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OPINION: A More Efficient Solution for Business Travel

Travel remains critical for business growth, with 82% of UK businesses surveyed by American Express saying that business travel plays a key role in driving revenue, profitability, and enabling growth. (Photo: Lygg)

The following article is contributed by Roope Kekalainen and Jari-Jussi Viinikkala, co-founders of Lygg—a regional air mobility startup.

Business travel is on the rise. As the world has emerged from the pandemic, organizations are starting to embrace the many benefits of traveling again. Yet, while the numbers are going up, there is a significant pain point: business travel is increasingly onerous.

Business travelers expect a better, more seamless experience than they’re currently receiving. This desire will only become more acute as companies look to cut costs, meaning less convenient travel, lengthy absences from family, and grueling flight connections. We are already seeing business travelers migrating to economy class as budgets are tightened. For example, Air France revealed more than 50% of business class passengers are now travelling for leisure or personal convenience, not for business.

Simply put, most people believe that conventional business travel is a grind. Additionally, concerns around the environmental impact of flying have grown as nations look to meet UN sustainability goals. This has created a gap in the market for stress-free, private, and more sustainable door-to-door service solutions for business travel. Indeed, by utilizing smaller, more efficient regional airports, the answer is at our fingertips.

The shifting landscape

Deloitte research indicates that spending on corporate travel remains 50% below pre-pandemic levels. However, the report also predicts that companies should settle into post-pandemic business travel norms in 2023, not as high as pre-pandemic but higher than current levels. According to Deloitte, “Leaders know in-person interaction can be a key component of innovation and growth and will be glad to see more employees get face time with clients and one another.”

In addition, a Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) report predicts business travel will continue to rise into next year, with 78% of travel managers surveyed expecting the number of business trips taken at their company to be higher or much higher in 2023 than in 2022.

Also, a trend that shouldn’t be surprising is that travel remains critical for business growth, with 82% of UK businesses surveyed by American Express saying that business travel plays a key role in driving revenue, profitability, and enabling growth. The survey also indicates that 77% of the respondents indicated that their business suffered due to the limited ability to travel during the past two years.

While business travel may mean growth, it doesn’t necessarily mean happy employees. In fact, 55% of travelers surveyed by American Express say their overall wellbeing suffers when they travel too frequently, and 71% said they would leave their role if their employer didn’t prioritise their wellbeing during their trips. A separate SAP Concur survey of 3,850 business travelers across 25 global markets found that 23% of people would look for a new position if their travel schedule didn’t improve.

These reports should raise considerable alarm. Businesses have a duty of care to be offering better travel solutions. After all, a happy workforce means a more productive workforce.

To improve the business travel experience and meet climate goals, the aviation industry needs to focus on a more tailored flying experience that addresses sustainability issues at the same time.

Sustainability at the forefront

Before looking at those more personalized options, it’s important to remind ourselves just how critical it is that business travel pivots to a more sustainable approach. In Europe, corporate travelers comprise about 12% of customers but are responsible for 30% of emissions. Companies are increasingly taking sustainability seriously, with 88% of GBTA members, plus 100 external stakeholders, saying tackling climate change is the top priority for the business travel sector.

These concerns aren’t only in the boardroom, with 71% of UK business travelers worrying about the environmental impact of their trips. In addition, 78% indicate they are more conscious of their carbon footprint when traveling than previously.

So, where does that leave the aviation industry? While most commercial planes are too heavy to be electrified and fly long distances, smaller aircraft used in regional air mobility are ideal for electrification. Since the electric aircraft industry is expected to grow 14% by 2030, we will see regional airports act as hubs for short-haul flights.

In fact, United Airlines recently announced it expects commercial electric aircraft to come on the market in 2028 in the form of smaller, 30-seater planes that serve regional travel. And in Europe, Sweden and Denmark have committed to making all domestic flights fossil-free by 2030, while Norway wants all short-haul flights departing from its airports to be electric by 2040. In the UK, a 2019 study found that 2.7 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved if domestic flights were electric.

There is much work to be done to decarbonize aviation, and the answers to this issue are complex. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach for cleaning up the aviation industry, the electrification of short-haul flights will be a critical part of flying us to a zero-emission future.

The regional solution

A NASA report from last year outlined that technological advances in aviation mean that utilizing the planet’s 36,000 regional airports will make flights in smaller planes greener and more affordable.

As well as being a breeding ground for electric aircraft, regional airports offer a more efficient and personalized solution to business travel. By taking advantage of the network of regional airports, you can create a door-to-door flight-embedded service with direct connections. These networks will save business travelers time and, by optimizing flights, reduce travel expenditures and carbon footprints, which is crucial with conventional business travel costs set to rise throughout 2023.

What do we mean by optimizing flights? At Lygg, our model aggregates corporate demand for shared routes and destinations. By pooling the travel needs of multiple companies from the same region, we can open up routes from regional airports to their chosen destinations. We can do this for a specific period, whether on a short-term or long-term basis. If any seats are remaining, they will be sold to business travelers to piggyback on the flights.

Flying between regional airports allows direct flights to be scheduled at a time convenient to the businesses making the booking. Providing private transport to and from regional airports, is a far more comfortable curb-to-aircraft experience, which can often be tedious and time-consuming when flying from large airports.

With more simple and comfortable travel experiences, we can not only improve employee wellbeing but help deliver a greener future for the planet and ensure businesses continue to leverage travel to grow and drive revenue. Fundamentally, we believe we are on the path to decentralized, zero-emission private business travel for the masses.

The post OPINION: A More Efficient Solution for Business Travel appeared first on Avionics International.

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CTO at Blueprint Power Talks Sustainable Solutions for Reducing Airport Emissions

Nick Schmidt, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Blueprint Power, offers some perspectives on the topic of decarbonization in the aviation industry in a Q&A with Avionics International. (Photo: Nick Merrick / gb&d magazine)

Nick Schmidt, Chief Technology Officer at Blueprint Power, recently offered some perspectives on their services and technology platform as well as the topic of decarbonization in the aviation industry.

Check out our question-and-answer session with Nick Schmidt below.

Pictured above is Nick Schmidt, Chief Technology Officer at Blueprint Power.

Avionics: How does the Blueprint Power platform work?

Nick Schmidt: We think of airports as “mini cities,” given the number and variety of buildings and transportation operating at airports. Blueprint Power combines its “in-building data analytics” platform with energy advisory expertise to help airport and building operators harness the surplus energy in their buildings to generate new cash flows and help fund carbon reduction and energy resilience goals. We work with customers to identify existing flexible energy capacity, add new capacity, optimize its use, and connect it to energy markets that pay for flexible capacity. Many operators don’t realize that they have options to generate economic, decarbonization, and resiliency benefits at the same time. We can help them implement an approach that aligns with the airport’s preferred combination of goals and adapt it as business needs, energy and regulatory markets change.

What sustainable solutions have been created to reduce emissions at airports?

Schmidt: Airports have good, practical options to reduce emissions for both on-ground and in-air operations.

On-ground solutions primarily reduce emissions by optimizing energy consumption and resiliency for airport buildings and by electrifying vehicle fleets that operate around airports. Airports should first get a good assessment of how much flexible energy capacity they have onsite, so they know where to adjust consumption (to reduce emissions and save money) without affecting operations and where to enroll flexible capacity in local electrical grid programs that pay for it.

Airports can also add distributed energy resources, such as wind, batteries, and solar (subject to U.S. FAA rules and similar on placement to prevent glare), to produce and store clean electricity onsite. This can improve energy and energy cost resiliency by reducing reliance on the electrical grid, generating cleaner energy for operations, and increasing flexible energy capacity that may make airports eligible for new revenue streams. Airports can electrify building systems, such as heat pumps and chillers, to reduce emissions.

They can also add sub-metering with onsite restaurants, hotels, retail stores, and more, which gets these tenants more involved in reducing energy use. Additionally, airports can electrify fleets and add EV charging stations to reduce emissions from their fleets and those of third parties operating at the airport. Airside fleets can take advantage of green/renewable diesel as an intermediate step before full transition to electric vehicles.

In-air solutions address emissions caused by airplanes burning jet fuel. Using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in airplanes can significantly reduce CO2 emissions over the fuel lifecycle.

What are some of the long-term solutions being developed to help airports in their efforts to achieve carbon neutrality?

Embedding sustainability into regular operations is good for business. Blueprint Power recommends a staged approach to implementation, so airports can start to reduce emissions fairly quickly and generate value from existing flexible energy capacity to help fund long-term solutions. An essential starting point: airports must be able to monitor building energy consumption at a more detailed, real-time level, so they can manage and adjust it over time to help future-proof their carbon reduction measures. Adding more sophisticated metering and building management technologies can help with this.

Installing distributed energy resources, like solar, wind, and batteries, is a great win because they provide long-term solutions for increasing energy resiliency, reducing carbon emissions, and potentially creating new cash flows for the airport—all at the same time. Electric vehicle support is valuable for emissions reduction and future-proofing as EVs become more commonplace. SAF can also support long-term emissions reduction.

What milestones could be achieved this year?

The international aviation industry is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched programs for its airline, airport, and ground service provider constituents to support wide adoption of sustainability practices.

In the more immediate future, 2023 should be an important year for transforming policy into action. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act offers significant financial incentives for states that move quickly on clean energy initiatives. Cities and states, such as New York and California, are increasingly passing legislation that mandates carbon emissions reduction and increased use of electric vehicles. New York City’s Local Law 97 emissions limits kick-in in 2024, for example.

Airports should frontrun building and fleet electrification and optimization projects to take advantage of these unprecedented clean energy incentives, get ahead of local emissions penalties that are coming into play, and secure resources before an influx of late adopters compound supply chain woes.

As electrification increases, electrical grids will become even more constrained. Energy resiliency is becoming a major economic and operational issue, and airports can mitigate constraints and strengthen operations with solutions that enable smarter energy management and onsite renewable energy generation.

The post CTO at Blueprint Power Talks Sustainable Solutions for Reducing Airport Emissions appeared first on Avionics International.

Airbus Launches Two R&D Projects As Part of the European Defence Fund

Airbus is coordinating two defense research and development projects—the European Defence Operational Collaborative Cloud project and the EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies project. (Photo: Airbus)

Airbus recently launched two research and development (R&D) projects which are funded by the European Defense Fund (EDF). The two projects, the European Defence Operational Collaborative Cloud (EDOCC) and the EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT), will research and develop strategies to strengthen the autonomy of the EU and to bolster partnerships between member states.

The EDF was established by the EU in 2021 to provide resources for conducting and implementing defense research. In the summer of 2022, the EDF chose 61 projects to fund, including eight projects which Airbus was a collaborator on. Over €1.2 billion has been allocated to the 61 projects. All funded projects will promote collaboration between European researchers and companies in order to strengthen European autonomy and coordination between different geographic areas.

The Defence and Space team at Airbus is leading EDOCC. This project will create a virtual platform to test the interoperability and resiliency of military operations. By cataloging current services and identifying opportunities to increase efficiency, the virtual platform is designed to bolster the cooperation between military units and improve the efficiency of military operations overall.

The second project, ENGRT, is coordinated by Airbus Helicopters. The project’s partners will study military rotorcraft operations and look for key concepts which can improve them. The partners will also look into new rotorcraft technologies, identify the key technologies currently being used, and explore alternative rotorcraft architecture.

Along with the two projects they are leading, Airbus will collaborate on six other projects this year. These include Advanced Radio Frequency Components, Advanced Radar Technologies. Collaborative Air Combat Standardisation, Cyber Threat Intelligence, Enhanced Cockpit, and European Protected Waveform for SatCom. All eight projects will pave the way to a stronger, more resilient, and more coordinated military future.

While they are allocating €1.2 billion to fund projects in 2023, the EU’s goal is to invest €8 billion into defense initiatives and research by 2027. With this funding, they hope to support more projects which strengthen European cooperation between members and bolster the EU’s position as a strategic world leader.

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Airbus Chooses Altair SimSolid Technology for ZEROe Initiative

Airbus Commercial has chosen Altair SimSolid for its ZEROe global initiative. The simulation technology will make the design and engineering of a sustainable aircraft more efficient. (Photo: Airbus)

Altair announced this week that its simulation technology, Altair SimSolid, was selected by Airbus Commercial for streamlining the design and engineering of a zero-emission commercial aircraft. This effort is part of Airbus’s ZEROe global initiative—the company hopes to develop the first commercial aircraft with zero emissions by 2035.

Altair SimSolid is able to perform incredibly efficient structural analyses on fully featured CAD assemblies. Sam Mahalingam, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Altair, explained in the announcement: “Altair SimSolid is the premier simulation technology for engineers, designers, analysts, and manufacturers. It eliminates geometry preparation and meshing, which are the two most time-consuming, expertise-extensive, and error-prone tasks in conventional structural simulations.”

“Altair SimSolid is the premier simulation technology for engineers, designers, analysts, and manufacturers. It eliminates geometry preparation and meshing.” (Photo: Altair)

The simulation technology will benefit Airbus in multiple ways:

Altair SimSolid reduces delivery times for elementary part analyses from days to minutes, and also reduces delivery times for complex assemblies—which can take several months—to less than one week.
Users don’t need to prepare models beforehand because the operations and interface of Altair SimSolid are intuitive and easy to implement.
The design and engineering teams at Airbus will be able to explore more design iterations in shorter periods of time. This enables them to deliver innovations more quickly and accelerate timelines for projects.

The head of airframe methods and tools at Airbus Commercial, Christophe Brand, commented on the selection of Altair SimSolid, saying: “Our teams can explore more design possibilities in a simple, easy-to-implement environment. By not requiring our teams to [simplify or prepare] geometries beforehand, Altair SimSolid helps us significantly reduce delivery times and build better products.”

“We look forward to building the future of zero-emission aircraft technology.” – Christophe Brand (Photo: Airbus)

The ZEROe initiative began in 2020, when Airbus revealed three concepts for an emissions-free commercial aircraft. The concepts each relied on hydrogen as the primary source of power. The demonstrator program was officially launched in February 2022 with the unveiling of the A380 MSN1 test aircraft—a flight laboratory platform for studying hydrogen combustion technology.

In November of last year, Airbus shared that it is developing a hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine. The team plans to start flight testing it onboard the ZEROe demonstrator aircraft around 2025.

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Siemens and Skyway Collaborate on Vertiport Development and Research

Siemens is collaborating with Skyway to develop vertiports and to evaluate the necessary infrastructure—particularly electrical and digital—for supporting vertiport operations. (Photo: Skyway/Siemens)

Last week, Siemens shared that it is collaborating with Skyway to develop vertiports and to evaluate the necessary infrastructure—particularly electrical and digital—for supporting vertiport operations. Vertiports are locations where advanced air mobility (AAM) vehicles such as drones and electric air taxis can take off and land, similar to a heliport or helipad.

Both Siemens and Skyway are conducting research to evaluate the energy demands that vertiports will have. The collaborative effort also involves development of a “system of systems” to support aircraft operations in addition to a sustainable electrical supply and standard charging processes. These developments and research are important for AAM to scale up, especially for new types of aircraft like electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles.

According to the announcement, each company brings expertise in certain areas that will be valuable for developing, planning, and constructing vertiports as well as operating them. Skyway’s strengths include “vast knowledge of airspace mission planning and management, air traffic navigation, and unmanned aircraft operations.” Siemens’ team possesses infrastructure expertise in the areas of vehicle charging, electrification, and facility operations.

Clifford Cruz, CEO of Skyway, remarked on the collaboration with Siemens: “Sustainable energy solutions will be the foundation and the necessity for adoption of Urban Air Mobility with the electrification of eVTOL aircraft. Combining our companies’ resources and industry foresight can influence vertiport construction efforts and general UAM [urban air mobility] solutions on an industry-wide scale while setting a new precedent for modern transportation.”

John Kasuda, Head of Airports at Siemens Smart Infrastructure North America, also commented on the new partnership, saying that the fast turnaround times that eVTOLs are expected to have will require innovative solutions in the development of infrastructure and operating vertiports efficiently.

Skyway is also partnering with Eve Air Mobility, a company developing an eVTOL aircraft for UAM operations. Their collaboration—announced in October—involves integration of Eve’s solution for urban air traffic management into Skyway’s air traffic vertiport operation service offerings.

The post Siemens and Skyway Collaborate on Vertiport Development and Research appeared first on Avionics International.

GIT Satellite Communications Expands Portfolio with Iridium Certus Service

A rendering of Iridium’s constellation (Photo: Iridium)

GIT Satellite Communications (GIT) has become an Iridium Certus service provider and will support U.S. government customers with hardware platforms, airtime, and data services. This is an expansion of services for GIT, a long-time Iridium government service provider.

GIT develops value-added solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), U.S. federal government, and enterprise organizations. It currently provides narrowband voice and data services, and is now expanding its offering with Certus L-band broadband and midband connectivity. GIT also offers voice and data compression software to support the most efficient Iridium Certus application solutions for DoD users.

“2023 will be an exciting year for GIT with the addition of Iridium Certus’ mission critical capabilities for government and the modern warfighter,” said GIT Satellite President and CEO Ginger Washburn. “We look forward to providing this critical connectivity to further support government and DoD personnel.”

GIT is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and its offerings cover other satellite systems and constellations, including Inmarsat and Intelsat. The company’s product offering includes a range of satellite terminals to enable satellite voice and data communications.

This article was originally published by Avionics International‘s sister publication, Via Satellite; it has been edited. The original article can be viewed here >>

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RYSE Opens Reservation System for Ultralight eVTOL Following Debut at CES

RYSE flew its RECON eVTOL aircraft during the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. The company also recently announced that it has opened the reservation system for the ultralight vehicle. (Photo: RYSE)

RYSE Aero Technologies recently announced the opening of the reservation system for their ultralight eVTOL [electric vertical take-off and landing] vehicle, the RECON. The eVTOL aircraft are expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of this year. Customers are able to reserve the RECON for purchase at ryseaerotech.com. RYSE’s aircraft was also the first eVTOL to take flight at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

RYSE started conducting manned test flights of its RECON aircraft last summer, with the first manned flight taking place on June 27. It’s designed to be very simple to operate, and it can be flown under Part 103, while other major eVTOL developers are pursuing airworthiness certification within Part 135.

In an interview with Avionics International, CEO Mick Kowitz shared insights into the company’s plans for the upcoming year and beyond. Check out our Q&A below.

Avionics: Can you share details about RYSE’s debut at CES?

Mick Kowitz: We were granted privilege by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, the Clark County Sheriff, the Clark County Film Bureau, and the FAA to actually fly in downtown Las Vegas. We flew down the Las Vegas Strip during CES, and we actually shot a video—we had a little fun with it. Our Elvis impersonator landed it after flying down the strip, then walked towards the Las Vegas Convention Center as kind of a teaser for the show.

“Right now while we’re targeting large farmers, we’ll be looking beyond that into government, parks services, and into other industries.” (Photo: RYSE)

We were the first company to get to fly live at CES—no one’s ever been allowed to fly. During the show, we flew every hour. That’s a huge milestone, to do that at the Consumer Electronics Show. As part of that, we also launched the reservation system. We had a QR code in the booth and allowed people to get on the waitlist. They put in their property information, what kind of property, what their use case is, and any additional information. Based on that information, they’re getting a spot in line to be able to reserve a RECON.

How many reservations have you received so far?

Kowitz: We probably have close to $10 million worth of reservations already in line [from roughly 75 to 100 customers]. We’re really excited about that.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, you get consumers, which aren’t necessarily our actual target market. We’re really going after people who’ve got a lot of land, the farming community, the ranching community. We’re now just doing a lot of press, trying to get the word out to make everybody aware that the reservation system is now available.

We expect the reservation to continue at a high volume, and really within a very short order, we were already up to about $7 or $8 million worth of reservations. That’s almost our first-year order book, because we’re going to build 100 our first year. So having 100 already teed up after less than a month is pretty amazing.

The RECON has six independent propulsion systems with rechargeable batteries. (Photo: RYSE)

How is the team progressing towards the goal of rolling out the vehicle in the fourth quarter of 2023?

Kowitz: I think the challenges are really limited, because it’s a pretty simple build. [As far as] the manufacturing, we have the facility and it’s coming along very nicely. We are still in pre-production, so we’re building vehicles by hand right now. Those are going out to choice farmers and ranchers to play with, so that by the time we’re ready to move into full-blown manufacturing, in the late third quarter, we’ll be ready to deliver a vehicle that is durable and has stood the test of use cases like farming and ranching.

The manufacturing facility is pretty straightforward for us because we’re packaging up [the vehicle] and the assembly will be done at the farm or through a distributor. We’re shipping the vehicle without the seat, without the pods or propellers on it, and the distributor will put it together. It’s really pretty straightforward to do even if you’re not mechanically inclined. The training will be the big thing—we’ll do the training through the distributors, or our team will do the training with the person flying it. For the first 100, we’re going to do a lot of the training. We have a couple of distributors teed up in a couple of key states. We’ll be announcing those fairly soon.

RYSE designed its aircraft with a rugged structure that makes it ideal for agricultural applications and operating in difficult-to-reach areas. (Photo: RYSE)

What are some of your mid- to long-term goals over the next few years? How do you envision the company growing?

Kowitz: There’s two ways you can go with this. One is to attract other buyers by building another vehicle; that is certainly something we’re looking at. But really, our goal is to build markets. Right now while we’re targeting large farmers, we’ll be looking beyond that into government, parks services, and into other industries like mining or energy.

The agricultural market is an $84-billion-a-year large farm equipment market. So there’s plenty of market share, and plenty of people who are probably going to want this vehicle just in the ag community. But we do see it expanding into other areas—municipalities, local government, state government, federal government—we think that’s a legitimate opportunity for us. Other vehicles are definitely something we want to look at, but we’re not really talking about what those designs are at this point.

The post RYSE Opens Reservation System for Ultralight eVTOL Following Debut at CES appeared first on Avionics International.

Airbus to Provide Tactical Satellite Communications for Belgian Ministry of Defence

Airbus signed a contract with the Belgian Ministry of Defence to provide tactical satellite communications services for the Armed Forces over a 15-year period.
(Photo: Airbus)

Airbus signed a contract with the Belgian Ministry of Defence, the company announced last week. Airbus will provide tactical satellite communications services for the Armed Forces over a 15-year period.

Airbus plans to launch its new Ultra High Frequency (UHF) communications service in 2024 for the armed forces in other European countries and NATO allies. An Airbus-manufactured commercial telecommunications satellite will carry the Airbus UHF military communications hosted payload for use in land, sea, and air operations.

The new offering from Airbus is especially valuable because the UHF frequency band is a somewhat scarce resource. The UHF band is flexible and it provides a lightweight but highly secure means of communication.

The payload, which has 18 UHF channels, will be operated from Toulouse, where Airbus’s Network Operations Centre is located. It enables numerous simultaneous communications over the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean in addition to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as several areas in Asia.

Military UHF satcoms are incredibly useful for multinational and coalition operations because of their high level of interoperability. According to the company, “Airbus is the only private satcom operator to offer the full spectrum of military (UHF, X, Ka Mil) and commercial (L, C/Ku, Ka) frequency bands and applications” for armed forces.

It was also announced this week that Airbus Defense and Space shipped the Inmarsat-6 satellite to Florida in advance of its February launch. Final testing and integration of the I-6 F2 will take place over the next three weeks. The satellite will launch later this month on a SpaceX Falcon 9.

Pictured above, the Inmarsat 6-F2 satellite is loaded onto an Airbus Beluga aircraft. (Photo: Airbus)

Airbus launched a new on-board open ecosystem for commercial aviation, called Airspace Link, last year. At the APEX Expo in October, the company revealed that its GeniusLINK solution—another on-board open ecosystem—is available for third-party fleets. GeniusLINK and Airspace Link both offer multi-purpose platforms.

The post Airbus to Provide Tactical Satellite Communications for Belgian Ministry of Defence appeared first on Avionics International.

Satcom Direct Installs Prototype Ka-Band Antenna for Testing, Validation

Earlier this month, Satcom Direct announced that it has installed the first Plane Simple Ka-band antenna on an SD Gulfstream G550. (Photo: Satcom Direct)

Satcom Direct installed the first Plane Simple Ka-band antenna on an SD Gulfstream G550. The Ka-band antenna is a prototype terminal, the second in the SD Plane Simple antenna series, and it consists of two line-replaceable units (LRUs): the tail-mount antenna and SD Modem Unit. The antenna is operating under a supplemental type certificate (STC) specific to the aircraft.

Through this installation, Satcom Direct is evaluating the compatibility of the hardware with the Jet ConneX in-flight broadband service offered by Inmarsat. Jet ConneX is powered by Inmarsat’s Global Xpress constellation. The prototype terminal is already being tested and validated via regular flight operations, and SD’s team will collect data to inform the final design and ensure optimized functionality.

Once the Ka-band antenna is fully functional, it will provide support for high-speed data transfer to enable video streaming, teleconferencing, and other digital applications for passengers on mid- to large-sized jets.

“We’ve rigorously tested the Plane Simple Ku-band, which has performed beyond expectations,” commented Chris Moore, president of Satcom Direct, in the company’s announcement. “Now, with the validation of the Ka-band terminal, we’re adding more value to our offering.”

He added, “We have a long-standing relationship with Inmarsat, having evolved numerous connectivity services together to deliver superior experiences to users. We are excited to begin on-wing testing with them.”

Satcom Direct tested and validated the tail-mounted, Ku-band Plane Simple Antenna System throughout a series of transatlantic and European flights with the SD Gulfstream G350. (Photo: Satcom Direct)

SD expects customer in-service evaluation to start in the fourth quarter of 2023 and to have additional STCs confirmed by the end of the year.

The Head of Business Aviation at Inmarsat, Kai Tang, also commented on the news, saying, “We anticipate that SD hardware technology, combined with our enhanced next-generation satellite network, will reinforce our position as the premium connectivity experience for SD customers.”

In another announcement this month, Satcom Direct publicized the installation of a 1,200-panel solar farm at its headquarters in Florida. The facility is already providing power to SD’s daily operations. More than 97,750kWh per month will be generated by the photovoltaic modules.

“Renewable energy benefits everyone, and the solar farm will play a significant part in powering our business more efficiently,” explained Satcom Direct’s Chairman and CEO, Jim Jensen.

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The Surprising Market Demand for Regional Air Mobility

A NASA-funded study by Georgia Tech on regional air mobility finds untapped demand for shorter-distance flights in many under-served U.S. communities. (Photo: NASA)

Despite being on average less than 20 minutes away from a regional airport, most Americans spend time either driving to their final destination or driving to a large airport to fly on regional itineraries.

Regional airports are underutilized across the country for many reasons. Airline deregulation forced passengers to connect at about 20 hub-airports across the United States, making short flights unattractive. In parallel, airlines have retired turboprop aircraft that once efficiently connected these communities, in favor of larger regional jets that are better used on larger volume markets. Consequently, airlines no longer have the equipment to profitably serve these communities. Out of 5,000 public airports with runways exceeding 3,000 feet, only 500—just one in 10—are used by commercial air carriers.

“Regional air travel just doesn’t exist—those services have basically disappeared,” explains Cedric Justin, Ph.D., a member of the research faculty at Georgia Tech’s School of Aerospace Engineering. Consolidating flights to a few hubs has worsened aviation’s environmental footprint, creating air traffic congestion in and around large hubs, he adds.

Pictured above is Cedric Justin, Ph.D.

But advances in aviation electric propulsion systems could create a new market for regional air mobility offering additional traveling options for U.S. travelers, finds a NASA-funded Georgia Tech study.

The study identified how many long-distance travelers taking journeys greater than 100 miles would opt to fly if they had an option to fly to and from convenient regional airports near their origin or destination.

“In each region of the United States that we have studied, we have seen significant demand for those new regional air services,” says Justin.

The Northeast Corridor, for instance, is home to over 20% of the U.S. population. However, it received commercial air services at only 80 airports. The study indicates that operating a fleet of efficient electric and hybrid-electric regional aircraft could bring profitable air services at over 140 airports, connecting many more communities to the rest of the world. All told, the study identified over 4,200 Origin-destination markets connecting 980 airports nationwide with a minimum frequency of two flights per day.

Unlike eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft, which take off from heliports in densely populated urban areas for very short flights within metro areas, regional air mobility services connect regions together using the network of existing airports and runways, and using fixed-wing aircraft seating between 9 and 30 passengers.

Since this new industry of regional air mobility would rely on new electric and hybrid-electric powertrains, the environmental footprint from carbon emissions or from noise is much lower than conventional aircraft. That’s of interest to NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) Portfolio Analysis and Management Office (PAMO), which funded much of the Georgia Tech research.

“The results we’ve seen thus far are very promising. Dr. Justin’s work really establishes an order-of-magnitude increase in this type of transportation if it can be enabled at the costs and with the technologies that he has modeled,” says Nick Borer, Ph.D., Advanced Concepts Group lead in the Aeronautics Systems Analysis Branch at NASA Langley Research Center.

Justin is now collaborating with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, tapped to find ways to power these airports using solar-powered electricity.

“Working with the NREL, we see there are feasible changes that could be made for power delivery at these airports, especially a large increase in renewable energy that powers electrified aircraft,” continues Borer.

The first electric or hybrid-electric aircraft are expected to begin operating in the second half of this decade, with most industry experts predicting that the market won’t scale up before 2030.

“The demand is there,” concludes Justin. “Certification of these new electric vehicles and the supporting (charging) infrastructure on the ground remain the largest hurdles for the market.”

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