Connectivity provider oneweb has been busy as it prepares to move from pushing satellites into the sky and offering service to its customers.
Taking oneweb to the sky on a test flight – image, oneweb.
Whilst oneweb will offer services to the enterprise, government and maritime, today we’re going to focus on the aviation side.
Looking at the constellation, oneweb’s constellation is a low-earth orbit set up, with a planned initial 648-satellites. The initial satellites launched in February 2020, with launches following in 2022 and 2021. The small satellites were built by OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between Airbus and OneWeb.
These satellites are injected and cooperate in a circular low Earth orbit, at approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) altitude, operating on the Ku-Band.
The idea of the satellites being in low-earth orbit, oneweb can deliver high bandwidth and low latency experience (compared with the higher latency that exists in current solutions on satellites that are in a geostationary orbit, which are much further from the surface of Earth).
As well as getting satellites into the sky, oneweb unveiled news that it managed to conduct a test flight with its equipment installed on a test Boeing 777 aircraft.
For this, oneweb partnered with Stellar Blu Solutions to incorporate its electronically steered arrays (ESA) into the terminal solution. This collaboration realised breakthrough performance on OneWeb’s low earth orbit (LEO) network. The new Stellar Blu platform, known as “Sidewinder”, will continue flight testing through the remainder of 2022, with a target for certification and availability in mid-2023.
This first test flight was conducted aboard a Boeing B777-200LR and took off from Fort Worth Alliance Airport, in Texas on May 28th and flew for just over one hour.
According to oneweb, this test flight validates not only the installation and integration of the aircraft terminal, but underscores the performance of the antenna technology, and verifies the reliability of the connectivity during taxi, take-off, landing and typical aircraft flight manoeuvres. As with any test flight, the assessment of performance reviewed expected parameters against vendor specifications, while also instrumenting and verifying on-aircraft impact and operating characteristics.
The test flight crew gave the connectivity a good try, using various different technologies during the testing, including:
- Microsoft Teams calls
- 4K YouTube streaming
- Netflix
- Online VR gaming
- Nintendo Switch gaming,
- Data transfers of 5GB in under 20 seconds.
Other structured tests were carried out, with maximum speeds of 260Mbps download/80 upload noted, with under 100ms of network latency – which on applications like video calling and gaming is important
This maiden test flight represented the culmination of several months of collaboration between Stellar Blu, OneWeb and Ball Aerospace including ground trials and flight tests. Their goal is to achieve certification in mid- 2023.
The Sidewinder terminal is ARINC 791 compliant to ease integration on commercial aircraft, with a smaller form factor option for installation on regional jets and single-aisle airliners.
In Quotes
Commenting on the successful test flight, Ben Griffin, vice president of Mobility said:
“This test flight represents a fantastic milestone for OneWeb. Broadband in-flight connectivity, delivered to a commercial aircraft via low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and an electrically steered antenna (ESA) is now – finally – a reality. Together with our partners Stellar Blu and technology from Ball Aerospace, we are now well and truly on our way to delivering consistently reliable, game-changing, affordable inflight connectivity to commercial aviation users everywhere.
“This successful flight test demonstrates the power, not only of the OneWeb network, but our industry focused and partnership-led approach to the design, development, and deployment of ground-breaking technologies to connect commercial aviation. A solution designed for the aviation industry, by the aviation industry”
Tracy Trent, Stellar Blu CEO, highlighting the achievement commented:
“This initial testing is more about the integration of the components and accomplishing a safe installation on the aircraft, versus proving the connectivity functionality. That said, we are delighted by the performance of the terminal during the test flight. OneWeb is changing the reality of inflight connectivity now and for the future. Our antenna will harness the power of OneWeb’s Low Earth Orbit constellation to deliver high-speed, low latency, globally consistent and reliable connectivity for every passenger, without conflict or compromise. We are very confident the Sidewinder terminal will present operators with a purpose-built aviation solution, delivering new breakthroughs for passenger experience, and redefining aircraft operating expectations for reliability and maintainability.”
A new connectivity option
We all know how we connect is becoming more important – if anything the demand for connectivity in the sky has climbed upwards since the start of the pandemic, as travellers from all backgrounds feel the urge to be connected in the sky.
With the certification of the equipment set in 2023 – along with the completion of their constellation, it will open up a different sort of connectivity for passengers. We’ve had types, where it is dog slow, or slow to respond, or speeding up, but still slow to respond to requests – be it due to a mix of coverage or technologies implemented. oneweb’s solution shows the possibility of speed, whilst maintaining
oneweb’s LEO deployment will compete however with another low orbit satellite operator, who has been slinging satellites into the sky.
It’ll be interesting to see which customers oneweb attracts and how far it can be deployed.
Disclosure: Economy Class and Beyond was a guest at oneweb’s stand at Aircraft Interiors Expo.
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