Development of an architecture for data transmission from an aircraft to a ground control center and justification of the budget for a radio link based on satellite communication channels

The purpose of the research is to ensure robust information exchange by developing a satellite data transmission system architecture for the aircraft-to-ground control tower link based on the Iridium network and VSAT technology. This study also includes a justification of the radio link energy budget and an assessment of the effectiveness of error-correcting coding. Methods. The study is based on a systems analysis of existing aviation data transmission systems and satellite communications technologies. The radio link energy calculation is based on the geometric relationships between earth stations and the Iridium low-orbit satellite. The total propagation losses are calculated taking into account freespace losses, absorption in atmospheric gases, attenuation due to precipitation, as well as losses due to pointing inaccuracy and polarization mismatch. Noise immunity is assessed using a bit error probability analysis for a channel with additive white Gaussian noise. Results. The study developed an architecture for data transmission over the aircraft-to-ground control tower link. To evaluate the energy efficiency of the proposed solution, a radio link was calculated for communication between an aircraft in the Omsk area and a ground station located in Kursk via the Iridium 166 satellite. The calculated signal-tonoise ratio was 11.124 dB, corresponding to a bit error rate of 10-6. A comparative analysis revealed that the use of low-density polynomial codes (LDPC) or multithreshold decoders can reduce the required signal-to-noise ratio by 2-3 dB while maintaining the specified error rate. Conclusion. The proposed architecture and the resulting energy parameters confirm the operability of the developed system. The implementation of error-correcting codes provides an additional operational reliability margin, which is critical in conditions of degraded radio visibility. Thus, the presented solution meets modern requirements for the reliability of information exchange in aviation communication systems.