Potential for the use of Internet protocols in aviation

For the last 15 years, the global aviation community has pursued the development and implementation of an industry-specific set of communications standards known as the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN). These standards are now beginning to effect the emerging military Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) community. Efforts are continuing to gain a full understanding of the differences and similarities between ATN and Internet architectures as related to Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) infrastructure choices. This paper presents the results of previous research into the ATN and Internet protocol architectures and a technical comparison of the two. From this research, the conclusion was drawn that operational benefits may be realizable to the aviation community if it chooses to use Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards as the basis for a future CNS infrastructure. Some future services may also be useful to the community. These services are additional benefits associated with the use of the Transport Control Protocol and Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6). These protocols are available today. The services are not presently supported by the ATN's transport service protocols, the Transport Protocol Class 4 and Connection-less Network Protocol (TP4/CLNP).