Flight vehicle, communication management system, control system, and control method
Provided is a flight vehicle which has an antenna for forming a wireless communication area by irradiating beam towards a ground to provide a wireless communication service to a user terminal in the wireless communication area, the flight vehicle including an FL communication unit which communicates with a core network on the ground via a feeder link, a UP execution unit which executes a user plane function, and a communication control unit which performs control such that communication between a first user terminal in the wireless communication area and a second user terminal is relayed without intermediation of the core network by the user plane function.
1 . A flight vehicle which has an antenna for forming a wireless communication area by irradiating beam towards a ground to provide a wireless communication service to a user terminal in the wireless communication area, the flight vehicle comprising:
an FL communication unit which communicates with a core network on the ground via a feeder link;
a UP execution unit which executes a user plane function; and
a communication control unit which performs control such that communication between a first user terminal in the wireless communication area and a second user terminal in an other wireless communication area of an other flight vehicle is relayed without intermediation of the core network by the user plane function.
2 . The flight vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the communication control unit performs control such that a closed area network is constructed between the first user terminal in the wireless communication area and the second user terminal in the other wireless communication area of the other flight vehicle.
3 . The flight vehicle according to claim 2 , comprising:
a base station unit configured to execute a base station function; and
a switch unit connected to the base station unit, the UP execution unit, and the FL communication unit, wherein
the communication control unit controls the switch unit to thereby construct a closed area network between the first user terminal in the wireless communication area and the second user terminal in the other wireless communication area of the other flight vehicle.
4 . The flight vehicle according to claim 3 , wherein
the switch unit is an L3 switch, and
the communication control unit performs control such that the closed area network is constructed by a VRF.
5 . The flight vehicle according to claim 3 , wherein
the switch unit is an L2 switch, and
the communication control unit performs control such that the closed area network is constructed by a VLAN.
6 . The flight vehicle according to claim 3 , wherein the closed area network corresponds to an organization to which the first user terminal and the second user terminal belong.
7 . The flight vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein the communication control unit performs control such that in response to an instruction received from the core network via the FL communication unit, the UP execution unit is caused to activate the user plane function to relay the communication between the first user terminal and the second user terminal without intermediation of the core network by the user plane function.
8 . The flight vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the communication control unit performs control such that in response to an instruction received from the core network via the FL communication unit, the UP execution unit is caused to activate the user plane function to relay the communication between the first user terminal and the second user terminal without intermediation of the core network by the user plane function.
9 . The flight vehicle according to claim 8 , wherein in response to an end of the communication between the first user terminal and the second user terminal, the communication control unit causes the UP execution unit to stop the user plane function.
10 . A communication management system comprising:
the flight vehicle according to claim 1 ; and
a control system arranged in the core network, wherein
the communication control unit performs control such that in response to an instruction from the control system, communication between the first user terminal in the wireless communication area and the second user terminal in the other wireless communication area of the other flight vehicle is relayed without intermediation of the core network by the user plane function.
11 . The communication management system according to claim 10 , wherein
when the first user terminal and the second user terminal have a contract for performing communication via the flight vehicle without intermediation of a core network, the control system transmits the instruction to the communication control unit.
12 . A control method executed by a flight vehicle which has an antenna for forming a wireless communication area by irradiating beam towards a ground to provide a wireless communication service to a user terminal in the wireless communication area, the control method comprising:
performing FL communication to communicate with a core network on the ground via a feeder link;
performing UP execution by executing a user plane function; and
performing communication control by performing control such that communication between a first user terminal in the wireless communication area and a second user terminal in an other wireless communication area of an other flight vehicle is relayed without intermediation of the core network by the user plane function.
13 . The control method according to claim 12 , wherein the flight vehicle includes a FL communication unit, a base station unit, a UP execution unit, a communication control unit and a switch unit connected to the base station unit, the UP execution unit, and the FL communication unit,
wherein the performing FL communication is performed by the FL communication unit;
wherein the performing UP execution is performed by the UP execution unit; and
wherein the performing communication control is performed by the communication control unit, wherein the control method further comprises:
executing a base station function by the base station unit, wherein
the performing communication control includes controlling the switch unit such that a closed area network corresponding to an organization to which the first user terminal and the second user terminal belong is constructed between the first user terminal in the wireless communication area and the second user terminal in the other wireless communication area of the other flight vehicle.