Next-Generation Integrated Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance Services

A growing number of existing and new entrant aircraft operating under the emerging concepts of Innovative and Advanced Air Mobility calls for robust and resilient communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) systems. Aircraft operating at low altitudes may execute complex manoeuvres that are challenging to track, requiring low surveillance latency, pre-cise positioning, and high throughput communication. Current legacy CNS services are provided separately through fragmented systems. This paper explores the provisioning of Integrated CNS (ICNS) services using software-defined networking within a con-verged three-dimensional network, incorporating high-altitude platforms, a low Earth orbit satellite constellation, and terrestrial 5G New Radio (NR) networks. A digital ICNS service provi-sioning module is proposed to support Multilateration (MLAT), both space-and ground-based, for CNS services provided at low altitudes, utilising satellites and 5G NR networks, respectively. To ensure positioning integrity, a cross-checked position comparison is performed using MLAT data collected from satellites and 5G, along with dependent surveillance data (e.g., GNSS). Inte-grating these data sources could significantly enhance positional accuracy, enabling optimized flight trajectories, and increasing airspace capacity and safety of aircraft operations.