Space for safe skies
ESA’s Iris Programme of satellite communication for ATM
EIWAC, 19 February 2013 – Nathalie.Ricard@esa.int
ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the publicWhat is the European Space Agency?

Purpose of ESA: “To provide for and promote, for exclusively peacefulpurposes, cooperation among European states in space research andtechnology and their space applications.”• Intergovernmental organisation with 20 Member
States: 18 EU states (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland,Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland (since Sep.
2012), Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and theUnited Kingdom) plus Norway and Switzerland• Canada takes part in some programmes under acooperation agreement.
• 7 other EU states have Cooperation Agreements(Estonia, Slovenia, Hungary, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania
and the Slovak Republic) while 2 are negotiating
Cooperation Agreements (Bulgaria and Malta).
ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the publicAddressing aviation’s requirements

ESA develops space-based solutions to address aviation’s needs in an
evolving environment:• Need to modernise air traffic management (SESAR Programme) due toforeseen limitation of existing CNS/ATM systems. Supporting air traffic growthrequires new systems that can be space-based:=> Iris Programme to develop the satellite communication
system defined in SESAR for safety communications=> GNSS (EGNOS & Galileo) for satellite navigation (SBAS)=> demonstration of new capabilities for air traffic surveillance (spacebased ADS-B with in-orbit receivers, and ADS-C via satcom e.g. Iris)•New application solutions developed within the Integrated Applications
Promotion Programme, which address a variety of users needs, using existing
space technologies

ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the publicNew air-ground safety coms systems for 2020+
cf ICAO Global Air Navigation Plan
Terminal Manoeuvering Area / En-route(continental area: dual link )AirportOceanic, Remote & Polar

Login (no traffic)

Airportnetwork

Future terrestrial
network

System Wide Information Management (SWIM)
Airline AOC Centre

ANSP Air Traffic Control Centre

SatcomIris: Advantages of satellite communications
to support air traffic growth
1. Ubiquitous coverage: available both in continental airspace and oceanic/
remote airspace, with the same high performance level
2. Immediate deployment at the level of a world region (i.e. no delay versus
roll-out of a terrestrial network); could be deployed as soon as 2018
whenever and wherever aviation needs new datalinks
3. Affordable for any aircraft type: designed to allow small low-cost user
terminals + cheaper service wrt today’s satcom services (sustainable
service provision in Europe for a communication flat fee of EUR 5 per flight)
4. Can be adopted by any world region: open standard with available
specifications (ICAO) to allow a modular regional system deployment andaircraft fitted with a single user terminal can use any interoperable
network in other world regions; competition between satcom service
providers is also possible (several providers with interoperable networks)
5. Spectrum available, with no interference from commercial systems(frequency band for safety services)
ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Iris Programme objectives

Iris is implemented in close collaboration with the Single European Sky ATM
Research programme (SESAR) and is driven by its schedule & requirements.
Iris objective: supply a validated satellite-based communication solution forthe European Air Traffic Management SystemØ Develop a new communication system & validate end-to-end performanceØ Subject to agreement with SESAR/European Commission and a future
Operating Entity, develop the validation infrastructure

NEW additional objective: develop also the Iris Precursor service for theshorter-term (2017), based on Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband, to contribute to thelonger-term objectives of SESARESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Iris Programme external interfaces

13
ParticipatingStates

Aeronauticalstakeholders
ESA-SJU and ESA-ECrelations

Funding (providedca.EUR 55m since 2008)

Main source oftechnicalrequirements

SESAR deployment
scheme pending…

Iris programme contractors
European industry
Aerospace

Telecom

ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Non-commercial
Aerospace &Telecom R&D
institutesincl. ANSPs, Airspace Users,
Eurocontrol, EASA, ICAO,EUROCAE…
Other sources ofrequirements

Technical interface with SESAR JU•••

User requirements are being defined by SESAR JU (esp. Project 15.2.6)
ESA translates them into system requirements, carries out design, developmentand verification (i.e. under ESA’s own funding)
SESAR will carry out the service validation end-to-end

Userrequirements

Iris Programme

ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the publicServicevalidation

Iris, EASA and EUROCONTROL
Safety Board chaired by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)• EASAʼs competence in Single European Sky legislation for regulation/certification of pan-European provision of services• Iris Safety Board gathers several civil aviation authorities, SJU andEurocontrol to anticipate and facilitate preparation of the safety casefor the satellite communication system

Memorandum of cooperation ESA-EUROCONTROL (since 2002):• Exchange of technical expertise• Contributions to the NEXUS sub-group to facilitate adoption of a new
global satellite communication standard at ICAO
• Coordinate actions regarding regulatory efforts (AMS(R)S spectrum)ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Iris: Technical design & business case activities
Long-term Iris solution: Purpose-built system and open service model

Satellite System
Operations studies

ANTARES System Design study(Prime: Thales Alenia Space & 20+ contractors)

Interactions...011010
1001010..

Ant
Diplexer
LNA
OutsideInsideCom.
SystemHPA
Up/Dwn Cvtr
MODEM
Base-Band Unit

TxRx
Ctrl
PWR

Avionic Bay

Preliminary
Aircraft terminal
DesignPreliminary Design
Specifications

SatelliteSystemEATMS

Preliminary
DesignSpecifications

Service provision +Business case model
3 studies with Sat.
Operators during 2010/12

Satellite system:

ICAO
Standardisation(by SJU/EC)

Develop
Aircraftterminals(with industry)• validation
infrastructure(Iris Phase 2.2)
• operationalsystem

Need public support forvalidation, thensustainable service for
EUR 5/flight (flat fee)

Iris : ANTARES study teamSp a c e 	  Eng ine e ring 	  S.p .A.

ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Iris : Satellite System architecture

Redundant Multi-beam Satellite

Multi-beam Satellite

Userrequirements

L

Fixed Link

Mobile LinkKu

Iris baseline

AES

NCC

GEO to cover
core Europeanairspace•1 GEO satellite(+redundancies)•Redundant GroundSegment•

Interface to groundground ATM System
ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

GES 1

GES 2

Regional beams

Backup NCC
Global beam

NMC

WAN

Backup NMC
ATN/OSI – ATN/IPS

AOC

ANSP
ANSP

Service Provision requirements: geographical area
The satellite system focuses on the European (SES/ECAC) service area but the designis modular so that other world regions could implement their own compatible systems,
following their own calendar of deployment.

Possible extensions ofcoverage of theEuropean system:- Visible Earth from GEO
orbit- Northern latitudes areasby agreement with othercountries operating HEO
satellite systems

ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the publicAircraft equipment
Terminals need to be low cost and highly reliableØ Use small antennas (Low power consumption, highly reliable, low drag)Ø Use terminals able to operate without forced air cooling, and developed forairliners but also for General Aviation (i.e. business jets, rotorcraft, etc)Ø Software certification of the data unit drives the cost

ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Iris new Satellite Communications Standard
Designed for full 4D trajectory management in continental airspace,based on COCR document, with extra design drivers:• Cost of equipage and cost of use to be kept low• Meet capacity needs for 2030+• Flexible and scalable architecture– Interoperable standard supporting multiple Service Providers– Use protected radio-spectrum in L-band (AMS(R)S band:
1,545-1,555 MHz and 1,646.5 – 1,656.5 MHz)– Support voice and data

Similar toAMSS− System specifically designed for aeronautical Air/Ground safety(ATS and AOC, not passenger coms)− Quality of Service management− Light terminals, low power, small antenna, highly reliable− Improved spectrum efficiency− Can be used by any type of satellite (GEO, MEO, HEO…)NEW

ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

ANTARES Communication Standard Design

End-to-end network architecture (I) From an E2E view, the communication path consists of: Aircraft network and host Satellitespecifies
network (AGDL)
The standard
the air interface of the satellite network.
 Terrestrialnetwork(with layer.
several GGR)
It coversup to thenetwork
 ATC/AOC
centre network
host ATN/OSI (=legacy) and ATN/IPS.
It supports
two network
layer andstacks:

 The CS specifies the air interface of the Satellite Network It covers up to the network layer.

Antares Communication Standard Design ± Iris Public Event, 4-5 February 2013, Univ. of Salzburg Unipark

Iris new Satellite Communications Standard4ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Irisnew SatelliteCommunications
Standard (1/3)
CS Main
Characteristics(I)
Forward link

 Forwad Link from GS to UTs

 Based on MF-TDMA technique Forward link synchronization mechanism to assure that all theforward link carriers are received synchronously by the userterminals
 Baud rate = 160 kbauds, BW = 200 kHz, L band spectrum
resources Robust and flexible coding (IRA LDPC) and modulation

schemes (MPSK) Support of Adaptive Coding & Modulation (ACM) to adapt thecoding and modulation to the channel propagation conditions.
 Intra-burst interleaver to spread the channel errors produced by
the aeronautical mobile channel.

 Forward link resources allocation providing flexibility to adapt todifferent GS architectures with different number of GS elements.

Antares Communication Standard Design ± Iris Public Event, 4-5 February 2013, Univ. of Salzburg Unipark

ANTARES Communication Standard Design

7

ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Iris
new SatelliteCommunications
Standard (2/3)
CS Main
Characteristics(II)
Return link Return Link from UTs to GS Random Access scheme based on Asynchronous CodeDivision Multiple Access (A-CDMA) Enhanced Spread Spectrum ALOHA (E-SSA) combinationof Spread Spectrum ALOHA (SSA) with Successive
Interference Cancellation (SIC).

 Burst formats adapted to the different application messages

sizes and latency requirements
 Chip rate of 160 kchips/s, bandwidth 200 kHz, spreading
factors 4 & 16 (flexibility to support higher chip rates).
 Powerful FEC scheme based on Turbo code 1/3, block
lengths from 288 to 2048 bits.

 Congestion Control: mechanism based on the measurement ofthe channel load conditions by the Ground Segment

Antares Communication Standard Design ± Iris Public Event, 4-5 February 2013, Univ. of Salzburg Unipark

ANTARES Communication Standard Design

8ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

ANTARES Communication Standard Design

 MAC / LL Layer

 CoS oriented taking into account packet priority depending on stringent

delay requirements
ARQ mechanisms based on positive ACK
Optimized state of the art encapsulation scheme (GSE-like) providing
an efficient encapsulation of L2 Data Units over variable-length L1 Dataunits.

 Control functions

 Flexible control procedures to support different GS architectures.
 Log on procedure which establishes associations between UT and GSelements.
Seamless handovers between GES, between mobile link beams andbetween different satellite.
Handover relies on signal quality measurements (based on ACM) todetect a need for handover.
Broadcast of system tables including Forward and Return carriers
parameters and system information.

ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Antares Communication Standard Design ± Iris Public Event, 4-5 February 2013, Univ. of Salzburg Unipark

IrisCS
newSatellite
Communications
Main
Characteristics(III) Standard (3/3)

9Iris new Satellite Communications Standard

Document accessible via http://telecom.esa.int/iris
ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Iris activities during 2013
Iris solution
1. Final Standard specifications issued once completed by the ANTARES studyØ

Ready to initiate standardisation at EUROCAE and ICAO (via SESAR)Ø

Seek partners in other world regions to initiate joint activities (esp.
develop testbeds to validate performances)

2. Development of the emulators i.e. the communication protocols will havebeen implemented and their performance verified
3. Breadboarding of user terminals and design of space+ground segments atthe level required for the system’s Preliminary Design Review

Technical support studies
Continuation of on-going activities with EASA (Safety Board), Airbus, etc…
Definition of the Iris Precursor service
Implementation on a hardware testbed + system simulator.
ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Iris now includes 2 requirements levels:
Precursor for i4D and solution for Full 4D services•Slow evolution towards datalink services in Europe led to reconsider thelevel of performance for a concept based on Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband=> Precursor service to Iris, at horizon 2017
Ø

Level of performance lower than COCR, rather for “initial 4D”

ØService based on Inmarsat SBB system (with additions)ØService provider to be certified by EASA+SESAR requirements (COCR)
for continental airspace in 2020+
Requirements based on
CPDLC/VDL2 for 2017-2025
Oceanic airspace reqs

-Non-safety reqs
ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Iris Solution(Full 4D)
Iris precursor
solution (i4D)
SBB -Oceanic
SBBIris Programme Timeline
20132014 (TBC)2017ca.2017ca.2018

2020-25SESAR DEVELOPMENT PHASE
SESAR
DeploymentSESAR DEPLOYMENT PHASEEC decision onSESAR Deployment

Selection of SESAR
Deployment Manager
Implementation
CommonProject

ESA Iris Programme Phase 2Phase 2.1
DESIGN CANDIDATE SYSTEM

Phase 2.2
DEVELOP VALIDATIONINFRASTRUCTURE

Implementation
Common Project
launched

DEPLOYMENTOPERATIONAL SYSTEM &CERTIFICATION OF SERVICEPROVIDER
Redundant
Payload(s)Validation infrastructure
deployed (incl.payload)

ESA Iris Programme Sub-element for Precursor

ESA UNCLASSIFIED – Releasable to the public

Phase 3SYSTEM
VALIDATION

Iris Precursor
OPERATIONALSERVICE

End of Iris Programme:ESA assets transfer toSystem Owner

Iris solution
OPERATIONALSERVICEIris - Contact Points

ESA Iris Programme
Nathalie.Ricard@esa.int

ESA Iris System Design Studies
Catherine.Morlet@esa.int (Requirements & standardisation management)
Oscar.del.Rio.Herrero@esa.int (System Engineer)
Paolo.Burzigotti@esa.int (Communication System)Ø Recent Public Event held in Salzburg, Austria (4-5 February)
Documentation available via http://telecom.esa.int/irisevent2013