| FAQ about the Teledyne Wireless GroundLink® System
What is Teledyne's Wireless GroundLink® System (WGL)?
The Teledyne Wireless GroundLink® solution is an end-to-end service focused on data communications to and from commercial aircraft.
The WGL provides an easily implemented transport medium over which airlines can send relatively large files of sampled parameters accumulated during the course of the flight for near real-time analysis of air vehicle and flight crew performance. That same medium is available for upload of data to the aircraft.
The Wireless GroundLink system provides an immediately implementable solution for FOQA/FDM requirements for timely review of in-flight data, without the significant cost or schedule impacts of airport upgrades
How does the Wireless GroundLink system work?
Teledyne's WGL takes a different approach to data transport. Rather than installing dedicated data links between the aircraft and the gate, the Wireless GroundLink system relies on two highly ubiquitous communications platforms: the cellular/PCS infrastructure, and the Internet.
Data accumulated during the flight is compressed, encrypted for security, and readied for transmission.
After landing, the GroundLink unit opens multiple communications channels over the local cellular/PCS network. The accumulated, compressed, and encrypted file is segmented into data packets, and transmitted over the existing wireless infrastructure.
At the cellular/PCS switching center, the packets are attached to the Internet, and routed to their target destination, the airline's or Teledyne's flight operation center.
There, the packets are received by ground station computers running the Wireless GroundLink software, where they are reassembled, decrypted, decompressed, and verified for data integrity.
The AirFASE® software, or other analysis tool, is presented with the complete file, as it was recorded on the aircraft. Automatic reports can be generated and electronically mailed to appropriate airline managers. In most cases, the reports can be reviewed before the passengers have de-planed at the gate.
What are the advantages of the Wireless GroundLink approach?
The Wireless GroundLink system provides an immediate, low-cost solution to the airline's data transport requirements. There are no transmitters, receivers, or fiber optic links, which must be installed at airports. The infrastructure required already exists, and therefore the Wireless GroundLink solution is available today, not years from today.
The Wireless GroundLink system requires no penetration of the aircraft pressure vessel - the GroundLink antenna transmits quite effectively to nearby cellular/PCS towers through the fuselage.
Teledyne's Wireless GroundLink service includes end-to-end connectivity: we provide the over-the-air service, the Internet connectivity, and the requisite hardware and software at both the aircraft and the flight operations center for secure file transmission and recovery. Teledyne can also provide the data acquisition hardware, as well as the data analysis software, and will securely archive the data, if desired by the airline.
What is Wireless GroundLink system's typical data transfer rate?
Using today's technology under normal operating conditions, an hour of in-flight recorded data will take less than a minute (about 40 seconds, effectively 400 Kbits/sec of raw data transfer rate) to be transferred to the flight operations center.
In the near future (one or two years), the cellular/PCS industry promises data bandwidth improvements in their "third generation" (3G) products to increase current transfer rates by a factor of 10. In addition, date rates of megabits per second are on the horizon.
Is the aircraft installation complicated?
Teledyne's current Wireless GroundLink configuration houses the wireless hardware and software in an Optical Quick-Access Recorder (O-QAR) 4-MCU package. For aircraft compatibly provisioned, the unit merely slides into the existing avionics rack location. A small antenna (4-inch long) is located on the front panel of the unit, or optionally, is mounted external to the unit and inside the aircraft.
Future configurations will include the WGL hardware and software in a DFDMU, CMU, or as a stand-alone unit.
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