L-band Digital Aeronautical Communications System (LDACS) flight trials in the national German project MICONAV

Today's voice-based air-ground communication system for aircraft guidance is suffering from increasing saturation of the VHF band in high density areas. Therefore the European Union strives for a transition from analog voice communication to more spectrum efficient digital communication. This transition shall be realized, among others, through the development and implementation of the L-band Digital Aeronautical Communications System (LDACS). In order to verify the suitability of LDACS for both communications and navigation, a flight trial campaign will be performed within the nationally funded German project MICONAV. The objective of this paper is to present the planned LDACS measurement campaign. LDACS will be validated under realistic conditions: Four ground stations transmit signals; one airborne station onboard an aircraft will receive the communication messages and additionally utilize the signals from the ground stations for navigation.