Ground direction of aircraft datalinks

A method for ground-to-air communications with an aircraft, the method comprising:

• receiving incoming data from one or more data sources at a ground-to-air communications manager that includes at least one processor;
• analyzing the incoming data, by the at least one processor, to determine at least a location and flight mode of the aircraft;
• assessing, by the at least one processor, outgoing data to be sent to the aircraft from the ground-to-air communications manager, the assessing of the outgoing data based on one or more characteristics of the outgoing data, the location and flight mode of the aircraft, and one or more datalink characteristics, wherein the one or more characteristics of the outgoing data comprises urgency of the outgoing data, transmission time of the outgoing data, useful life of the outgoing data, criticality of the outgoing data, freshness of the outgoing data, or priority of the outgoing data;
• selecting an outgoing datalink of the ground-to-air communications manager and timing of transmit for the outgoing data according to a best result algorithm, wherein the best result algorithm:
• balances the one or more characteristics of the outgoing data, the location and flight mode of the aircraft, and the one or more datalink characteristics, and
• determines the outgoing datalink for the flight mode that serves the aircraft and the outgoing data;
• transmitting a schedule request to the aircraft, over an operative datalink of the aircraft, to schedule the outgoing datalink to be operative on the aircraft at the selected timing of transmit;
• and
• transmitting the outgoing data, from the ground-to-air communications manager to the aircraft, over the selected outgoing datalink at the selected timing of transmit.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:
• analyzing incoming data from one or more data sources to determine at least a location and flight mode of an aircraft, wherein the incoming data from the one or more data sources comprises aircraft logistics data, data from a map update data source, aircraft logistics information, data from a weather update data source, or air traffic control update messages;
• assessing outgoing data to be sent to the aircraft based on one or more characteristics of the outgoing data, the location and flight mode of the aircraft, and one or more datalink characteristics;
• selecting an outgoing datalink and timing of transmit for the outgoing data according to a best result algorithm, wherein the best result algorithm:
• balances the one or more characteristics of the outgoing data, the location and flight mode of the aircraft, and the one or more datalink characteristics, and
• determines the outgoing datalink for the flight mode that serves the aircraft and the outgoing data;
• transmitting a schedule request to the aircraft, over an operative datalink of the aircraft, to schedule the outgoing datalink to be operative on the aircraft at the selected timing of transmit;
• and
• transmitting the outgoing data to the aircraft over the selected outgoing datalink at the selected timing of transmit.