Safran, Greenerwave Team for Metasurfaces ESA Development

Safran Passenger Innovations is teaming with metasurfaces specialists Greenerwave to develop a new Ka-band terminal for inflight internet services. The strategic partnership aims to deliver hardware compatible with the satellites of today as well as future GEO and NGSO constellations.

To meet the needs of the dynamic IFEC industry of today, an aero terminal flexible enough to work on different constellations and in challenging environments is required. SPI views the technology of Greenerwave as meeting these demands, and we are excited to develop this terminal for our customers.

– Matt Smith, CEO of SPI

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The terminal will deliver a provider-agnostic solution, giving airlines flexibility to move between satellite operators without replacing the kit on board. This is especially important as more constellations enter service and airlines negotiate more flexible service contracts with those providers. The companies also promise an efficient solution, with ideal SWaP metrics and a quick installation timeline.

Greenwave says the kit is expected to be flying by late 2027. (Which, like every development in this industry for the past decade, is just a couple years away. And eventually someone will hit that target timeline. –ed.)

Thanks to its unique approach to 100% passive electronic wave control, Greenerwave is building the ideal terminal for aero applications: fully agnostic, energy-efficient, compact, and cost-effective. It’s a true revolution. This partnership with Safran, the global leader in in-flight connectivity, will bring this breakthrough to the commercial aviation market.

– Geoffroy Lerosey, CEO and co-founder of Greenerwave

Greenerwave offers multiple Ku-band solutions today, all based on the company’s Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) technology and passive electromagnetic wave control. Intelsat invested in the company in 2024, based in part on its success in the Ku-band. Greenerwave will now extend to the Ka-band – and to the aero market – with the SPI partnership.

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This is, of course, not SPI’s first foray into the ESA market. The company previously partnered with GetSat on the Ku-band terminal that was to be part of the Airbus HBCPlus program. Hopefully this partnership proves more successful.

This is also not the first time metamaterials manufacturers are making a play for the ESA market. Kymeta made waves several years ago before scaling back its aero ambitions. Greenerwave has a slightly different approach to the technology so, again, high hopes of success for the program.

Greenerwave describes the metasurfaces as:

elements that “shape” electromagnetic waves, enabling directional beams to be generated and controlled. These metasurfaces consist of a group of centimetric-sized elements called pixels that act as micromirrors. Each pixel can modify the sign of the reflected wave. The interactions between pixels and microwaves are controlled by algorithms derived from the world of physics that direct waves after their reflection on the surface. Passive, low-cost and easy to manufacture, this technology aims to optimize the use of electromagnetic waves while drastically reducing the antenna energy consumption and production costs.

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