FACT: An Air-Ground Communication Framework for Seeding Quality Control of Aircraft

A new type of air-ground communication application framework named FACT (framework for air-ground communication technology with weather-modification aircraft) is presented to track and command weather-modification aircraft to perform ideal cloud seeding. FACT provides a set of solutions from three perspectives, namely, onboard, onground and air-to-ground, with the core purpose of solving the problems of the rapid exchange of information, contract analysis and identifying potential seeding areas when flight plans and meteorological conditions change. On board, the observed data are processed centrally and transmitted downward through air-to-ground communication. The real-time application and sharing of aircraft detection data are strengthened on the ground, and potential areas of operation are automatically identified based on ground data. The communication between the air and the ground achieves a technical breakthrough by realizing double satellite links, adaptive data transmission and VPN channel encryption. Additionally, an application based on FACT is designed and implemented for the real-time command of weather-modified aircraft. This approach has become the key air-to-ground communication system support for more than 40 Chinese aircraft and the big data service support center of airborne data to ensure improved operation of weather-modification aircraft in China.