Maximizing Satellite Throughput

Satellite communication is amazing in so many ways.

Start with launching a machine into space and expect it to operate precisely while managing to harvest solar energy and hold attitude and position.

Add to the mix operating at frequencies that frankly are absurd.

Wide-band transponders got us this far, but their utility now is just a gateway to the future of spot beams.

Spot beams are formed by higher gain antennas with smaller beam widths than continental wide beam transponders.  The beam width is a function of aperture and of frequency.  A given aperture delivers a smaller beam width with higher frequency.  A given frequency delivers a smaller beam width with a bigger aperture.

The last piece of the puzzle is the part that is in play, that of how to switch the information between the beams, and how many beams can you use?

A Broadband User Average Throughput is 150 kbps, not 25 Mbps

The following are all clipped excerpts driving the point that a good broadband experience averages only 150 kbps...the contended data rate...not the headline "advertised rate of 25 Mbps.

Fixed Wireless and Satellite Review - NBN - Final Report May 2014

50-80 Peak Busy Users Contend for the Advertised Rate (Revised)

Secure Networking, Safety Comms, Future of Satellite Voice

VICTS (2Ku) is Mechanically Steered & Other Antenna Characteristics

Broadband Communications for Business Aviation - NBAA 2015

NBAA attendees with an interest in how to connect their airplanes to the Internet and choosing to rest their dogs on the second day in Las Vegas at the NBAA Exhibition, were serenaded by a parade of service providers from 800 MHz to 30 GHz and even to the unknown.

A Stroll through APEX 2015

Wireless connectivity with passengers was the mainstream theme at the 2015 APEX exhibition in Portland, Oregon. If not connectivity to passengers, it’s connectivity to airplane systems. If not the technology, then content or monetization.

Skeletal remains of a payphone - lost too is the directory

Airplane Mode 2015

Twitter - Will Ferrell

UPDATE 24 Sep - Here is the current issue list:

* Should (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS) stay on when engaging Airplane Mode?

* How can a mobile client application become aware of Airplane Mode?

* How can the network command "mute/pause" during Passenger Address?

* How should a laptop operating system accommodate an Airplane Mode?

* Should the user have control settings to manage/monitor how each network is utilized?

* How should Airplane Mode recommendations be developed and approved?

* Should the local access point have a protocol to convey maximum streaming rate, relative cost, and network quality of service level?

* Should a special "Cellular Airplane Mode" used with picocells provide overarching EIRP limits or any other useful information?

Average Page Load should be less than Five seconds

Connected Airplane - How did we get here, what's next, and what are the big challenges?

The Connected Airplane

Net Neutrality: The end of Inflight Internet, or business as usual?

How will emerging inflight broadband comply with Net Neutrality?

Are spot beams better than wide beams for aviation?

Are spot beams better?

Skew Angle and Effective Aperture of an Airborne Antenna

Skew angle is a difficult concept to grasp, but the effect can be profound.

Low-profile antennas installed on the top of an airplane fuselage introduce special challenges.

Second generation antennas just entering the market sit flat, creating a change in gain and beamwidth as a function of the relative elevation of the target satellite.

Skew angle rotates the beam-pattern as shown above for various antenna types, at both zero and 90 degree skew.

Amazon Prime Air: If you can't beat them?

photo credit: Amazon

How can a UAV safely delivery packages?

Are the FAA UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) (or drone) rules taking too long and are they too restrictive?

It is not possible for an operator (remotely) to overcome all the risks of a UAV when overflying a community...

...since the failure we are concerned with most is loss of control.

Ka-band Airborne Antenna Figure of Merit (G/T)

Estimated Receive Performance

Circular and Square 24"x24" ESA

30"x6" rectangular horn array

Data Link Available

Ken Simmons, Ed Porisch, Peter Lemme,
Mary Nakasone (Sato), Dave Allen
QANTAS 747-400 FANS Certification Flight Test
June 19, 1995

Ku-band Airborne Antenna Figure of Merit (G/T)

Estimated Receive Performance

Circular and Square 30"x30" ESA

34"x7" rectangular horn array

Postcards from Apollo 15

Rain Fade