Analysis of AeroMACS Data Link for Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles

TL;DR

This paper analyzes AeroMACS, a WiMAX-based communication system, focusing on its theoretical aspects and suitability for UAV integration, including physical layer trade-offs and OFDMA structure impacts.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of AeroMACS features and evaluates their suitability for UAV applications, emphasizing physical layer trade-offs.

Findings

Analysis of AeroMACS OFDMA structure impacts

Theoretical trade-offs in physical layer design

Assessment of AeroMACS for UAV integration

Abstract

Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communications System (AeroMACS) is based on the IEEE 802.16e mobile wireless standard commonly known as WiMAX. It is expected to be the main part of the next-generation aviation communication system to support fixed and mobile services for manned and unmanned applications. AeroMACS will be an essential technology helping pave the way toward full integration of Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) into the national airspace. A number of practical tests and analyses have been done so far for AeroMACS. The main contribution of this paper is to consider the theoretical concepts behind its features and discuss their suitability for UAV applications. Mathematical analyses of the AeroMACS physical layer framework are provided to show the theoretical trade-offs. We mainly focus on the analysis of the AeroMACS OFDMA structure, which affects the speed limits, coverage cell, channel estimation requirements, and inter-carrier interference.