SANDRA project will design, implement and validate through in-flight trials an integrated aeronautical communications system based on an open architecture, a common set of interfaces, and on well-proven industry standards.

BLEND addresses the need for ubiquitous access to real-time data over a multitude of communication technologies and over an ultra-large scale of next-generation mission system-of-systems, also addressing scalability and quality of service (QoS).

Wireless traffic demand is growing exponentially and satisying this demand means increasing the density points of access and combining different wireless technologies. Mobile network operators have already started to push for denser, heterogeneous deployments; however, current technology needs to steer towards efficiency, to avoid unsustainable energy consumption and network performance implosion due to interference.

The project SAT4NET, funded by the European Space Agency’s ARTES 1 program focuses on analysing the technical and economic feasibility of an integrated xDSL/satellite network architecture. The key idea is to exploit the very broad coverage of satellite to provide additional bandwidth to users in areas that due to distance from the switch the download speed is much lower than densely populated areas.