Aviation data networks: new avenues for flight safety

Aircraft data networks are fast becoming more of a necessity due to their support for user mobility. Many aircraft manufacturers are planning to deploy data networks within their airplanes and provide Internet connectivity to their passengers. While a data network within the aircraft, and passenger access to it, causes some security concerns, it opens up some safety enhancement opportunities. With Internet connectivity within the airplane, the activity within the airplane can be monitored in real-time from the ground station. Also, using the high bandwidth satellite links, the flight critical data could be downloaded to a server in the ground station in real-time or periodically, thereby enabling real-time flight status monitoring. In this paper, the authors review the safety enhancement opportunities that could be created from the data networks within the airplane. In addition, the authors also review the network resource requirement for the safety extensions.