The SANDRA concept consists of the integration of complex and disparate communication media into a lean and coherent architecture that:

• provides and manages seamless service coverage across all airspace domains and all aircraft classes
• sustains growth in the service market and enables easy plug-in of future radio technologies through modularity and configurability
• is upgradeable, easy reconfigurable and radio technology independent
• is distributed and instantiated into consistent ground-based and airborne sub-networks ensuring full interoperability SANDRA covers from RF and avionics components up to the middleware layer of the on-board network, assembled and integrated under the most stringent safety and security requirements. Ultimately, SANDRA pursues the architectural integration of aeronautical communication systems using:
• well-proven industry standards like IP, IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), DVB-S2, Inmarsat SwiftBroadBand,
• a set of common interfaces
• standard network protocols having IPv6 as final unification point to enable a cost-efficient global and reliable provision of distributed services across all airspace domains and to all aircraft classes.

The SANDRA validation activity will show the ability of the proposed integrated architecture to easily reconfigure and adapt for the flexible implementation of new communication services.