Back to Air Transport IT Review - Issue 2, September 2009

Aggregating wireless services at the airport

In a pioneering initiative, SITA has created a new community service that will radically transform wireless communications for airports and airport stakeholders around the world. The SITA Wireless Aggregator will bring wireless airport coverage footprints together under one global umbrella.

The new service will allow wireless operators at airports to expand their client base, while airports themselves will be better able to promote usage of their wireless investment across the global air transport community. On top of that, airlines and support service providers will gain access to any airport's wireless infrastructure, whatever the choice or evolution of technology.

The end results will be increased interoperability between sites, increased wireless footprint usage and reliability, reduced costs and the elimination of service gaps.

Airport-wide communication

The challenge for most airlines today is to identify a cost-effective communication solution to deliver mission critical data to their back office systems for both Gatelink equipped aircraft and field workers located around the world.

To be effective, the communication solution must be simple to use and interoperable in many locations. Most importantly, network access must be transparent to the end user and priced in line with market alternatives.

With the arrival of new Airbus and Boeing aircraft, there is a need for Gatelink facilities at airports to off-load and up-load information between the aircraft and airline back-office systems.

Ground and flight crews

Added to that, ground and flight crews have a need to roam and connect to back office systems seamlessly on multiple Wi-Fi networks around the world using a limited number of devices. These devices need to handle both information and revenue generating activities throughout the entire end-to-end passenger experience.

The SITA Wireless Aggregator was conceived to promote the need for a consistent measurable end-user experience across multiple networks. This is regardless of the fact that they have been designed to work independently and lack a common set of consistent guiding principles.

The operation of these footprints may be managed by airport authorities, government controlled telephone companies, hub airlines - as well as third party providers.

SITA recognizes that differrent deployment practices, delivery methods and regulator environments may exist from site to site. These items can hamper the development of global interoperatbility, without a communitiy based approach.

Airline and airport challenges

The SITA Wireless Aggregator will help facilitate the global adoption of airside and professional wireless solutions at airports.

Common airline challenges include the following.

A desire to use:

Wi-Fi services at non-hub locations for Gatelink functionality
Local wireless networks to support centralized as well as decentralized common workforce mobility solutions
Wireless solutions that can aid in the reduction of turnaround times

A need for a uniform Wi-Fi platform that allows for interoperability of devices and applications at multiple sites

The ability to leverage cost and service benefits at non-hub locations, to reduce labour costs, fuel, food, and general arbitrage

The challenge for the airport Wi-Fi network operator is to find a way of achieving a high value return on investment and recover any up front costs within a reduced period of time with an acceptable margin.

Common airport network operator challenges include the following.

Ability to validate the type and nature of coverage needed

Need for an acceptable return on investment

Need to tap into a growth market with a concentrated user base

Ability to tap into a reliable consistent revenue stream

Desire to:

Reduce costs by outsourcing non-core services
Find a low cost and trusted migration path to new technologies in fast changing market
Leverage a low cost sales & marketing channel that will allow operators to maintain control over local operations (security, regulatory)

Single point of contact

The approach means that SITA teams become the 'single point of contact' for airlines and support service providers who want to leverage and use Wi-Fi based solutions and devices at airports around the world. The Aggregator will provide the global base upon which SITA solutions & products will reside.

As a global service platform, made up of an inventory of airport wireless operator coverage footprints, SITA's Wireless Aggregator is positioned to work with local, regional and international airport wireless operators to encourage the growth of professional Wi-Fi ecosystems and usage.

Working with its membership, SITA will create a wireless platform where airlines and support service providers alike will be able to acquire Wi-Fi connectivity from SITA teams at multiple locations.

From a functional perspective, the SITA Wireless Aggregator will contract and interconnect with airport Wi-Fi networks and manage operational complexities, such as radius authentication, authorization, accounting, data reconciliation and financial clearing.

It may also become a foundation for future global solutions, application distribution, device provisioning, support and network management.

Community commitment

The initiative leverages SITA's community-based commitment to identifying common threads among networks and building on commonalities. As a result, partnering costs will be kept low and little or no investment will be required on the part of network operators to be compatible with the Aggregator core offerings.

The SITA Wireless Aggregator is designed to extend the reach of existing networks and demonstrate the value of a seamless, globally available, professional-grade wireless service for mission-critical air transport industry applications.

The evolving wireless ecosystem

Robert Goodman
SITA Communication Services, Innovation and Planning

Wireless solutions have become commonplace in today's workforce and now support a broad range of mission critical applications. Early adopters found that ease of use and battery life constrained device utility. Technology advancements, improved ergonomics and user friendly interfaces resolved most of these problems.

Early adopters have also faced the challenge of network interoperability and transportability. Technology standardization helped resolve most of these issues with the most powerful of the mobility solutions on the market today (GSM & CDMA).

As a wireless alternative, Wi-Fi remains a cost effective solution for some well defined work environments. This is particularly the case for air transport industry environments - which benefit from a large well defined workforce, a set of constructs (terminals), activities and movements (aircraft arrivals and departures).

Over the last 10 years, Wi-Fi technology has been added to multiple devices and an ecosystem has emerged for the unlicensed spectrum solution. The adoption of Wi-Fi in multi-radio devices and equipment continues to this day, with more and more mission critical applications and their systems built to support Wi-Fi as a network alternative.

Now the low cost of installing Wi-Fi access points and the adoption of Wi-Fi chipsets in devices have made the airport environment an excellent place for the ecosystem to evolve once more. New hand-held solutions for workers and Gatelink functionality for Aircraft will help drive data volumes over Wi-Fi if low operating costs can be maintained.

Wi- Fi is an exceptionally secure and cost effective option for airlines and support service providers with global communication needs related to back-office system, communication to and from from ground based aircraft through Gatelink,and for all "out of hub" airport support staff communication needs. We anticipate that SITA's holistic approach will provide the community with the technology and structure it needs to optimize the use of Wi-Fi across all operations.