Open Networking Technologies for the Integration of Net-Ready Applications on Rotorcraft

As data links evolve with more networking capabilities and systems implementing modern network waveforms become more available in production, the hardware mechanisms will be in place to create networks suitable for use on rotorcraft and other platforms collaborating to accomplish various missions. With these networks, mission value is derived from added functionality resulting from applications running across the networks. Through the National Rotorcraft Technology Center (NRTC) and the Vertical Lift Consortium (VLC), a team of government, industry, and academic partners are working to create a set of net-ready applications to improve rotorcraft safety and survivability. The goal is to create a set of net-ready applications, middleware framework, and security features, such that when networking hardware technologies are introduced to the aircraft they can improve both mission effectiveness and safety. The desired approach relies on the use of open networking technologies to provide independence from the underlying infrastructure components, such as radios, routers, processors, and operating systems. This paper outlines an approach to achieve this goal while describing the efforts of the NRTC/VLC project team to build net-ready applications for rotorcraft. Net-ready applications associated with better situational awareness of weather and obstacles are in development on this project, and will be described relative to use on civil and military rotorcraft. Keys to this development are the use of open networking standards and protocols associated with middleware and data modeling, which are also described. A methodology to measure the operational value of networked rotorcraft is described and applied to a representative mission.