Broadband in-flight connectivity, delivered to a commercial aircraft via low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites and an electrically steered antenna (ESA) is – finally – a reality. Stellar Blu and OneWeb promised earlier this year that testing would begin this month. On Friday, May 27th the company met that goal.
Formerly GDC Technics, Stellar Blu partnered with Ball Aerospace to develop its Sidewinder ESA terminal offering. Stellar Blu VP Sales & Business Development Stephen Rice notes that the solution is “built on existing Ball hardware, so we already know it works.” The testing is much more about the integration of the components and getting it safely installed on the aircraft, not proving the base connectivity functionality.
Photos from the test flight show download speeds north of 260 megabits per second, with uploads about a third of that. The Sidewinder terminal promises 190/40 speeds in the specs on the company website. The kit is also ARINC 791 compliant to ease integration on commercial aircraft.
There’s more to the story…Dig deeper with a PaxEx.Aero Premium Subscription
One successful flight is a huge milestone, of course, but Stellar Blu must still complete the testing and certification process with the terminal. With the gear now installed on a 777 and running test flights, the companies can push towards that goal.
When the partnership was announced last November the testing was expected in Q1. Slipping a couple months is not great, but also likely does not deliver a notable delay in the potential deployment of the solution on the commercial market. The companies see 90% coverage available for their testing over North America, which should be enough to get started. And the constellation faces a delay of at least a few months while OneWeb switches from Soyuz to SpaceX and ISRO for the last few launches.
OneWeb expects that “elements of the aviation network will be online by late 2023” but full global coverage is not expected until early 2024, according to VP Mobility Ben Griffin.
Earlier in the week OneWeb also announced a pair of new distribution agreements to bring business aviation onto its LEO network, one with Gogo and another with Satcom Direct.
A favor to ask while you're here...
Did you enjoy the content? Or learn something useful? Or generally just think this is the type of story you'd like to see more of? Consider supporting the site through a donation (any amount helps). It helps keep me independent and avoiding the credit card schlock.
Seth,
Are you sure the aircraft actually had a test flight? The pictures don’t support that assumption, and neither does flightaware, for either aircraft in mod.
Yes, I am.
Not sure which aircraft you’re tracking in mod, but I’ve seen photos and a flight path on public tracking services that match the test flight, as well as statements from executives to that effect. Some additional details are available to premium subscribers.
N702DN and N705DN. 777-200 Serial numbers 29741 and 29742.
Maybe they bought another 777, or reregistered recently and the FAA database is not up to date yet.
At any rate, good work on Stellar Blu’s part. I need to learn more about them.
It’s been a long time since Greg Wyler proposed his Oneweb solution to us in ATL.
Looks like it is a different frame.
Mark, N703DN. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N703DN/history/20220527/1400Z/KAFW/KAFW