Technological foundation for future intra-aircraft wireless applications: State of the art of wireless data transmission

Presents the results of an assessment process carried out in the department of Safety-Critical Systems & Systems Engineering inside the Institute of Flight Systems of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for selecting the technological foundation to be used on future airborne intra-aircraft wireless applications. This paper provides an overview of the state of the art in wireless data transmission technologies by describing the different physical principles which enable transmitting data without the need of wires or fibers; as well as by providing a summary of the wireless data communication standards currently available. The work presented here as a part of the research work accomplished in DLR has determined that a more in depth analysis of the airborne applications and of the wireless technologies must be made before their technology foundation can be accurately selected.