Comparison of VDL modes in the terminal domain

Abstract

In This work we investigate the comparative performance of VDL modes 2, 3 and 4 by simulating mobile aircraft that dynamically establish and disconnect links to the ground station. The principal consideration was to model and simulate realistic data traffic and aircraft traffic patterns in the terminal domain, which in these simulations is the area within a 70 nautical mile radius from the terminal. The simulated aircraft traffic patterns are based on actual data from the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. We consider two aircraft traffic patterns, and the data traffic profile used for the simulations is defined in the relevant standard. The performance criteria used to compare the performance of the three modes is the subnetwork delay. For the simulation scenarios investigated in this research, we recommend VDL Mode 3 in the terminal domain.