Using airborne measurements to model the satellite-to-aircraft channel model at L-band

Radio wave propagation from a satellite based emitter to an airborne located receiver is of interest for applications like passenger internet access during a flight, air traffic management or positioning by global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs). Especially for the last two applications that are related to safety-of-life functionality, accurate channel models for software based system testing are essential. Current state-of-the art channel models for the satellite-to-aircraft case lack of accuracy in terms of modeling all propagation impairments. In this contribution, we describe an airborne experiment using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite emitted signals to characterize the wave propagation channel from a satellite to an airborne platform. First results on ground reflected multipath are provided.