Civil aviation embraces 5G, the general trend of ATG+Beidou

5G will take to the sky. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (hereinafter referred to as the Civil Aviation Administration) has officially released the "China Civil Aviation New Generation Aviation Broadband Communication Technology Roadmap" (hereinafter referred to as the "Roadmap"). Issues such as navigation safety and smart aviation applications. This also means that the highly anticipated 5G ATG (Air To Ground ground-to-air broadband communication) is about to "take off".

There are two main ways to surf the Internet in the air, one is satellite communication, and the other is ATG ground-to-air broadband communication. The two complement each other to form the future of smart aviation.

In the face of the last "virgin land", in recent years, all parties in the industry chain have taken active actions. From communication equipment vendors, network operators to aviation service providers, one after another is running the new track of aviation Internet.

Civil Aviation will "hand in hand" 5G

Recently, Yunnan Lucky Air and Xinjiang Urumqi Airlines each have two passenger planes to complete the LAN upgrade, and their first "digital cabin" flights that can provide on-board WiFi service have been flown successively. , So that passengers have more entertainment options in the air besides sleeping, listening to music, and reading magazines. However, to make the dream of on-board office work into reality, it still needs the vigorous advancement of 5G ATG.

The Civil Aviation Administration recently released a roadmap to vigorously promote the application of a new generation of aviation broadband communications, and build a civil aviation 5G network that combines public and private use. "This is the first time that the Civil Aviation Administration has clearly proposed a systematic implementation path for the application of a new generation of aviation broadband communication technology represented by 5G in China's civil aviation." At the regular press conference that day, Zhang Ruiqing, deputy director of the Air Traffic Management Office of the Civil Aviation Administration Said.

The new generation of aviation broadband communication technology is a key technology that promotes the digital transformation of the civil aviation industry and empowers "smart civil aviation." At present, the application scenarios of the new generation of aviation broadband communication technology in the field of civil aviation mainly include: the special aviation network on the airport surface used by aircraft and vehicles in the airport flight area, the public network used by passengers in the terminal, and the open space used by the front cabin of the aircraft during the flight phase. Communication network, and the air Internet used in the rear cabin, etc.

Establish a technical standard system and equipment R&D application system such as 5G AeroMACS, 5G LDACS, 5G ATG and 5G public network of China Civil Aviation, which can provide 5G public network and private network combination and safety A solution that combines communication and non-safety communication will enable 5G to truly empower smart civil aviation and promote the high-quality and safe development of civil aviation.

To solve the problem of slow WiFi network speed on board, civil aviation will accelerate the evolution and upgrade of network infrastructure from three aspects: First, upgrade traditional satellite communication technology to high-throughput satellites Communication technology; the second is to combine the new 5G infrastructure to upgrade the ATG communication system from 4G to 5G; the third is to optimize the existing network structure and enhance network coverage.

Beidou "pocket bottom" open ground cloud network security

In the map of the open-ground cloud network industry, the choice of the technology path of the world-earth interconnection is very important. From the perspective of major global markets, ATG and satellite aircraft Internet complement each other, and it has become the consensus of the industry that ATG is the main land route in the mainstream market. The main reason why ATG has become the mainstream is that under the same coverage area of land routes, ATG has larger bandwidth, lower cost and better experience.

Compared with the use of 4G base stations, in the 5G era, the use of ATG for flights over land can get a larger bandwidth.

Li Xin, deputy director of the Technical Center of the Air Traffic Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, discussed the application of Beidou system in the field of civil aviation at the 2020 (2nd) Civil Aviation Transportation Management Science and Technology Exchange Conference Outlook. The future development of air traffic control technology requires innovation with independent intellectual property rights, which lays the foundation for the application of Beidou system in the field of civil aviation. Li Xin said that China's civil aviation is an important area for the Beidou system to go global and serve the world. Promoting the application of the Beidou system in China's civil aviation field has important strategic significance for both China's civil aviation and the Beidou system itself.

For China’s civil aviation, the use of the Beidou system provides a technically absolutely safe bottom line, legally and logically, completely solves the safety risk of China’s civil aviation using satellite navigation technology. .

In general, the civil aviation system should serve the overall value of the Beidou system's global application. The ultimate goal is to build a GNSS technology application system with Beidou as the core, and promote satellite-based positioning and navigation. The construction of a new generation of air navigation system with timing technology as the core.

All parties in the 5G industry chain "rush to the sky"

Markets and Markets, the world’s second largest market research institution, pointed out in its latest report that by 2021, the global aviation 5G market is expected to reach 500 million U.S. dollars. By 2026, One data will increase to 3.9 billion US dollars, during which the compound annual growth rate will reach 52.7%.

In recent years, network operators such as China Telecom, communications equipment vendors represented by ZTE, and many airlines have entered the 5G+ smart aviation industry chain.

As for operators, as the main force in building a network power, a digital China and a smart society, China Telecom takes the deepening of the integration of civil aviation and the Internet as its mission in the 5G era. Cross-industry cooperation, the establishment of Tianyi Smart Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianyi Smart Aviation"), and began to build the world's first 5G ATG commercial network.

As the only civil aviation ground-to-air communication operating company under China Telecom, Tianyi Zhihang is responsible for operating 5G ATG air-ground cloud network, providing air-ground network, airborne equipment, operating platform software and technology The one-stop service solution helps airlines realize flight big data operations + in-flight Internet services, and promotes the digital transformation and upgrading of the civil aviation industry. Tianyi Zhihang made its debut at China Telecom's 2020 Tianyi Intelligent Ecological Expo, and the 5G ATG air-to-ground cloud network has become an important member of Tianyi's intelligent ecology.

Zhang Weifeng, Senior Director of Transportation II, China Mobile (Shanghai) Industrial Research Institute, revealed at the "2020 China Mobile Global Partner Conference-5G Smart Civil Aviation Summit" that for better To explore and enrich 5G application scenarios, China Mobile has launched China Mobile Jiuxiao's 5G ground-to-air communication platform in response to the needs of civil aviation interconnection. Zhang Weifeng pointed out that this is the world's first end-to-end 5G ground-to-air communication test system.

As for communication equipment vendors, ZTE will launch the industry during the 2021 MWCS The first 5G ATG solution. This solution can support a wealth of aviation business and empower smart aviation.

Fore cabin safety data transmission: Regarding the massive operational data of the aircraft’s front cabin, such as flight data, cabin video data, aircraft position and attitude data, aircraft health monitoring data, etc., Realize the real-time intercommunication between the front cabin data of the civil aviation aircraft and the air traffic control, airlines, and aircraft manufacturers, greatly improving the safety of flight, and serving the air traffic control department and industry customers.

In terms of Internet access in the rear cabin: provide passengers with high-speed and low-latency high-quality Internet access in the air, such as instant messaging, interactive games, and live video streaming. Companies and Internet Service Providers (ISP) expand value-added services.

In 2020, the world’s first 5G ATG will be successfully tested, and it is expected that two more commercial routes will be added in 2021.

For airlines, China Eastern Airlines has cooperated with Huawei and China Unicom to launch 5G-based "smart travel" services. In addition to passenger information recognition and baggage management and control, service scenarios also include self-service facial traffic throughout check-in, security, boarding, ferry, aircraft hatch and other check-in nodes, as well as cloud VR, high-definition video, cloud gaming and other audio-visual experiences. The above service uses 5G network as the transmission channel and combines facial recognition, AR, and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology. It is the first commercial application of 5G network in the civil aviation industry that covers the entire process from ticket purchase to hatch boarding. The application dimension includes passengers. , Luggage, and information three layers.