It should come as no surprise that a trio of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite operators believe more than 90% of in-flight connectivity traffic will pass over their networks in a decade’s time. Still, hearing how SpaceX, OneWeb and Telesat believe their upcoming constellations will compete for traffic during this week’s Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit reveals slightly different takes on the market and what they believe will be necessary to secure customers going forward.
Telesat
Global Eagle, Telesat push forward with LEO antenna qualification
Global Eagle is moving closer to a Ka-band in-flight connectivity solution. The company recently cleared a critical milestone in the verification phase for the Global Eagle Airconnect Ka IFC terminal to be used with Canadian satellite operator Telesat’s planned Lightspeed low-earth orbit (LEO) network.
Amazon commits $10 billion to Kuiper LEO constellation
What does it take to put a new low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation into service? The myriad technical challenges are not to be underestimated, of course, but a lot of it comes down to money. In the case of the Amazon Kupier project that’s a $10 billion commitment.
Gilat delivers a successful Ka-band ESA test flight with Honeywell, Telesat
Finally some good news worth celebrating in the ESA space. Gilat’s new kit went flying on Honeywell’s 757 and successfully linked with a Telesat GEO Ka-band satellite.
Telesat scores major LEO commitment from Canadian government
LEO constellations are going to help revolutionize inflight connectivity, but they’re also very expensive and aviation cannot support the industry alone. Telesat scored a major investment from the Canadian government this week that helps ensure its 298 satellites will take flight.
ThinKom, Telesat reach LEO link milestone
ThinKom’s new Ka2517 aero satcom antenna is the latest to prove its viability for mixed orbit satellite constellations. The company successfully tested with the Telesat Phase 1 LEO satellite from June 10-14 at Telesat’s Allan Park facility in Ontario, Canada.
PaxEx Premium: LEO Link Success
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.
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Ball Aerospace successfully tests phased array antenna with Telesat LEO satellite
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.
PaxEx Premium: A LEO milestone for Global Eagle, Telesat
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.
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PaxEx Premium: LEO connectivity testing reaches new heights
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.
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