November 11, 2022 - LDACS SARPs adopted by ICAO Communications Panel

The future digital aeronautical radio LDACS (L-band Digital Aeronautical Communications System) has reached an important milestone in ICAO standardization - the so-called SARPs (Standards and Recommended Practices) have been adopted together with the necessary supporting material by the Communications Panel of ICAO in the 6th meeting of the Data Communications Infrastructure Working Group (DCIWG/6). The next step is the review by the Air Navigation Commission, during which the standardization documents will be sent to all ICAO States for comments. Once the comments are resolved, the new technology for aeronautical radio will be included in Annex 10 of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, making it available to the aviation community.

March 9, 2022 - EUROCAE standardization of LDACS started

The introduction of the future global airborne radio system LDACS (L-band Digital Aeronautical Communications System) has taken a decisive step forward. In January 2022, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of EUROCAE approved the request of the LDACS standardization group "Project Team Terrestrial Data Link" of the Communications Panel of ICAO to prepare further standardization documents within the framework of EUROCAE. The corresponding "Call for Participation" of EUROCAE Working Group 82 (WG-82) "New Air-Ground Data Link Technologies" was published in early March 2022. The kick-off meeting is scheduled for April 12, 2022.

Within EUROCAE, two important standardization documents are being produced that contain detailed information about the equipment implementation of LDACS. These documents are the Minimum Aviation System Performance Standards (MASPS) and the Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS). Both standardization documents assist equipment developers, manufacturers, service providers, and users in the implementation and deployment of LDACS. Furthermore, MASPS and MOPS regulate device requirements and characteristics as well as uniform test specifications.

In parallel to the EUROCAE activities, the standardization of LDACS is ongoing within ICAO. There, the so-called SARPs (Standards and Recommended Practices) have been developed since December 2016 in the LDACS standardization group "Project Team Terrestrial Data Link" of the Communications Panel. The LDACS SARPs will be included in Annex 10 to the Chicago Convention (Convention on International Civil Aviation) after completion of the ICAO standardization and will thus become globally binding rules for air traffic. In addition to the SARPs, ICAO is also producing guidance material to inform and support the ICAO standardization process and clarify ICAO's internal allocation of frequency bands.

Together with Eurocontrol, Frequentis AG and the University of Salzburg, DLR was the initiator of the future airborne radio LDACS and contributed significantly to its design and development from the beginning. Several projects within the framework of SESAR and the Aeronautics Research Program (LuFo) were applied for and successfully completed together with partners to further develop the technology maturity of LDACS. In 2016, the standardization of LDACS was initiated together with partners within ICAO. The LDACS standardization group "Project Team Terrestrial Data Link" established for this purpose is headed by DLR.