scope:

Purpose of this Characteristic

This standard sets forth the desired characteristics of Aviation Ku-band Satellite Communication (Satcom) and Ka-band Satcom Systems intended for installation in all types of commercial air transport aircraft. The intent of this characteristic is to provide guidance on the interfaces, form, fit, and function of the systems. This document also describes the desired operational capability of the equipment needed to provide a broadband transport link that can be used for data, video, and voice communications typically used for passenger communications and/or entertainment. The systems described in this characteristic are not qualified, at this writing, for aviation safety functions.

The key goal of this characteristic is to promote interchangeability at a number of levels, as shown below, with the aim of minimizing airline life cycle costs:

• Aircraft Manufacturer Interchangeability: the same equipment can be fitted to aircraft built by different aircraft manufacturers.

• Aircraft Type Interchangeability: the same equipment can be fitted to a large number of different aircraft types.

• Equipment Manufacturer Interchangeability: equipment from different manufacturers can be fitted to standardized aircraft provisions.

• Frequency Band Interchangeability: the same aircraft provisions can be used for either Ku-band or Ka-band equipment.

• Satellite System Interchangeability: the same Ku-band antenna subsystem can be used for different Ku-band satellite systems and the same Ka antenna subsystem can be used for different Ka satellite systems. That is, in the future, an airline could change their satellite provider (provided the frequency band is not changed) and could reuse their antenna subsystem, although they would need a new Modem and Manager (Modman).

Note: Outside Antenna Equipment (OAE), the Ku/Ka-band Radio Frequency Unit (KRFU) and the Ku/Ka-band Aircraft Networking Data Unit (KANDU) (which are collectively known as the antenna subsystem) and Modman are described in Sections 3.0 to 6.0.

• Antenna Subsystem and Modman Interchangeability: a consequence of Satellite System Interchangeability is that the antenna subsystem can be sourced from one supplier and the Modman can be sourced from a different supplier.

• Modman and Airplane Personality Module (APM) Interchangeability: The Modman and the APM are defined to be a functional doublet. This means that the interwiring between them and their installation details are defined in this characteristic, but due to unique electrical signaling, protocol implementations, and memory size/architecture/content, the supply and acquisition of these units are manufacturer specific. Functional doublets are different from matched pairs in that each unit of the functional doublet may fail and be changed independently; whereas in matched pairs, both units must be changed regardless of which unit has failed.