[Avionics Today 03-07-2016] Gogo has announced a new long-term agreement with Intelsat to leverage what the company refers to as the “the first shared GEO/LEO satellite network for in-flight connectivity.” Under the new agreement, Gogo’s in-flight connectivity technology will be supported by Intelsat’s multi-layered Ku-band capacity Epic NG high throughput geosynchronous (GEO) satellites combined with OneWeb’s planned low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.
Photo: Gogo.
According to Gogo, its 2Ku onboard terminal is compatible with both the Intelsat Epic NG and the OneWeb satellite constellations. The IFC provider wants its solution to have long-term viability with upgrade paths available in the future.
Beginning in 2016, Gogo will expand its use of the Intelsat Globalized Network by purchasing additional capacity on Intelsat’s Ku-band infrastructure, a contiguous, resilient network within Intelsat’s 50 satellite system which covers 99 percent of the world’s populated regions.
Gogo’s Intelsat network infrastructure will initially include use of traditional wide beam services and the next generation high throughput satellite (HTS) Intelsat EpicNG platform, which is expected to enter service in 2016. Coverage will include HTS for the North Atlantic, Europe, Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Ocean provided by Intelsat 32e, Intelsat 33e and Horizons 3e. In 2019, Gogo’s 2KU system will begin to access the world’s first GEO/LEO shared network, an evolving service architecture that will incorporate the best features of Intelsat GEO and OneWeb LEO HTS capacity as the complete Intelsat EpicNG and OneWeb systems deploy. When the network is fully deployed, Gogo’s 2Ku systems will be able to dynamically route traffic across the fully global 10 Tbps shared network based on coverage, latency, throughput and other performance criteria.
“OneWeb’s unique constellation will enable broadband connectivity in the polar-regions and at high latitudes will also have low latency because the satellites are much closer to earth,” said Anand Chari, Gogo’s chief technology officer. “Intelsat EpicNG and the Intelsat Globalized Network provide high performance services that will increase our service capability in this year and beyond. By using this shared network, Gogo’s 2Ku solution will be capable of delivering hundreds of Mbps per aircraft over every part of the globe.”