COMMUNICATIONS
ATMGRADE NETWORK BY
DESIGN OR BY REMEDY
Should air navigation service providers accept risks of compromises associated with using
o-the-shelf communication equipment for ATM critical applications?
By Majid Foodeei and Rouven Floeter, Business Line Grid Automation, ABB Switzerland
As air traffic dramatically grows and
as digital transformation of air
traffic management accelerates, so
does critical dependency on the underlying
communication network.
There is no room to compromise on safety,
security, and reliability when fulfilling air
traffic management (ATM) operational
efficiency needs and adopting new
technologies in communication, navigation,
and surveillance (CNS). Meanwhile, worldover,
migration from legacy to packet ATM
network infrastructure is underway, adding a
paradigm shift that affects ATM operation.
The stringent ATM network requirements
challenge the established assumption of using
commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment
as ATM packet backbone, even when aided
by an additional remedy layer, promising an
“ATM-grade” solution.
As a viable alternative, ABB’s proven
XMC20 mission critical communication
equipment is designed from the ground-up
for current and future ATM CNS application
needs. The XMC20 networking solution is by
design ATM standard compatible and ATM
application-aware, addressing ATM
requirements in quality-of-service, real-time
precision, resiliency, Quantum-Safe security,
and inter-working across heterogeneous
service provider networks.
Challenges and network needs
ANSP’s face a number of daunting challenges
that include a sharp increase in air traffic
growth, future integration of Unmanned
Aerial Systems (UAS), and dynamic security
threats. When addressing these challenges, it
is paramount that air traffic continues to
operate in a safe and reliable manner.
Increased traffic volume, linked to aircraft
separation minima, cannot come at the cost
of safety. More generally, addressing these
challenges requires solutions that
simultaneously optimise and enhance
delivery, without compromise and within
reasonable time and cost constraints.
Furthermore, future-proof security
requirements must be an integral part of, not
merely a supplement to any solution. To
address these challenges, the aviation
industry will rely heavily on innovative
technologies and digitalisation.
Many new CNS technologies with packet
network dependency have been introduced.
Examples include packet-based voice and
data ground-air communication,
performance-based navigation, and
multilateration. As another example, remote
virtual towers better serve multiple remote
locations with a centralised yet cost-efficient
approach. These technologies proliferate
requirements on underlying networks. For
example, networks must be applicationaware,
94 AIR TRAFFIC TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 2020
ATM standard compatible, provide
service quality guarantees and provide secure
real-time guaranteed performance and
network-wide high-precision timing.
Examples of EUROCAE standards for CNS
applications with critical dependency on
underlying communication network are
ED137 through ED139.
There are often gaps between the
performance characteristic of COTS and
ATM communication network needs. COTS
communication equipment is built to meet
fixed-mobile infrastructure and enterprise
requirements, serving consumer and
common enterprise needs. Enterprise-grade
COTS real-time performance varies and
typically focuses on statistical performance
rather than the worst case under exceptional
network conditions. Resulted latency
examples are in the order of tens of
milliseconds and delay variations are higher
than one millisecond. Packet delivery
measured examples rates are at 99.9%
to 99.99% (examples from Verizion
Enterprise online data).
Often used in mobile backhaul
applications, COTS equipment life cycle is
tied to the cellular generation deployment
cycle – around 10 years. In contrast, ABB’s
XMC20 equipment life cycle exceeds 20
years and is a true hybrid system for smooth
migration of legacy to packet. In this process,
unlike COTS, ABB XMC20 fulfills ATM
network expectation of packet networking
with real-time performance and
deterministic behavior similar to legacy
SDH/SONET. There is nearly a decade of
delay in the wide-scale rollout of packetbased
voice and other ATM CNS
applications due, in part, to suboptimal gaps
in quality of service guarantees linked to
COTS packet networking equipment.
ABB ATM-Grade Network by Design
ABB XMC20 is by design-ATM grade and
simultaneously meets and exceeds all
stringent requirements of ATM