Mobile Connectivity

Globalstar Europe Satellite Services has revealed details of a key new deployment of its technology in Spain. The company announced Aug. 6 that its 550 SPOT Gen3 satellite enabled safety devices are being deployed to safeguard and track firefighters across the vast expanse of Andalusia in southern Spain. INFOCA is one of the largest fire...

Astronics’ Ku-band tail-mounted antenna technology successfully completed a test flight. The technology was used on a Collins Aerospace KuSAT-2000 satcom terminal for their LuxStream business jet connectivity solution. During the test flight, the KuSAT-2000 Tail-Mounted Antenna system reached download speeds of 25 Mbps in the U.S. and 15 Mbps globally, using SES satellites. Approximately 12...

Hughes announced this week that it will invest $50 million into OneWeb, joining the U.K. government and Bharti Enterprises in their acquisition of the Low-Earth Orbit (LEO)  constellation company.  Hughes has been a longtime partner of OneWeb and was also an investor through parent company EchoStar. Before OneWeb filed for Chapter 11 in March, Hughes...

This summer, Hughes Network Systems has conducted two tests of its HeloSat satellite communications system, and the company’s Defense Senior Director Wayne Marhefka tells Via Satellite these tests show the system is a production-ready, validated capability that will fill a need in helicopter communications.  “Hughes is really in the forefront of offering this system,” he...

  Representatives from Telesat and SpaceX dug into their companies’ plans for constellations in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and how they can provide backhaul in Via Satellite’s Cell Backhaul Digital Week session  “The Low-Latency Constellation Battle to Connect Rural North America” on Thursday.  The two systems differ in the markets they plan to tackle first, and...

Hispasat joined the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) — a global association that develops standards for mobile communications —  to work on the integration of satellites into the developing 5G ecosystem. The 3GPP has developed multiple mobile standards from 3G, to 4G, and now 5G. The 3GPP unites seven telecommunications standard development organizations from Asia,...

Has it ever struck you that the satellite industry does all the work and the mobile industry has all the fun? It is an unfair comparison, of course.  But consider: mobile gets the apps and games, the pictures and videos and social media frenzy.  According to The New York Times, “The Nude Selfie is Now...

Get Sat and R4 Integration, a provider of airborne roll-on/roll-off and shoulder mount communication systems for U.S. and partner government aircraft, revealed Tuesday that the completion and airworthiness certification of their C-130 Multi-Purpose Hatch System (MPHS). Developed to support roll-on/roll-off requirements of special operations customers and to alleviate design concerns of large radomes, the low-profile...

Intellian launched the next generations of its v240M dual-band 2.4m antenna and Intelligent Mediator. Together, the new v240M Gen-II and Intelligent Mediator Gen-II enable auto-switching between C- and Ku-band communications, Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite tracking, and management of up to eight antennas and modems. Developed from the v240M — the world’s...

Viasat removed internet speed limits delivered to the aircraft across all of its business aviation Ka-band service plans. Additionally, the company has doubled its minimum committed internet speed to the aircraft for the same Ka-band service plans. Viasat’s elimination of Ka-band speed maximums helps enable a better experience for passengers and crew to simultaneously use...