Four-dimensional network simulation of direct air to ground LTE networks

In recent times in-flight Broadband Internet connection service is becoming more common. In Japan, most in-flight connectivity utilizes a satellite backhaul system. However, the satellite system tends to be very bulky and expensive for short-and medium-haul continental flights. The satellite system has limited capacity, especially serving a large number of continental aircraft in a limited geographical area. This, it produces a large transmission latency, that affects the real-time service quality. The solution is a Direct Air-to-Ground (DA2G) network based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. The DA2G network deploys ground stations that are connected with aircraft flying overhead, thus providing an ultra-broadband backhaul infrastructure. The European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) has explored the potential of DA2G networks based on LTE with pencil beamforming in an attempt to improve the link performance. Here, based on the CEPT reports, this paper discusses the broadcasting and traffic channel coverage without pencil beamforming to keep the compatibility of conventional LTE. In addition, a hierarchical antenna architecture is proposed for covering all flight cruising altitudes of 4,000 - 12,000 m using conventional LTE. Moreover, a four-dimensional network simulation of DA2G LTE networks is introduced. The merits of the proposed antenna architecture are verified using a developed four-dimensional network simulator.