The near ubiquity and high capacity of commercial cellular networks has led many to wonder if these might serve as the backbone of UTM, and even in manned aviation (“UTM-inspired ATM”).
The advantage of commercial networks is that they leverage already-installed infrastructure, and are highly efficient in terms of spectrum, capacity, and cost. In technical terms, dedicated aviation systems are relatively inefficient and antiquated. But the main question regulators have is whether networks managed by commercial enterprises, primarily to serve consumers, are sufficiently reliable and safe, and whether mission-critical traffic might co-exist with consumer traffic. There is also much discussion of coming “5G” networks, and how these might change the picture.
This tutorial will cover : What does legacy cellular provide, and what is 5G bringing; How mission-critical communication can co-exist with commercial/consumer users in the same spectrum; Peculiarities of the aerial channel; Business factors and concerns for commercial operators; The “converged tower” trend, and how 5G might serve as a deployment platform for UTM; Avenues and rationale for co-design and convergence of UTM and C2; Spectrum issues for aerial mobile; Standards efforts worldwide – what is working and what is lacking.