Illustration of a broadcast architecture for flight information services

This paper illustrates the use of a broadcast data link architecture to disseminate information such as text or graphical weather data; the status of airports, airspace, and facilities; and other operational information to aircraft in flight. Provision of this type of information to the cockpit is called flight information services (FIS), and many studies conclude that having better access to such information helps the pilot to make better in-flight decisions. Building upon this premise, this paper illustrates how a broadcast data link architecture could be used by different segments of the user community to service their in-flight FIS needs, and also shows how ground-based entities (e.g., airline dispatch offices, air traffic control briefing desks, etc.) could benefit. Data link architecture, by virtue of its simplicity, performance, and operational suitability offers an economically attractive approach to supporting FIS and is recommended as a cornerstone of the future National Airspace System