Demonstration of a 40Gbps Bi-Directional Air-to-Ground Millimeter Wave Communication Link

We describe the design, development, and field demonstration of a high-throughput E-band communication link between a ground station and a Cessna aircraft flying at an altitude of 7km and a top speed of 463km/h. The link achieved a peak data rate of 40Gbps bi-directional (80Gbps combined simultaneously), and robustly maintained a sustained data rate of 40Gbps in downlink and 36Gbps in uplink direction for the 12km air-to-ground slanted path. The average power consumption of the flight terminal prototype was measured at 363 Watts in average, and mass at 11.8kg. We also report the results of a test campaign in Quillayute, WA to spot-check the ITU models for rain and cloud attenuation over an air-to-ground link. Using the proven system performance and ITU path loss models, we show that the terminal could be used to provide the maximum bidirectional 40Gbps data rates up to an altitude of 28km and 10Gbps up to 310km. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the very high capacity (> 10Gbps in each direction) millimeter wave communication link system between a ground station and a fast-moving aerial platform over significant ranges (> 10km slanted range) is a world first.