| ACARS is an acronym for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System.|
This name comes from Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee(AEEC) documentation which defines equipment and protocols used on the air/ground channel. It has been brought to life in the United States of America by the Aeronautical Radio INCorporated (ARINC) Company on its own network.
A little less than a decade after, the “Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (SITA)” company has set up an equivalent and compatible system named AIRCOM in Europe and Australia.
With ACARS aircraft operate as integral parts of an airline's command,control and management systems.
ACARS is a digital datalink system for transmission of short messages between aircraft & ground stations via airband radio or satellite.Data can be transmitted through High Frequency (HF) or the satellite network via the SATCOM service provider (INMARSAT + IRIDIUM)The aircraft can transmit and receive data.There are two ways of transferring the data.
Uplink:Transmitting data from the ground to the aircraft
Downlink:Transmitting data from the aircraft to the ground.