SITA and Thales Enable In-Flight Entertainment on Demand to Passengers’ Devices

Thales and SITA have seen success with the pairing of Thales’ GateSync with SITA’s e-Aircraft Connectivity Services to enable in-flight entertainment (IFE) on demand to passengers’ smartphones, tablets and other devices. Currently on trial with LAN Airlines, at Santiago Airport, it provides passengers with on-demand rich content straight to their own devices. This includes music, movies, news, TV series, PC games, interactive shopping, destination and flight information, all streamed within the cabin.

SITA provides connectivity for aircraft on the ground via Wi-Max, Wi-Fi, or cellular service and, through its subsidiary OnAir, in-flight connectivity through satellite-based broadband services. By using SITA’s network to deliver its IFE, Thales avoids shipping hard drives and the need for manpower to upload content, while allowing frequent updates. Besides IFE content, SITA’s delivery of information can handle other airline data, such as non-safety-critical operational aircraft communications.

Panasonic Avionics Partners with Telesat to Boost IFC Coverage Through South America

Anik G1 in the Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR)
Photo: SSL

Panasonic Avionics Corporation has enhanced the coverage and capacity of its in-flight connectivity service over South America through the use of Telesat’s new Anik G1 satellite.

Anik G1, which began commercial service in May, increases capacity over South America with greater power than earlier-generation satellites covering this rapidly growing region. The increased capacity will allow even more growth for in-flight broadband services and greater support for Panasonic’s eXTV live in-flight television service.

XipLink, Hughes Provide Internet Access for Mexican Schools
XipLink has successfully integrated and deployed several XipLink Hub Optimization (XHO) appliances with a Hughes Network Systems HN VSAT satellite platform to support the Internet connectivity needs of a nationwide public school system in Mexico.

The XipLink Appliance (XA) family of wireless link optimizers, scale from low-cost devices operating at 2 Mbps to high-performance, multi-core platforms operating at 155 Mbps and supporting over 30,000 simultaneous TCP connections. The appliances serve as the vehicles that deliver optimization features such as stream-based compression, byte caching, lossy and lossless compression capabilities, link bonding/balancing, and advanced cellular compression capabilities.

Advantech Wireless Delivers Uplink System Solutions to Latin America
Advantech Wireless has successfully completed the delivery of several uplink system solutions – including its new SapphireBlu Series of UltraLinear GaN based solid state power amplifiers (SSPAs) – to a major direct-to-home (DTH) customer in Latin America.

The combination of the Ku-Band UltraLinear GaN-based high power amplifier with the 13m A-Line antenna offers exceptional ground power, linearity and cost savings for this DTH uplink system in Latin America. A total 12kW of RF power was delivered, which allows broadcasting of more than 1,000 Digital TV and Radio channels with just two antennas.

EchoStar, GVT to Form Joint Venture in Brazilian Pay TV Market
EchoStar Technologies and GVT plan to form a joint venture for pay-TV services in Brazil. The venture would offer a national service based on IPTV and a high-power satellite.

GVT and EchoStar aim to position their future joint venture as a leader in the fast growing Brazilian pay TV market which would also benefit from the expected higher demand driven by two key global events to be held in the country: the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.