SITAONAIR: Difference between revisions
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===Satellite Link=== |
===Satellite Link=== |
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A satellite data unit (SDU) manufactured by [[Thales Group|Thales]] and branded ''TopConnect'' establishes a [[Backhaul (telecommunications)|backhaul link]] to the ground through Inmarsat's [[SwiftBroadband]] [[Geostationary orbit|geostationary]] [[satellite constellation]] operating in the [[L band]] around 1500 MHz which allows the use of electronically steerable antennas mounted atop the aircraft fuselage and encased within a fiberglass, RF-transparent radome |
A satellite data unit (SDU) manufactured by [[Thales Group|Thales]] and branded ''TopConnect'' establishes a [[Backhaul (telecommunications)|backhaul link]] to the ground through Inmarsat's [[SwiftBroadband]] [[Geostationary orbit|geostationary]] [[satellite constellation]] operating in the [[L band]] around 1500 MHz which allows the use of electronically steerable antennas mounted atop the aircraft fuselage and encased within a fiberglass, RF-transparent radome |
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that have a low profile compared to systems operating in the [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]] or [[Ka band|K<sub>a</sub> band]] which today still require mechanically steerable antennas with a significantly higher profile. Thus drag and fuel costs are reduced |
that have a low profile compared to systems operating in the [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]] or [[Ka band|K<sub>a</sub> band]] which today still require mechanically steerable antennas with a significantly higher profile. Thus drag and fuel costs are reduced allowing economical operation even on smaller aircraft like business or regional jets. |
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Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband system covers much of the planet except for the polar regions above −82 and below +82 degrees latitude and currently provides symmetric data rates of up to 432 kbit/s per channel dependent on signal quality and overall load on the satellite's spotbeam serving the corresponding geographical area. Currently the Thales SDU can bond two channels resulting in a maximum bandwidth of 864 kbit/s. |
Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband system covers much of the planet except for the polar regions above −82 and below +82 degrees latitude and currently provides symmetric data rates of up to 432 kbit/s per channel dependent on signal quality and overall load on the satellite's spotbeam serving the corresponding geographical area. Currently the Thales SDU can bond two channels resulting in a maximum bandwidth of 864 kbit/s. |
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Revision as of 07:26, 21 January 2013
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Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Telecommunication, Technology, Aviation |
Founded | 2005 |
Headquarters | Geneva, Switzerland |
Website | www.onair.aero |
Incorporated in February 2005, OnAir is a joint venture with SITA and Airbus. OnAir is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has operations in Seattle and Montreal and sales offices in London, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai.
OnAir enables airline and cruise ship passengers to use their mobile phones and laptops for calls, text messaging, emails and Internet browsing.
By April 2012, OnAir’s services were available on over 26 customers, including 16 airlines flying over five continents.
Services
OnAir offers three services which aircraft operators can order together or separately:
- Internet OnAir is a Wi-Fi network which offers Internet access at broadband speed to passengers
- Mobile OnAir is a cellphone service which offers mobile telephony, SMS and narrowband Internet access (56 kbit/s) and so allows passengers to make and receive calls on their mobile phones, send and receive text messages and emails and use the Internet. Airlines can restrict usage of these services at discretion enabling them to ban voice calls and allow only SMS and Internet access instead. Lufthansa is one airline following this restrictive approach due to passengers' alleged desire for quiet during flights.[1]
- Link OnAir' is a managed network service that allows airlines to use the IP-based satellite connection used by the aforementioned services for other applications, such as supplying in-flight entertainment systems with news content or Internet access and providing mission-critical information and communication services to air crews.
All three services share the same satellite connection to the ground.
OnAir was the first company to provide integrated GSM and inflight wifi services, with Oman Air as the launch airline in March 2010.
OnAir’s technology has been certified for use on many types of aircraft – both private and commercial jets including Boeing and Airbus – for short and long haul. In most cases, it is available for linefit or retrofit.
Technology
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Airbus_A320_with_satellite_antenna_radome.svg/320px-Airbus_A320_with_satellite_antenna_radome.svg.png)
OnAir's onboard system is based on a Wi-Fi access point and/or a GSM picocell connected to the ground through a satellite link. All onboard equipment, except for the satellite antenna, fits into a hand-luggage compartment.
Satellite Link
A satellite data unit (SDU) manufactured by Thales and branded TopConnect establishes a backhaul link to the ground through Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband geostationary satellite constellation operating in the L band around 1500 MHz which allows the use of electronically steerable antennas mounted atop the aircraft fuselage and encased within a fiberglass, RF-transparent radome that have a low profile compared to systems operating in the Ku band or Ka band which today still require mechanically steerable antennas with a significantly higher profile. Thus drag and fuel costs are reduced allowing economical operation even on smaller aircraft like business or regional jets. Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband system covers much of the planet except for the polar regions above −82 and below +82 degrees latitude and currently provides symmetric data rates of up to 432 kbit/s per channel dependent on signal quality and overall load on the satellite's spotbeam serving the corresponding geographical area. Currently the Thales SDU can bond two channels resulting in a maximum bandwidth of 864 kbit/s.
90% of the onboard equipment can be used with any radio link, for example other satellite networks or a direct air-to-ground link. There is also a clear upgrade path from SwiftBroadband to Inmarsat's Global Xpress system, a constellation of three Ka band satellites which will come on stream in 2014-2015 and will globally provide downlink bandwidths of up to 50 Mbit/s. OnAir was appointed as distribution partner for Inmarsat's Global Xpress service in November 2011.[2]
Onboard Server
A server installed onboard manages the satellite connection and routes the data traffic while also compressing and decompressing all data transmitted, including GSM phone calls that are recoded using the AMR codec which reduces bandwidth while maintaining a voice quality virtually indistinguishable from the native GSM codec.
Wi-Fi Network
Broadband Internet access (Internet OnAir) is provided by Wi-Fi access points. In order to access OnAir's Wi-Fi Internet service (Internet OnAir) passengers need to bring a Wi-Fi compatible device. Access can usually be purchased on board.
GSM Network
A picocell operating according to the GSM-1800 standard provides a GSM network (Mobile OnAir) enabling voice telephony, SMS and narrowband Internet access (GPRS). The GSM signal is distributed by a leaky line antenna, essentially a coaxial cable with a slotted shielding through which RF signals are radiated. This coaxial cable is installed above the ceiling panels along the whole aircraft cabin and provides a uniform linear coverage of the aircraft cabin at very low radiation power levels. In order to prevent handsets from connecting to terrestrial networks which would lead to high transmission power levels a so-called network control unit (NCU) installed onboard generates a broadband noise floor which is being emitted through the existing leaky line antenna masking reception of terrestrial mobile networks within the aircraft. These measures ensure that handsets can only connect to the onboard GSM network and will then operate with the lowest possible transmission power level (GSM-1800 power control level 15, nominal output power of 0 dBm) which results in significantly lower radiation levels than those experienced on average when using a mobile phone with terrestrial networks on the ground. The GSM network is being realized based on Monaco Telecom's core network. It uses the MCC / MNC tuple 901-15 assigned to SITA, one of OnAir's two owners, in March 2005.[3]
Passenger Equipment Compatibility
OnAir's inflight cellphone service (Mobile OnAir) requires a mobile phone supporting the GSM-1800 standard, also called DCS (Digital Cellular Service), which most modern GSM phones support as well as a SIM card from a network operator having a roaming agreement with Monaco Telcom. So-called quad-band handsets always support GSM-1800 and so are compatible with Mobile OnAir.
IFE Connectivity
The system can also provide IP-based connectivity to existing in-flight entertainment systems which allows news content to be fed in and messaging services as well as Internet access to be offered on in-seat units.
Customers
OnAir's customers which have been publicly announced are:
Airlines:
Air France - Trial in an A318 - 2007-2008
TAP Portugal - Trial in an A319 - 2008, A330 and A350 (announced at Aircraft Interiors 2012)
Qantas - A380 (late 2008). In service since March 2012
British Midland Airways - Trial in an A320 - 2009
Ryanair - Boeing 737 - Service started Feb-2009, ended March 2010[4]
Shenzhen Airlines - Boeing 737 and A320 - Mid-2009
Wataniya Airways - A320 - Service started Jan. 2009
Air Blue - A320 - Mid-2009
Kingfisher Airlines - A330 and A340 - Mid-2009
Royal Jordanian - A320 (2008) and A340 (2009)
Jazeera Airways - A320 - 2009
Oman Air - A330 - 2009 -Oman Air was the first to take OnAir’s integrated GSM and inflight wifi service
TAM Airlines - A320 (2008) First aircraft launched in October 2010. Expansion to another 26 aircraft announced in February 2011, all to be operational by the end of 2011.
British Airways - A318 (only from City Airport to JFK) - Mid 2009
Air Asia - A320 - Mid 2009
Hong Kong Airlines - A330 - Service launched in March 2012
Qatar Airways - A320 (End 2009) - Boeing 787 (May 2010)
Saudi Arabian Airlines - A330 - Mid 2010
Emirates (airline) - use OnAir across a fleet of 90 A380 airliners, with roll-out of service that began in Autumn 2011.[5]
Egypt Air - A330 (2010)
Libyan Airlines - A320 & A330 (2010)
Afriqiyah Airways - A319, A320 & A330 (2010)
Singapore Airlines - A320 & A330 (2010) - plans to use OnAir across its fleet of A380, Boeing 777, A340-500 – starting first half of 2012. Announced in Oct. 2010
Aeroflot – A320, A330 (2010)
Air New Zealand – A320 (2011)
AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines – Airbus and Boeing (2012)
Etihad Airways – A320, A330-300 (2012)
Thai Airways – A330 and A380 (2012)
All Nippon Airways – Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 (2012)
Cebu Pacific Air – A330 and A320 in a second phase(2012)
Cruise ship operators:
Hapag-Lloyd - MS EUROPA (2010)
Hapag-Lloyd - MS Bremen (2011), MS Hanseatic (2011)
Private jet operators and VIP:
Comlux the Aviation Group - A320 Prestige (2010) & A319 CJ (2011)
Dasnair - Falcon 7X (2011)
Solar Impulse - Solar Impulse HB-SIA (2010)
See also
- Aircell
- Row 44
- Swift Broadband by Inmarsat
- Connexion by Boeing
- AeroMobile
References
- ^ Focus (22 September 2011). "Lufthansa: Ja zur SMS im Flieger, nein zu Telefonaten". Focus. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
- ^ OnAir (29 November 2011). "OnAir selected by Inmarsat as Global Xpress Distribution Partner" (PDF). OnAir. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
- ^ http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/sp/T-SP-OB.832-2005-PDF-E.pdf
- ^ [1]
- ^ "FARNBOROUGH: Emirates to fit 90 A380s with OnAir connectivity". Retrieved 2010-07-21.
Bibliography
- Inmarsat Press release on final I4 Launch plans for 2008
- OnAir Confirms Appointment Of Dawkins As CEO Jun. 2010
- European 25 Most Creative Companies July 2010
- Emirates to Equip 90 A380s For WiFi, Phone Calls, Web-Surfing Jul. 2010
- Interiors: OnAir Seeks New Ties For Qatar 787 Deal Sep. 2010
- Singapore To Equip A380s, 777s With Internet Access Oct. 2010
- Aircraft Bomb Finds May Spell End For Inflight WiFi Nov. 2010
- Upwardly Mobile Nov. 2010
- OnAir Wins Aviation Business Award At Middle East Ceremony Dec. 2010
- Is it really dangerous to use a cell phone on a plane? Jan. 2011
- OnAir Increases Connectivity with TAM Feb 2011
- TAM Expands Deal To Fit OnAir Connectivity To Airbus Feb 2011
- Comlux business jet gets connected with OnAir May 2011
- Dasnair's Falcon 7X passengers fully connected by OnAir in world first May 2011
- Lightweight inflight connectivity solution launched May 2011
- Singapore Airlines Economy-class innovation: Improved in-seat entertainment, Aug. 2011
- Inflight Wi-Fi revenues to surpass USD 1.5bn in 2015, Sep 2011
- British Airways' all-business class service to NY 'to be profitable within a year', Sep 2011
- British Airways' Business-Only Flights to New York Make Their Mark After two Years, Oct 2011
- Aviation Week, Airbus To Line-Fit OnAir On Emirates A380 Dec 2011
- Apex Editor’s Blog, Etihad reveals OnAir as connectivity partner Jan. 2012
- Inmarsat set to further tap potentials of ME segments, Jan 2012
- A look inside Hong Kong Airlines' new luxury HK-London cabin, Feb 2012* Voice and video calls via Wi-Fi from 30,000 feet?, Feb 2012
- THAI Airways selects OnAir in-flight connectivity on new fleet, March 2012
- OnAir targets first Global Xpress commitments, March 2012
- OnAir Connectivity Enabled on Emirates A380 Fleet, March 2012
- First deployment of OnAir/TriaGnoSys inflight connectivity solution through Scandinavian Avionics, March 2012
- Why airlines have been slow to add Wi-Fi to intercontinental flights, March 2012
- Hands-on review: Qantas' A380 in-flight wifi Internet trials, March 2012
- TAM e Oi reduzem em 50% as tarifas para celular a bordo March 2012
- Thai Airways to launch inflight Internet on new Airbus A380s, March 2012
- Azerbaijan Airlines to Launch OnAir In-Flight Web Services Jan 2012
- OnAir selected by Inmarsat as Global Xpress Partner Jan 2012
- TAM Airlines se ratifica como la compañía con la mayor flota de aviones de Brasil Jan 2012
- Singapore Airlines Airbus A380s get inflight Internet April 2012
- Teddies to trinkets, airlines eye sales in the sky June 2012
- Inflight connectivity – when can we have it across our entire fleet?
- ANA to Offer Wi-FI on International Flights