Air/ground data communication radios for future ATM

• Satcom is a perfect candidate to help address the future ATM air/ground datalink needs • There are however some critical issues impacting the future air/ground comms development: - Uncertain requirements for the long term air/ground ATM communications and the need for alignment between the development of ATM datalink applications (top-down requirements) and enabling air/ground communication technologies (bottom-up enablers). - Possible VDLm2 limitations and the need for complementing VDLm2 in continental Europe by other systems. - Differences in ATN deployment roadmaps in EU and US with regards to ATN technologies (ATN/OSI versus ATN/IPS) impacting the required functionality of the underlying air/ground subnetworks • The issues are being actively addressed by number of programs (SESAR, CleanSky and ESA in Europe) and standardization bodies (EUROCAE WG-82, AEEC, RTCA)