The Business of Passenger Experience
The market for antennae with a proven track record of successful connections to LEO satellite constellations continues to grow. This week's news brings another Ka-band supplier into the fold.
The inflight connectivity community has suffered from years of disappointment as promise after promise from manufacturers failed to yield electronically steered phased array (ESAs) antennae for commercial aircraft. Phasor and others appeared poised to break that streak, with the news at Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg more optimistic than not. An update from one inflight connectivity provider this week calls some of that optimism into question, however.
After more than 71 years there’s a new superlative in flight. Scaled Composites’ Stratolaunch now holds the title of largest (by wingspan) aircraft to fly, displacing the Spruce Goose. Will the future of Stratolaunch differ from its historical connection??
It took a review of additional data but Transport Canada now joins the global collection of aviation regulators that grounded the Boeing 737 MAX. That additional data came from satellite-based aircraft tracking provider Aireon, and Transport Canada is not the only regulator with the details.
Score another successful test of existing antenna hardware on the new, LEO satellite technology. This time it is Ball Aerospace and its electronically steered flat panel kit linking up with Telesat’s LEO 1.
Inmarsat secured a new way into space. The company signed on with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as the first commercial customer for the H3 launch vehicle. The launch is expected in 2022(ish).
Global Eagle took Albatross One, its flying testbed, on a field trip to Canada last week and the results proved incredibly positive. The inflight connectivity provider partnered with satellite-operator Telesat to deliver data across the Phase 1 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite and geostationary Anik F3 using a common on-board antenna from Qest and modem from Gilat. The test flight proved that transitions from the GEO satellite to LEO and back can work on the company's gimbal-mount Ka-band antenna solution. During inflight testing, the team successfully demonstrated industry-leading data upload speeds from the aircraft, engaged in uninterrupted video chatting and movie streaming, and experienced the lowest latency of any satellite connection to date.
The test flights are the latest step in Global Eagle's efforts to position itself as a technology leader in the inflight connectivity world. Company executives have talked up the new constellation since the test satellite launched at the beginning of 2018. During the recent APEX EXPO in Boston LEO connectivity was a frequent topic of conversation. For Alexis Steinman, SVP Aviation Solutions, there is no subtlety in the company's plans: "We are betting big on LEO." With this latest successful test expect that bet to continue to grow.
Low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations promise higher capacity and lower latency for connections. They also bring significant challenges, mostly owing to far more frequent satellite switching to maintain a connection. Add in an airplane moving though the sky and the complexity increases further. Multiple vendors are now moving through the testing process, with plans to deliver functional solutions as early as 2019, well ahead of the satellite constellations being ready for such connections.
It was called "Kiteline" and it was going to revolutionize the inflight passenger experience. A light weight connectivity solution with visions of delivering core functionality, the Kiteline concept is now being emulated by Lufthansa Systems, Iridium, AirFi, fflya and more. And, unlike Kiteline's failure nearly a decade ago, these solutions are now (finally) taking flight.
What will it take to deliver a truly frictionless inflight wifi connectivity experience to passengers? The newly formed Seamelss Air Alliance, backed by big names including Delta Air Lines, OneWeb, and Airbus, hopes to develop standards and processes that make the connection and billing process flow smoothly throughout the aviation connectivity ecosystem. That could be a huge win if it works.
