A Paper Presentation on

AIRBORNE INTERNET

Prepared For

CVR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

PRESENTED BY:

D.ARCHANA G.LAVANYA
B.Tech (CSE) B.Tech (IT)

JAYA PRAKASH NARAYAN COLLEGE OF

ENGINEERING
DHARMAPUR, MAHABUBNAGAR

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 This paper addresses some of the
ABSTRACT: trends and issues involved in developing

The word on just about every an Airborne Internet capable of achieving

Internet user's lips these days is this goal. Understanding relationships

"broadband." We have so much more data between these trends and issues and the

to send and download today, including objectives and functional requirements of

audio files, video files and photos, that it's the program will allow various participants

clogging our wimpy modems. Many in this complex program to keep activities

Internet users are switching to cable in proper perspective. The all-round

modems and digital subscriber lines development and improvement are the key

(DSLs) to increase their bandwidth. areas of research work performed in this

There's also a new type of service being paper.

developed that will take broadband into

INTRODUCTION:
the air. In this paper, we'll learn about the
Airborne Internet is a private,
future of the Airborne Internet. We'll take
secure and reliable peer-to-peer aircraft
a look at the networks in development, the
communications network that uses the
aircraft and how consumers may use this
same technology as the commercial
technology.
Internet. It is an implementation which
Land-based lines are limited
connects aircraft to a ground-based
physically in how much data they can
Internet access node, including the
deliver because of the diameter of the
information which is passed across this
cable or phone line. In an airborne
communication link. It provides airborne
Internet, there is no such physical
access to wealth of Internet information
limitation, enabling a broader capacity.
and resources. It is convenient and has
The airborne Internet will function
several uses like flight planning, en route
much like satellite-based Internet access,
reservations, travel arrangements. It is
but without the time delay. The airborne
useful in providing the information about
Internet will actually be used to
weather, surrounding airspace
compliment the satellite and ground-based
environment and for aircraft-to-aircraft
networks, not replace them. These airborne
communications. The security applications
networks will overcome the last-mile
include flight tracking/deviation
barriers facing conventional Internet
monitoring, in-flight video monitoring,
access options.
cockpit voice/video recording.

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 This Airborne Internet (A.I.) is an but instead uses a satellite dish for two-
approach to provide a general purpose, way (upload and download) data
multi-application data channel to aviation. communications. Upload speed is about
In doing so, A.I. has the potential to one-tenth of the 500 kbps download
provide significant cost savings for aircraft speed. Cable and DSL have higher
operators as it allows the consolidation of download speeds, but satellite systems are
many functions into a common data about 10 times faster than a normal
channel. A primary application for A.I. is modem.
to track aircraft for the air traffic control
Firms that offer or plan to offer
system. Many other applications can
two-way satellite Internet include
utilize the same A.I. data channel. The
StarBand, Pegasus Express, Teledesic and
applications available are only limited by
Tachyon. Tachyon service is available
the bandwidth available.
today in the United States, Western Europe
A.I. began as a supporting
and Mexico. Pegasus Express is the two-
technology for NASA’s Small Aircraft
way version of DirecPC.
Transportation System (SATS). But there
is no reason that A.I. should be limited to
Two-way satellite Internet consists of:
SATS-class aircraft. All of aviation, and
even transportation, has the potential to  Approximately a two-foot by three-
benefit from A.I. The principle behind the foot dish
A.I. is to establish a robust, reliable, and  Two modems (uplink and
available digital data channel to aircraft. downlink)
 Coaxial cables between dish and
How does satellite Internet modem

operate?
The key installation planning requirement
How do you access the Internet
is a clear view to the south, since the
other than dial-up if you live too far from a
orbiting satellites are over the equator area.
phone company office for DSL and there
And, like satellite TV, trees and heavy
is no cable TV on your street? Satellite
rains can affect reception of the Internet
Internet access may be worth considering.
signals.
It's ideal for rural Internet users who want
broadband access. Satellite Internet does
not use telephone lines or cable systems,

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 How the Airborne Internet Will would use lightweight planes to circle

Work? overhead and provide data delivery faster

than a T1 line for businesses. Consumers
The word on just about every would get a connection comparable to
Internet user's lips these days is DSL. Also, Aero Vironment has teamed
"broadband." We have so much more data up with NASA on a solar-powered,
to send and download today, including unmanned plane that would work like the
audio files, video files and photos, that it's HALO network, and Sky Station
clogging our wimpy modems. Many International is planning a similar venture
Internet users are switching to cable using blimps instead of planes. Now we’ll
modems and digital subscriber lines look at the networks in development, the
(DSL’s) to increase their bandwidth. aircraft and how consumers may use this
There's also a new type of service being technology at their homes.
developed that will take broadband into
the air.

The Net Takes Flight

The computer most people use
comes with a standard 56K modem, which
means that in an ideal situation your
computer would downstream at a rate of
56 kilobits per second. That speed is far
too slow to handle the huge streaming-
video and music files that more consumers
Photo courtesy Angel Technologies
are
This diagram shows how the HALO Network will enable a high- demanding today. That's where the
speed wireless Internet connection need for bigger bandwidth Broadband
comes in, allowing a greater amount of
At least three companies are
data to flow to and from your computer.
planning to provide high-speed wireless
Land-based lines are limited physically in
Internet connection by placing aircraft in
how much data they can deliver because of
fixed patterns over hundreds of cities.
the diameter of the cable or phone line. In
Angel Technologies is planning an
an airborne Internet, there is no such
airborne Internet network, called High
Altitude Long Operation (HALO), which

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physical limitation, enabling a broader wants access can have it. It would take a
capacity. lot of time to provide universal access
using cable or phone lines, just because of
Several companies have already
the time it takes to install the wires. An
shown that satellite Internet access can
airborne network will immediately
work. The airborne Internet will function
overcome the last mile as soon as the
much like satellite-based Internet access,
aircraft takes off.
but without the time delay. Bandwidth of
satellite and airborne Internet access are The airborne Internet won't be
typically the same, but it will take less completely wireless. There will be ground-
time for the airborne Internet to relay data based components to any type of airborne
because it is not as high up. Satellites orbit Internet network. The consumers will have
at several hundreds of miles above Earth. to install an antenna on their home or
The airborne-Internet aircraft will circle business in order to receive signals from
overhead at an altitude of 52,000 to 69,000 the network hub overhead. The networks
feet (15,849 to 21,031 meters). At this will also work with established Internet
altitude, the aircraft will be undisturbed by Service Providers (ISPs), who will provide
inclement weather and flying well above their high-capacity terminals for use by the
commercial air traffic. network. These ISPs have a fiber point of
presence -- their fiber optics are already set
Networks using high-altitude
up. What the airborne Internet will do is
aircraft will also have a cost advantage
provide an infrastructure that can reach
over satellites because the aircraft can be
areas that don't have broadband cables and
deployed easily -- they don't have to be
wires.
launched into space. However, the
airborne Internet will actually be used to
compliment the satellite and ground-based
networks, not replace them. These airborne
networks will overcome the last-mile
barriers facing conventional Internet
access options. The "last mile" refers to
the fact that access to high-speed cables
still depends on physical proximity, and
that for this reason, not everyone who

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 IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEMS:

A HALO Overhead

The Angel Technologies is

developing an air borne internet network
through its HALO Network. The
centerpiece of this network is the Proteus
plane, which will carry wireless
networking equipment into the air.

Photo courtesy Angel Technologies

Airborne-Internet systems will require that an

antenna be attached to the side of your house or
work place.

In the next three sections, we will take a

look at the three aircraft that could be
Photo courtesy Angel Technologies
bringing you broadband Internet access
The Proteus plane will carry the network hub for the HALO Network.
from the sky.
The Proteus plane, developed by
Compare/Contrast to ground Scaled Composites is designed with long
based internet: wings and the low wing loading needed
for extended high-altitude flight. Wing
loading is equal to the entire mass of the
plane divided by its wing area. Proteus
will fly at heights of 9.5 and 11.4 miles
(15.3 and 18.3 km) and cover an area up to
75 miles (120.7 km) in diameter.

Proteus Aircraft

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 9,000 pounds at takeoff Sky Station International is
Weight
5,900 pounds empty counting on its blimps, in the race to
77 ft 7 inches (23.7 m) deliver high-speed Internet access from
Wingspan
Expandable to 92 feet (28 m)
high altitudes and calls them as lighter-
Length 56.3 ft (17.2 m)
than-air platforms, and plans to station
Height 17.6 ft (5.4 m)
2 turbofan engines these airships, one over each city. Each
Engines
2,300 pounds of thrust station would fly at an altitude of 13 miles
Range 18 hours (21 km) and provide wireless service to an
65 knots (75 mph/120.7 kph)
Speed area of approximately 7,500 square miles
to 250 knots (288 mph/463.5 kph)
(19,000 square km).
At the heart of Angel's Proteus
plane is the one-ton airborne-network hub, Sky Station Blimp
which allows the plane to relay data Diameter 203 ft (62 m)
Length 515 ft (157 m)
signals from ground stations to workplaces
Width approx. 300 ft (91 m)
and homes. The AI network hub consists
Power Solar and fuel cells
of an antenna array and electronics for
wireless communication. The antenna Each blimp will be equipped with a

array creates hundreds of virtual cells, like telecommunications payload to provide

mobile-phone cells, on the ground to serve wireless broadband connections. The

thousands of users. An 18-foot dish blimps will be able to carrying payloads of

underneath the plane is responsible for up to about 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg). Each

reflecting high-speed data signals from a blimp will have a life span of about five to

ground station to your computer. Each city 10 years. Sky Station says that its user

in the HALO Network will be allotted terminals will enable broadband

three piloted Proteus planes. Each plane connections of between 2 and 10 megabits

will fly for eight hours before the next per second (Mbps).

plane takes off and after takeoff it will

NASA's Sub-space Plans:
climb to a safe altitude, above any bad
NASA is also playing a role in
weather or commercial traffic, and begin
a potential airborne Internet system being
an 8-mile loop around the city.
developed by AeroVironment.
Floating On Air

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 ribs are made of epoxy and carbon fiber.
Styrofoam comprises the wing's front
edge, and a clear, plastic film is wrapped
around the entire wing body. The all-wing
plane is divided into six sections, each 41
ft (12.5 m) long. A pod carrying the
landing gear is attached under the wing
portion of each section. These pods also
house the batteries, flight-control
computers and data instrumentation.
Photo courtesy NASA
Network
The Helios aircraft will be equipped with telecommunications hubs for AeroVironment's
equipment and stay airborne for six months straight. telecommunications system would likely
be placed here as well.

It seems that
Helios Aircraft
Weight 2,048 pounds (929 kg) airborne Internet
Wingspan 247 ft (75.3 m) could take off in the
Length 12 ft (3.7 m) very near future. If
Wing Area 1,976 square ft (183.6 m )2
and when those
14 brushless, 2-horsepower,
Propulsion planes and blimps
direct-current electric motors
start circling to
1 to 3 hours in prototype tests
Range
6 months when fully operational supplement our
Speed 19 to 25 mph (30.6 to 40.2 kph) current modes of
connection,
downloading the massive files we've come
to crave for entertainment or depend on for

The Helios prototype is constructed business purposes will be a snap -- even if

out of materials such as carbon fiber, we live somewhere in that "last mile."

graphite epoxy, Kevlar and Styrofoam,

Why all this detail?
covered with a thin, transparent skin. The
main pole supporting the wing is made out
The rather lengthy and detailed
of carbon fiber, and is thicker on the top
explanation just provided is to illustrate
than on the bottom in order to absorb the
how the use of IP can very dependably be
constant bending during flight. The wing's

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relied on to deliver network performance and cost will be made. A
communications. Aircraft use of separate security assessment will be
communication and navigation produced.
information must be nearly real time, Conclusion
highly dependable and it must have Thus this airborne internet
backup redundancy. IP has inherent
technology has a wide range of utilities
redundancy in its digital delivery system,
in the field of aviation services like
making it an excellent candidate for
aircraft monitoring and air traffic
aircraft use. The reason IP has never been
management, weather information etc.,
used in an aircraft context before is
and also provides an opportunity for
because until now there has not been a
method proposed to keep the aircraft
the passengers to access the internet at

connected to the network, so that the IP very high altitudes that is, in the
connection is never lost. Now it is aeroplanes and other conventional
appropriate to examine how aircraft services. Thus it is a further new trend
currently operate so we can draw both in this mobile world which is
analogy and cite the differences between establishing the connectivity by
present day aircraft “networks” and an IP building network in the air.
based aviation network (Airborne
Internet).

Roadmap of future activities

We intend to continue applying the References:
methodology defined above to develop  www.airborneinternet.org

Airborne Internet alternatives, analyze the  www.airborneinternet.com

advantages and disadvantages of each  airborneinternet.pbwiki.com

alternative and arrive at a  spacecom.grc.nasa.gov/icnsconf/do

recommendation. Then, working with cs/2006/02_Session_A1

other SATS organizations we will refine  acb100.tc.faa.gov/Briefings/Sept28

the architecture and document it for use by ,2005Keegan

system developers. Key elements of the  web.uwaterloo.ca/uwsearch.php?

architecture will be prototyped and hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-

evaluated to better understand their 8&q=related:www.aerosat.com

applicability to SATS. Estimates of

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 ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/10432/331 begriff=airborneinternet&typ=bu
26/01559440.pdf?arnumber=15594 chstabe
 www.datev.de/dpilexikon/ShowLe  www.tc.faa.gov/act4/insidethefenc
xikonContent.do? e

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