OneWeb and Intelsat Demonstrate Hybrid Inflight Connectivity

OneWeb and Intelsat have announced the successful completion of inflight testing of a hybrid LEO/GEO inflight connectivity solution. This means the resultant Network will benefit from the low latency of the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and the redundancy of Geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellites to deliver added network resiliency and performance levels. OneWeb and Intelsat announced a partnership in August 2022.

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New Electronically Steered Array (ESA) antenna

Intelsat conducted seamless inflight switching between LEO and GEO satellite connectivity during tests on Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jet, which was equipped with the new electronically steered array (ESA) antenna. The ESA, developed in collaboration with Stellar Blu and OneWeb, is the sole commercially available product in the aviation sector that has been validated to function on both OneWeb’s low Earth orbit satellites and geostationary satellites.

Inflight Connectivity Gets Boost

Airlines can take advantage of both the low latency of LEO (low Earth orbit) and the redundancy offered by GEO (geostationary orbit) to address network hotspots that LEO networks alone cannot handle by utilizing the Intelsat and OneWeb satellite networks in conjunction. Additionally, with the ESA antenna, which provides uninterrupted gate-to-gate coverage from departure to arrival, aircraft can enjoy seamless connectivity, regardless of whether they are flying over highly populated cities or the polar regions.

Peak inflight Download Speeds

According to the statement, during the three-week testing period, executives from various American and international airlines observed peak inflight download speeds that exceeded 275 Mbps, enabling various applications, including uninterrupted live virtual meetings, seamless media streaming, and cloud computing.