SmartSky Networks made its debut appearance at Hamburg’s annual Aircraft Interiors Expo this week to showcase its under-construction 4G broadband air-to-ground in-flight connectivity solution, which it believes will be a game changer in terms of speed and reliability.
The North Carolina-based firm is in the process of building an ATG network in the USA which it says will bring 4G in-flight broadband to the country’s airlines for the first time. SmartSky 4G will function at 10 times the typical speed and capacity that is available in the market today, says the company, by using 60MHz of spectrum.
This will not only enable more reliable in-flight connections for passengers to stream video to their own devices, says the company, but will also offer operational efficiency opportunities to airlines by providing a strong connection to the ground through which aircraft can send engine health monitoring and flightpath optimisation data in real time.
The service will be available to the aviation industry in the first half of next year, initially for business jet operators but SmartSky also has its sights firmly set on commercial airlines.
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Source: Flight Daily News
