We analyzed real flight traces from FlightRadar24
toward the needed data rate for data transfer from the aircraft
to the ground. To achieve this, we compare the duration
of the flight with the duration on ground. We study
two different options: 1) transferring data per flight or
2) per day. We show that if we transfer data per day, the
needed data rate decreases up to 47% compared with per
flight. We also vary parameters such as flight time or aircraft
size. We conclude that long-haul flights are the most
challenging flights. We show that, with today’s 4G
networks, it is feasible to support up to 65.9 GB generated
per flight hour, which increases to 4.4 TB with 5G. Hence,
5G is a promising technology to transfer a massive amount
of data from the aircraft to the ground. We also highlight
the challenges of deploying an aircraft data transfer system.
These are, among others, to provide a worldwide
availability or to provide a sufficient data rate to cover all
aircraft at one airport. Additionally, an analysis on the
data processing needs to be conducted. If a part of the data
could already be processed at the aircraft, the data rate
needed for transfer on ground can be reduced.