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Virgin Australia Chooses Intelsat to Provide In-Flight Connectivity

Intelsat’s in-flight connectivity service was recently chosen for Virgin Australia’s Boeing 737 fleet. (Photo: Virgin Australia)

Virgin Australia recently selected Intelsat’s 2Ku satellite connectivity solution as part of an initiative to improve the passenger experience. The in-flight connectivity (IFC) service will be installed on Virgin Australia’s existing fleet of Boeing 737 NG aircraft over the next 18 months. Intelsat’s solution will also be installed in 737 MAX aircraft delivered to Virgin Australia in the future.

“We’re going to deliver a streaming-quality, always-on, reliable inflight internet product onboard Virgin Australia’s fleet of 737 aircraft,” Dave Bijur, SVP of Intelsat Commercial Aviation, commented in response to the announcement. “We’re adding 737 MAX aircraft for the first time with Virgin Australia, and they’ve made a technology decision that expands our relationship and will delight their guests.”

Bijur shared his thoughts on some of the industry’s biggest challenges during an interview with Avionics International at the recent APEX Expo. “One of the big challenges for airlines is reducing emissions and getting to carbon-neutral by 2050,” he said. Achieving this goal will “require everyone in the airline supply chain to do things differently.”

“The ‘greening’ of in-flight connectivity is a priority for airlines and another big challenge and opportunity,” he added.

Bijur also commented on the fast pace of innovation in the aviation industry, explaining that it can be hard for airlines to know when to upgrade certain parts of a plane. It’s simply not practical to change out network infrastructure or hardware every two or three years. “Satcom communications, antennas, modems, wireless access points are all updating so quickly,” he said.

Airlines are concerned in particular about the weight of antennas and how much drag they create. One of the latest updates from Intelsat is developing a smaller, lighter solution with less drag and no moving parts. “From a maintenance perspective, it’s going to be a lot better—it stays on the aircraft longer,” Bijur noted.

Pictured above is a rendering of Intelsat-45, based on Swissto12’s HummingSat product line. (Photo: Swissto12)

One of the biggest innovations in the satellite industry is the electronically steered array, or ESA, antenna. This is an improvement from the mechanically steered array. The new ESA antennas can connect to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations.

Intelsat has 50 Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites that are essentially parked at the equator. Because of their position, they can’t provide connectivity for routes over the North Pole. Intelsat is partnering with OneWeb, which flies LEO satellites. In addition to providing coverage of the North Pole, LEO satellites also reduce latency because they are closer to Earth.

“Our strategy is to put those two networks together, because they both have benefits,” Bijur explained.

Intelsat announced this week that it will be the first commercial customer for the HummingSat product line from Swissto12, a startup based in Switzerland. Intelsat ordered the IS-45 satellite, which is expected to launch in 2025. It will offer customers Ku-band fixed satellite services. The HummingSat line comes in sizes that are three to ten times smaller than typical GEO satellites.

The post Virgin Australia Chooses Intelsat to Provide In-Flight Connectivity appeared first on Avionics International.

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Skydio Announces New Regulatory Services for BVLOS Drone Operations

Skydio now offers services to help customers document their BVLOS drone program and apply for waivers from the FAA. (Photo: Skydio)

Today, U.S. drone manufacturer Skydio introduced a new offering—Skydio Regulatory Services—for its customers. Skydio’s regulatory team will partner with organizations to work through the necessary documentation and waiver applications to enable autonomous drone operations.

Skydio’s team focuses heavily on cybersecurity and supply chain security, and the company has established a partnership with the Department of Defense based on those advantages. The team has also developed a deep understanding of the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulations for drones.

Jenn Player, Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs at Skydio, has been involved in enabling beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations for more than 10 years. “I’ve helped numerous enterprise UAS programs win regulatory approvals for advanced operations,” she shared during a webinar hosted by AUVSI last week.

Player has also participated in task groups for the Drone Advisory Committee (now called the Advanced Aviation Advisory Committee), and recently led an industry working group within the FAA’s BVLOS Aviation Rulemaking Committee.

She shared that their focus is helping customers to be more productive and safe in their drone operations. Many customers need to be able to fly BVLOS to accomplish their objectives. “For now, the only way to fly BVLOS is through waivers and sometimes exemptions to the Part 107 drone regulations,” she stated.

Skydio’s waiver application packages include the Pathfinder service for enabling ground-breaking autonomous BVLOS operations. (Photo: Skydio)

Product Marketing Manager Sean Nordstrom explained during the webinar that many of today’s use cases for drones are still limited by manual hardware. “We’re moving into the age of AI-driven autonomy,” he stated. “Manual drones struggle to operate in and below structures—for example, under bridges—where GPS is denied.

“When that GPS data is inaccessible, operators are more focused on not crashing the drone than they are at achieving the task at hand. Manual drones are also costly, often requiring large systems, expensive payloads, and highly skilled pilots to capture imagery or video from a safe location.”

In contrast, Skydio’s drones are autonomous and software-driven. The drones build maps of their surroundings in real time using 3D Scan technology. They can autonomously predict upcoming obstacles and avoid them. This enables automation of complex workflows such as data capture, remarked Nordstrom.

“There’s a BVLOS barrier between stages two and three. We have to break down that barrier together with our partners and customers, and working with the FAA, taking a ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach.” – Jenn Player, Sr. Director of Regulatory Affairs (Photo: Skydio)

“The regulatory team at Skydio wants to unlock the full potential of autonomy-enabled operations from the ground up, using a phased approach, to get approvals for complex operations that go beyond Part 107 regulations,” Player explained.

She stressed the importance of making the safety case for using Skydio’s drones in high-value real-world operations. For many of those applications, the drone can be flown just beyond the visual line of sight, she noted, at relatively short distances, and at low altitudes. “That type of BVLOS operation has tremendous utility, but it can also do a lot to reduce ground and air risk.”

Jakee Stoltz, Senior Regulatory Program Manager at Skydio, explained that their new Waiver Application service was developed to help organizations obtain the necessary FAA approval for conducting advanced operations. “We work with you to understand the type of operation that you want to do, what your drone program looks like, and how it’s structured,” he said. “Then we’ll create that documentation package to submit to the FAA for that request.”

A documentation package can include a concept of operations, technical data, and a safety risk assessment, along with other information. Skydio’s regulatory experts provide support while the FAA is reviewing an application in case there are requests for further information.

“We have a lot of experience doing these waivers,” Stoltz noted. “There’s often a lot of synergy between how your drone program is structured and the policies in place that govern your program. It’s common for us to assist organizations in reviewing manuals to make sure they have the components that the FAA expects of an advanced program.”

The post Skydio Announces New Regulatory Services for BVLOS Drone Operations appeared first on Avionics International.

AFWERX Mulls Software and Hardware Efforts For eVTOL Aircraft to Pass Sniper Pod Data

U.S. Air Force and BETA Technologies team members walk toward an ALIA aircraft for a flight test on March 9 (U.S. Air Force Photo)

The U.S. Air Force’s innovation arm, AFWERX, is considering hardware and software efforts under the Project Fast Open X-Platform Agile Combat Employment (FOX-ACE) to pass targeting data from Lockheed Martin [LMT] Sniper pods and other sensors on future electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

AFWERX is asking for industry submission of white papers on the topic.

“AFWERX and its strategic partners in the test enterprise are leading the effort to demonstrate ACE (Agile Combat Employment) capabilities and advanced mission systems integration on eVTOL aircraft through a cross-platform government reference architecture—a culmination of AFWERX Agility Prime strategic investment and other government-led agile combat capability initiatives,” AFWERX said.

Project FOX-ACE “leverages strategic program office relationships, 309 Software Engineering Group (SWEG) and ACC [Air Combat Command] Federal Laboratory partnerships, and cross platform joint service reciprocity to accelerate warfighter-driven combat capabilities,” per AFWERX. “The FOX-ACE project will rapidly integrate and deploy combat capabilities on relevant timelines and costs required to address the current and future threat environment. This effort will demonstrate the potential for rapid ”

The project is to culminate in an eVTOL demonstration by the 96th Operations Group at Eglin AFB, Fla. AFWERX said that Project FOX-ACE is to align with ongoing Project FOX testing on the F-35 and F-22 and “efforts with A-10, B-2, F-15E and other program offices.”

“Currently, potential image/video will be from Sniper pod or similar formats as well as other potential optical sensors,” AFWERX said in an Oct. 24 response to an industry question on what types of data—images, video, or other sensor feeds—electronic box designs should be able to handle for Project FOX-ACE. “We encourage any recommendations for both hardware and software solutions.”

Asked whether the box is detecting buildings, vehicles, people, or events, AFWERX replied that “vehicles and events will be of interest.”

In March, two U.S. Air Force pilots flew the ALIA, an eVTOL aircraft developed by BETA Technologies—an event that the Air Force said was the first time airmen had flown an electric aircraft with military airworthiness approval (Defense Daily, March 16).

BETA has partnered with the Air Force’s Agility Prime program since 2020 to develop and refine ALIA.

In May 2021, BETA became the first company to receive airworthiness approval from the Air Force for manned flight of an eVTOL aircraft.

The fully-electric ALIA was intended for cargo transportation, but it can seat up to five passengers in addition to a pilot. BETA’s team has been working toward a top speed of 150 knots and a range of 250 nautical miles.

This article was first published by Defense Daily, a sister publication to Avionics International; it has been edited. View the original version here >>

The post AFWERX Mulls Software and Hardware Efforts For eVTOL Aircraft to Pass Sniper Pod Data appeared first on Avionics International.

HondaJet Elite II Receives FAA Type Certification

The HondaJet Elite II, pictured above at the NBAA static display in Orlando, received type certification from the FAA last week. (Photo: Jessica Reed)

The HondaJet Elite II aircraft, revealed during the 2022 NBAA Convention and Exhibition in October, just received type certification from the Federal Aviation Administration on November 2.

The Elite II features two key upgrades, stated Kie Nagasawa, Manager, Corporate Communications, in an interview with Avionics International. “Performance-wise, we have more range,” she said. “1,547 nautical miles is the new range, with an extension of roughly 110 nautical miles from the S.”

Honda Aircraft Company increased the usable fuel capacity of the Elite II by more than 200 pounds compared to the Elite S. The total usable fuel capacity for the new model is 3,165 pounds.

The cockpit of the HondaJet Elite II (Photo: Jessica Reed)

The aircraft received an upgrade to the interior as well as a nose-to-tail acoustic treatment, Nagasawa noted. “The Elite II has two new upgrades for avionics: Autothrottle, which will come in the first half of 2023, and Emergency Autoland in the second half,” she said.

The Garmin G3000 offers intuitive controls for the HondaJet Elite II. Nagasawa added that many customers for these aircraft are owner-pilots, but they are seeing growing demand from fleet customers.

Mike Murphy, Sales Director, Fleet & Mid-Atlantic, told Avionics that the Elite II model features an increased maximum take-off weight of 11,100 pounds. The practical capabilities of the aircraft include a range of about 1,100 nautical miles with four passengers and two pilots, he said.

“1,100 nautical miles covers New York to Miami and Miami to New York, the most popular private jet route on the planet,” he remarked.

The G3000 is the “gold standard” for avionics in these types of aircraft, Murphy explained. “There are three main screens. Unique add-ons with the Elite II are faster processors and better acuity.”

He added that having Garmin Emergency Autoland functionality in 2023 will be a huge milestone, especially for single-pilot operations. The Elite II would be the first multi-engine turbine jet in the world with the capacity to perform an autonomous landing in an emergency, he claimed.

“The Autoland activates in an emergency situation to autonomously control and land the aircraft without human intervention,” Murphy explained. “Coupled with the integration of more automated technologies, the HondaJet Elite II offers more confident piloting, enhances operational safety, and reduces pilot workload for more efficient operations.”

(Photos: Jessica Reed)

In designing the Elite II, the Honda Aircraft Company team incorporated a lot of customer feedback. For the upgrade to the interior of the aircraft, it was made to be more refined and a bit more utilitarian, with Onyx and Steel as the two color options for the interior.

Tim Fagan, Head of Cabin Design and Engineering, shared with Avionics that they did some reinforcing and added insulation around the main entry door to reduce wind noise. “We’ve taken a couple of decibels out of the cabin noise, which is already very quiet,” he noted.

“We’ve also increased the design weight of the aircraft by 200 pounds,” Fagan added, which includes the maximum ramp weight, take-off and landing weights, and maximum zero fuel weight. The higher design weight allows the aircraft to carry more fuel at the same payload, compared to the Elite S, and to carry more payload with the same amount of fuel, he explained.

The post HondaJet Elite II Receives FAA Type Certification appeared first on Avionics International.

BAE Systems Receives £80M in Typhoon Avionics Support Contracts

BAE Systems was recently awarded £80 million in contracts to provide support and service for the avionics in the Eurofighter Typhoon. (Photo: BAE Systems)

International defense, aerospace, and security company BAE Systems was awarded avionics support contracts for the Eurofighter Typhoon totaling £80 million (about $90.5 million USD), according to an announcement on Nov. 3. Eurofighter Typhoon, Europe’s largest military program, was founded by Germany, Spain, Italy, and the U.K. and includes Leonardo’s Aircraft Division and Airbus Defence & Space—along with BAE Systems—as partner companies.

BAE will provide ongoing service and repairs of avionics equipment in the Typhoon aircraft for the air forces in the four founding nations over the next five years. Displays, flight controls, and helmet-mounted displays, in addition to other key avionics, will all continue to be repaired by BAE Systems until at least 2027.

The company provides 24/7 support and service, commented Jim Whittington of BAE Systems’ facility in Rochester, U.K. “The flexibility within these services will help increase our customers’ flying capability, whereby we are able to meet any additional service demands,” he stated in response to the announcement.

The Typhoon Total Availability Enterprise contract includes a team from BAE Systems that is based at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Coningsby station in Lincolnshire, England. The integrated team collaborates with the RAF for troubleshooting and performing repairs.

A rendering of the Eurofighter Typhoon (Photo: Hensoldt)

In addition to the Typhoon, BAE Systems has provided support to other military aircraft including the F-35—the world’s largest defense program—and the F-16, as well as Boeing’s CH-47 and Sikorsky’s CH-53. The company released a new Viper Memory Loader Verifier II (MLV II) for the F-16 aircraft just last month.

BAE Systems was awarded a production contract totaling $278.2 million to build the new Cold-Weather All-Terrain Vehicle (CATV) for the U.S. Army in August.

BAE Systems worked with the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office earlier this year to conduct a flight test demonstrating advanced manned-unmanned teaming technology. The flight test involved a manned military fighter aircraft and several unmanned aerial vehicles that autonomously completed a combat mission. The pilot of the aircraft used BAE Systems’ Human Machine Interface to monitor the mission’s progress.

The post BAE Systems Receives £80M in Typhoon Avionics Support Contracts appeared first on Avionics International.

Airbus Unveils GeniusLINK Ecosystem at APEX

Airbus announced that the new GeniusLINK in-flight system will now be offered for third-party fleets. GeniusLINK is an on-board open ecosystem that offers a multi-purpose platform for hosting passenger and crew applications. Airbus launched GeniusLINK in conjunction with KID-Systeme, its cabin systems subsidiary. (Photo: Jessica Reed)

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Airbus announced last week at the APEX Expo that the new GeniusLINK in-flight system will now be offered for third-party fleets. The GeniusLINK solution is similar to Airspace Link, a new on-board open ecosystem for commercial aviation, launched by Airbus earlier this year. Both solutions offer a multi-purpose platform with a lot of flexibility that can host passenger and crew applications. Airbus launched GeniusLINK in conjunction with KID-Systeme, its cabin systems subsidiary.

The Airspace Link offers connectivity via air-to-ground and satcom solutions. HBCplus is the high-bandwidth connectivity solution, launched at the same time as Airspace Link. HBCplus will initially encompass Ka-band services, according to the announcement by Airbus in June, and the company plans to include managed service providers in the future that offer Ku-band services as well.

The Airspace Link ecosystem includes four layers: an iCMP (intelligent core management platform), IoT services, an app store, and an agnostic connectivity platform. (Photo: Airbus)

At the recent APEX Expo in Long Beach, Airbus also shared news of a Letter of Agreement signed with SES, a company that provides satellite and ground communications solutions. Airbus plans to add SES to its Airspace Link HBCplus catalog offering for airlines, according to the Letter of Agreement. Once the contract is signed, SES will bring its MEO and GEO satellite network through the Airbus ecosystem for the first time.

Ingo Wuggetzer, Vice President of Cabin Marketing at Airbus, remarked during its press briefing, “Airspace Link is not a platform like others; it is an ecosystem.” The Airspace Link ecosystem offers customers the flexibility to switch from one application or service to another. “It’s the same logic behind the Airspace Link as what is in your smartphone today,” he explained.

“GeniusLINK is the equivalent to the Airspace Link for third-party aircraft,” Wuggetzer said. He also highlighted the agreement with SES, saying that the company offers an “agnostic system.”

The Airbus team has been in communication with global customers to enable Airspace Link since launching the solution in June 2022. (Photo: Airbus)

Cedric Carsalade, Aircraft Interiors Marketing Director at Airbus, shared during the briefing that Airspace Link enables airlines to understand more about what’s going on inside the aircraft during the flight. “It is connected to different elements inside and outside the cabin,” he stated.

Cedric Carsalade, Aircraft Interiors Marketing Director at Airbus, explained during the media briefing at APEX that Airspace Link provides opportunities for an airline to generate ancillary revenue.

Carsalade noted that airlines will be able to monitor the availability of overhead compartments during the boarding process, which helps with optimization of turnaround times—particularly valuable for short-haul flights. The ecosystem enables predictive maintenance as well. “You can get information about what needs to be done before you arrive at the next destination,” he commented.

The post Airbus Unveils GeniusLINK Ecosystem at APEX appeared first on Avionics International.

Seamless Air Alliance Establishes Research Lab for IFC Performance Measurement

The Seamless Air Alliance has established a new research laboratory for developing in-flight connectivity performance measurements. (Photo: Seamless Air Alliance)

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The Seamless Air Alliance revealed last week that a new research laboratory for measuring in-flight connectivity (IFC) performance has been established. United Airlines, Safran, Boeing, JetBlue, AT&T, Thales, Delta, and Airbus are just a few of the members of the Seamless Air Alliance (SAA), a nonprofit launched in 2018.

The SAA introduced its IFC Analysis Toolkit in May this year. The toolkit includes a set of features and measurements to manage IFC service quality. One feature is the Compliance Criteria Matrix, which simplifies the RFP process for airlines.

“The toolkit is the only effort in the world of airlines and service providers industry-wide getting together to really focus on the passenger experience,” Jack Mandala, CEO of the Seamless Air Alliance, told Avionics International in an interview conducted during the 2022 APEX Expo in Long Beach, California, last week.

“We create a forum where members aren’t negotiating pricing or deliverables and they can have a free conversation about connectivity,” Mandala said. “The toolkit is educational and goes into real depth about how in-flight connectivity works.”

He explained that the toolkit also enables airlines to troubleshoot an existing system and measure the experience that passengers are having.

There are more than 500 IFC measurements listed in the IFC Analysis Toolkit. “Airlines have asked us to identify a core group of the most important measures and make that into a certification program,” he shared. “That’s what we’re working on right now. Sometime next year, we’ll come out with a compliance program and certify vendors.”

One of seven working groups within the Seamless Air Alliance is focused on defining interoperability requirements for line-fit systems. According to the SAA’s press release, this includes in-flight connectivity, Aircraft Interface Device (AID) capability, and aircraft health monitoring as well as other operational or administrative data such as Electronic Flight Bag (EFB).

When you’re talking about standards and interoperability, “it’s important to have the players that matter,” Mandala stated. Boeing joined the SAA this year as one of nine new members and is co-chairing this working group with Airbus. “Having the two biggest airframers in the world co-chairing the group, that’s a slam dunk,” he said.

Arnaud Mestrallet of Airbus Commercial commented on the working group’s efforts in the announcement by the SAA, saying that the aim is to use flexible satcom interfaces to simplify aircraft installation, and to facilitate future upgrades to satcom. “This will enable airlines to always deliver an up-to-date connectivity experience to their passengers,” Mestrallet said.

Bryan Wiltse, Cabin Systems and Feature Strategy at Boeing, was also quoted in the SAA’s announcement, saying, “The program covers requirements for physical architecture and logical interfaces and ultimately delivers a more flexible system to the airline.”

By adding requirements for interoperability, airlines will no longer be stuck using a system or a provider because they cannot afford to upgrade it. “Our common objective is to make our customers’ lives easier with connectivity systems that are as simple as possible, and also to add more interoperability for future upgrades and retrofits to provide good performance and stable connectivity,” Mestrallet told Avionics.

The new research laboratory is located in Ireland and was created in partnership with GlobalReach Technology, Riverbed Technology, and Thales Group. “GlobalReach is an authentication company,” Mandala explained. “They’re experts in Passpoint and Wi-Fi technology.”

“Thales has a sort of test script that they’ve been using,” he added, “that we’ll springboard off of to figure out how to collect data.” Riverbed Technology has experience with monitoring and measurement of connectivity, he noted. “We’re tying in all of the service provider members we have in order to collect the data that we’ll use for the toolkit.”

The post Seamless Air Alliance Establishes Research Lab for IFC Performance Measurement appeared first on Avionics International.

EHang Plans to Collaborate with HAECO Group for Electric Air Taxi Development

The signing of the MoU between EHang and HAECO Group was announced this week. The two companies intend to collaborate on the manufacturing and after-sales maintenance services of EHang’s autonomous aircraft. (Photo: EHang)

EHang announced on Monday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Swire Group subsidiary HAECO Group. The MoU includes plans to partner for manufacturing and assembly of EHang’s autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV), the EH216-S, as well as to continue pursuing airworthiness. Experts from EHang and HAECO Group will work together to develop systems and solutions in preparation for EH216’s commercial operations.

HAECO Group, also known as Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited, specializes in aircraft engineering and maintenance. The company has more than 70 years of experience in the aviation industry. Its offerings include airframe services, cabin solutions, technical management of fleets and inventory, engine services and support, parts manufacturing, and technical training, according to the announcement from EHang.

Jacqueline Jiang, HAECO Group’s Group Director of Airframe Services, remarked on the MoU, saying, “Advanced air mobility is a blooming new segment in the aviation industry. We are excited to take part and look forward to developing this together with EHang.”

Jiang added, “HAECO is well positioned to support EHang and jointly develop the systems, standards, and services required in advanced air mobility.”

Above, the EH216-S performs a flight demonstration at HAECO’s site in Xiamen, China. (Photo: EHang)

EHang’s Chief Operating Officer, Xin Fang, also commented on the signing of an MoU. “EHang is honored to cooperate with HAECO Group, a partner with solid Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (“MRO”) strength in the global aviation industry, to co-develop EHang’s AAV after-sales maintenance service system,” Fang said.

EHang’s team is pursuing type certification of the EH216 with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The company is also planning to formally introduce its AAV to the public at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan. In preparation, the EH216 performed a demonstration flight tour across four cities in Japan during the month of July. The flights were unmanned and included routes over the sea.

EHang released the financial results from its second quarter of 2022 in August. Total revenue for Q2 increased by 152.5% from the first quarter and totaled $2.2 million USD. A slight increase in net loss was also recorded—net loss for Q2 was $11 million.

The CAAC announced earlier this year that the Special Conditions for Type Certification of EHang’s aircraft were formally adopted. This established a basis for vehicle safety and compliance for the EH216 to operate in low-altitude airspace.

The post EHang Plans to Collaborate with HAECO Group for Electric Air Taxi Development appeared first on Avionics International.

Plana Selects Battery Supplier for Hybrid-Electric Air Taxi

Plana recently chose Electric Power Systems to provide the batteries for its hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. (Photo: Jessica Reed)

Plana, a company based in South Korea developing hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, announced this week that it has selected an electric powertrain supplier. Plana signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Electric Power Systems to deploy its battery systems for Plana’s eVTOL aircraft.

In an interview with Avionics International, Jinmo Lee, Chief Product Officer at Plana, and Nathan Millecam, CEO of Electric Power Systems (EPS), both remarked on the new agreement.

“We’re glad to have an LOI for the battery systems from EPS,” said Lee. EPS offers “well-made battery systems for aviation,” he added. “We look forward to integrating this system into our hybrid eVTOL development.”

Millecam stated, “We’re very excited to work with Plana. We really love their aircraft; they’ve built a great team in Korea, and it’s nice to see international partners and international projects that we can enable. It’s a big deal for us.”

Plana’s aircraft is designed to carry four to six passengers in addition to a pilot. Lee mentioned the company’s latest fundraising efforts, saying, “We closed our pre-Series A funding very recently, and we have gathered accumulated funds of about $10 million.”

“We are thinking of starting the next [round of] fundraising in the second quarter of next year,” added Lee.

He noted that they are currently expanding their team with aviation experts as Plana continues to work on building its half-scale prototype. The prototype should be completed by the end of 2023, Lee shared.

In addition to Plana, other customers of EPS include NASA, Boeing, the FAA, and Safran. In September, EPS was chosen by the company Ampaire to supply propulsion battery packs for Ampaire’s hybrid-electric Eco Caravan aircraft.

Ampaire’s Eco Caravan model (Photo: Ampaire)

EPS was also selected as the first development partner for Supernal’s eVTOL. The partnership with Hyundai Motor Group’s Supernal was announced in July. The teams from both companies will collaborate to develop and produce batteries for eVTOL aircraft and to enable the introduction of commercial flights with eVTOLs.

Millecam shared with Avionics that EPS has completed the initial round of de-risk testing for their EPiC system, and they are on track to certify the module in mid-2023. “De-risk testing allows us to declare the module safe for manned flight,” he explained. “We’re targeting our final critical design review by the end of this year.”

Lee spoke to the many challenges facing the advanced air mobility industry: “Technology, regulations, social acceptance, and infrastructure” are the main ones. “The number one priority of this industry is the safety of the passengers who are using this mobility,” he said. “That could be the most important and challenging part—making every component of aircraft integration to pursue this objective.”

Millecam views certification as the nearest-term challenge, he said. “One of the results of the 737 MAX is that regulatory agencies are looking over each others’ work and scrutinizing certifications much more than they have in the past.”

That scrutiny is actually a good thing for the aviation industry and the advanced air mobility space, he explained. The challenge is establishing consensus between agencies and various organizations.

“We feel like we’re in a very strong position with certifying with the FAA and also have a number of customers in Europe as well as in Asia. That very much helps drive the consensus,” Millecam said, “because every country is very motivated to get these projects certified and to help this industry transition from development and startups to a full-fledged, production-oriented industry.”

The next big challenge for those involved in advanced air mobility will be scaling up manufacturing, he remarked. EPS will need to be able to build high-quality batteries designed for aviation, and to manufacture at the scale of the automotive industry, without sacrificing safety or quality standards. The ability to manufacture “at low cost, at scale, and consistently is a whole new challenge for the aviation industry,” he said.

The post Plana Selects Battery Supplier for Hybrid-Electric Air Taxi appeared first on Avionics International.

SpaceX Jumps into Competitive IFC Market with New Starlink Aviation Service

Starlink Aviation will be able to deliver up to 350 Mbps to each plane, enabling all passengers to access streaming-capable internet at the same time. (Photo: SpaceX)

The era of Starlink Aviation is now here. SpaceX has made no secret of its desire to become a major player in the IFC market, and has now taken the next step by unveiling Starlink Aviation.

SpaceX revealed that Starlink Aviation will be able to deliver up to 350 Mbps to each plane, enabling all passengers to access streaming-capable internet at the same time. It says with latency as low as 20 ms, passengers can engage in activities previously not functional in flight, including video calls, online gaming, virtual private networks and other high data rate activities. Starlink’s low-profile aero terminal features an electronically steered phased array antenna, which it says enables new levels of reliability, redundancy and performance.

Starlink, a SpaceX company, has already signed deals with the likes of Hawaiian Airlines, but over the next year, it is clearly targeting a lot more. But, now its Internet service for aircraft has a new name. It is targeting both the business aviation and commercial aviation market.

So, what do leading industry analysts’ make of this? Daniel Welch, Co-Founder and Senior Consultant, The Valour Consultancy told Via Satellite, “SLAs are moving away from Mbps to the aircraft and toward Mbps to the seat as airlines look to focus on improving the experience for every passenger that accesses the onboard Wi-Fi service. The figures quoted from SpaceX are undoubtedly impressive but I’d hope to see commitments made to the seat level over time.”

Vishal Patil, IFEC Consultant, Euroconsult, told Via Satellite that he thought the launch of Starlink Aviation would be perceived with “mixed reactions.” While he says some stakeholders may feel cheered by 350 Mbps per aircraft news, for others, it might be too early to absorb it all, he said. Patil added that there are still a lot of uncertainties revolving around the news. “The first and most important one is to understand how Starlink without the inter-satellite links on its first-generation satellites is promoting 20 ms and global coverage (including over the oceans),” he said. “It is also important to understand the meaning of up to 350 Mbps per aircraft, whether as a committed bandwidth or minimum bandwidth? Today, the veteran players in the market have a set path and an installed base. Their services are flight-proven. On the other hand, Starlink is in its nascent stages.”

Tim Farrar, President, TMF Associates told Via Satellite that he believes it is far from clear cut that Starlink will gets lots of business, and that there are potential plenty of obstacles ahead. Farrar believes this announcement does indicate equipment pricing without installation, suggesting that airlines’ requirements for installation and support may end up being a sticking point. Farrar added, “That’s particularly the case when airlines can’t easily change out equipment if Starlink changes tack at short notice. Starlink has recently signed deals with service providers like Marlink and Speedcast in order to address precisely these issues of customer support in the maritime and enterprise segments. So, the key question is whether Starlink still intends to go it alone in aviation, or will now sign similar deals in that segment. And if so, who with?”

Brent Prokosh, Senior Consultant, Euroconsult, added, “The new offering is squarely aimed at the upper-end of the business aviation market (where sensitivity to price is likely lower). While Starlink’s peak speeds of 350 Mbps are almost 10x higher than current high-end satellite offerings in the segment, the monthly fees are significantly higher than market averages for both Air-to-Ground (ATG) and satellite (VSAT) solutions.”

When speaking at the Connected Aviation Intelligence event in June, Starlink Vice President of Commercial Sales Jonathan Hofeller said current in-flight internet services powered by Geostationary (GEO) satellites will not be able to keep up with the connectivity demands of airline passengers, particularly younger consumers.

When determining SpaceX’s ability to compete in the airline market, Valour’s Welch noted, “There is certainly a great deal of interest in Starlink Aviation, both from airlines and the competition. I’d expect to see carriers wait to see how the service performs on launch customers, Hawaiian and JSX, but it’s really only a matter of time before we see SpaceX increase its share of the IFC installed base. Domination is a strong word—line-fit offerability is becoming more important and there’s already a lot of aircraft with IFC hardware installed and it’s hard to justify removing it for most carriers. But the major incumbents will now be up against a disruptor competing strongly on price and brand appeal—it’s going to make for an interesting few years ahead.”

Patil is also unsure on whether Starlink will dominate this market. He says, “With multiple operators and service providers joining hands together and marching towards multi-orbit, multi-frequency solutions along with equipment manufacturers supporting the idea with the latest development efforts in the same direction, it is most likely be the future with LEO, MEO, and GEO solutions co-existing and serving the market.”

Ultimately, considering what we are seeing in the market with Intelsat/Gogo, Inmarsat/Viasat, how many players could play in this market as it develops this decade. Welch says, “We’ve seen the market moving into the networks of three vendors, two of which are in the process of merging. I’d argue we’ll see a handful of vendors continue to compete for airline customers in the commercial aviation space.”

Hofeller said aviation is a potentially significant market for LEO-driven internet services that Starlink is actively targeting, noting that beyond the Hawaiian and JSX contracts are “several more [airline agreements] in the works.”

Starlink Aviation will have global coverage. SpaceX says that since the satellites are moving in LEO, there are always satellites overhead or nearby to provide a strong signal at high latitudes and in polar regions—unlike with GEO satellites. Service will be available in-flight over land and water and on the ground during taxi, take-off, and landing. As long as the equipment is powered on and the Starlink has an unobstructed view of the sky, connection is possible. Starlink aims to start deliveries of the service to airlines and bizjet operators in 2023.

This article was first published by Via Satellite, a sister publication to Avionics International; it has been edited. View the original version here >>

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