A Proposal of a Wide Band for Air Traffic Control Communications

In this paper, a new and wide frequency band was proposed for air traffic control communication (ATC), C band, which could be a supplement to its conventional VHF band. The radio propagation characteristics at this band under ATC conditions were studied through several experiments and theoretical analysis. For this communication channel, Nakagami-Rice distribution was used to extract Rice factor. This study also shows received power level of radio signal for the conical area above the ground antenna system was very weak and was not good enough for a reliable communication. A new antenna model was proposed to increase signal power in this area by reflecting the side lobe of antenna beam pattern at the ground system. This paper concluded the feasibility of utilizing a wideband communication for the next generation of ATC communication.