Improving flight test communications aim of KU research

The federal government’s sale last year of wireless, electromagnetic spectrum to the likes of AT&T and T-Mobile has taken away some of the premium communications frequencies used in the flight testing of aircraft.

It has relegated companies and organizations that test aircraft and other airborne vehicles to transmit flight data to the ground – in some cases 40 megabytes of data per second – over frequencies that are less reliable and don’t penetrate buildings as easily as the spectrum they used before.

But researchers at the University of Kansas’ engineering school think they’ve found a way to improve that and are part of a team that won a $2.5 million contract to come up with solutions that will eventually be available to the commercial marketplace.

“What this project is about is essentially putting ideas and products on the shelf … that enable companies to seamlessly move to those other bands,” said Erik Perrins, a KU electrical engineering and computer science professor who is leading the project.

Perrins said the research contract from the National Spectrum Consortium arose from the Federal Communications Commission’s January 2015 auction of wireless spectrum that netted the government $41.3 billion from 31 bidders, including the wireless phone service providers, according to Federal Communications Commission documents.

The loss of that spectrum has been a challenge for companies such as Bombardier – albeit a short-lived one.

“While it is true there has been a reduction in the available spectrum, we have been able to support flight operations efficiently and safely at our Flight Test center through the use of new technologies and equipment,” Sylvie Gauthier, Bombardier Flight Test Center spokeswoman, said in an e-mail response to questions.

Bombardier tests all its new aircraft at the center in Wichita, including its C Series airliners and the new Global 7000 large-cabin business jet.

The loss of the premium spectrum has a significant effect on small transmitters – the size of a pack of chewing gum – sending flight data to the ground. Those are the types of transmitters than can be found on missiles and other airborne artillery, Perrins said.

“The type of signal they used to use was the kind of signal that was very friendly to high-powered, miniaturized transmitters,” Perrins said. “This new signal is a little less friendly.

“The fundamental statement is we have to use a more efficient signal that’s more difficult to generate with a miniature transmitter at high power,” he said.

It will be three years before researchers at KU and their partners at BYU in Utah complete their project, the final phase of which will include testing the hardware and software they develop on a military derivative of a Beechcraft King Air at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Improving flight test communications aim of KU research."