Intelsat’s decision to invest in electronically steerable antenna (ESA) terminal specialist Greenerwave — as announced last month in a jointly-published press release — set tongues wagging about its aero ambitions for the French start-up’s technology, which is based on electronically reconfigurable smart materials.
The McLean, Virginia-based satellite operator and aero ISP is, of course, currently using the single beam Stellar Blu Solutions Sidewinder ESA package — with BAE Systems’ scalable subarrays — for initial aircraft retrofit and linefit installs of its multi-orbit LEO/GEO inflight connectivity, and has secured deals with multiple airlines including but not limited to Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and Japan Airlines.
But it is also eyeing future multi-beam capabilities, which would enable it to support simultaneous onboard connections to LEO and GEO satellites (or indeed MEO and GEO; it is in line to be acquired by MEO + GEO satellite operator SES).
“One of the desirable attributes of Greenerwave’s approach to ESA is that the underlying approach is multi-beam capable,” Intelsat VP of product development Blane Boynton told Runway Girl Network.
“The first products that we will bring to market will be single beam, multi-orbit with fast switching. In the PR we referenced ‘Intelsat Custom Features’, multi-beam falls into this category, so stay tuned!”
Very specific to the aviation market, Intelsat may have high hopes for Greenerwave, but it’s not clear yet if Greenerwave tech will form the basis of its next-generation multi-beam aero ESA.
“It’s too early for us to say if or how Greenerwave technology could find its way into our future IFC products,” Boynton said. “Currently, we are pleased with the performance and industrial maturity we have found with our forthcoming aero ESA product, installations of which are underway as we speak.”
Stellar Blu’s single beam Sidewinder ESA is currently categorized by IFC standards group Seamless Air Alliance as Type 3, i.e. hybrid with limited GEO coverage. In contrast, Seamless categorizes the Thales/Get SAT dual-beam ESA — selected by Airbus for the Ku-band side of its supplier-furnished HBCplus programme, for which Intelsat is a managed service provider — as a Type 4, hybrid with full GEO coverage.
“There is no attempt to say any Type is superior to another — they each serve a market and have pros and cons,” Seamless thought leader Peter Lemme told RGN. “Further, we are not analyzing specific antenna performance.”
Stellar Blu, meanwhile, has independently started Sidewinder install programs with several government/VIP customers on a variety of airframes — everything from a De Havilland DHC-8 up to and including a Boeing 747, said company vice president Stephen Rice. “Boeing linefit process still on track, Intelsat has announced JAL as its first BFE Sidewinder customer,” he noted.
Rice said he doesn’t expect Gilat Satellite Networks’ forthcoming acquisition of Stellar Blu to impact its business plan. That strategy, as described to RGN, would see Stellar Blu develop a multi-beam ESA using BAE tiles.
Greenerwave, meanwhile, uses intelligent reconfigurable materials based on off-the-shelf electronic components, and bills its products as cost-effective and low-consumption, which it said “explains the growing interest of major industry players”. And it believes it’s addressing the satcom market at the right time, noting on its website:
“With the arrival of Newspace players, the space industry is experiencing a revolution, shifting from GEO-based niche applications to LEO-based masse applications. Global telecom infrastructures are now installed in space. There are existing markets for our technology, such as Governments, Enterprises, Defense, Backhauling or the new Broadband Internet. But mobility is also starting to grow, first in the maritime field, drones, aeronautics and then the automotive sector.
“We must serve existing markets that need cost-effective, energy-efficient, high performance and constellation-agnostic (LEO/MEO/GEO compatible) antennas, first in the Ku band, then in the Ka band. Markets studies predict the deployment of millions of ESA terminals before the end of the decade.”
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- Stellar Blu to develop multi-orbit, multi-beam aero ESA with BAE tiles
- Air France to offer SpaceX Starlink inflight Wi-Fi across fleet
- Intelsat quietly grows backlog for multi-orbit inflight connectivity
- Safran Ku ESA terminal for Airbus to ensure gate-to-gate IFC with 5G
- Panasonic multi-orbit IFC nears entry into airframer linefit catalogs
- Get SAT CEO Kfir Benjamin details dual-beam aero ESA work
- Japan Airlines taps linefit Intelsat multi-orbit IFC for 737 MAX jets
- Thales acquires Get SAT as antenna-maker’s aero footprint grows
- Seamless’ category system for IFC antennas rates Airbus Type 4
Featured image credited to Intelsat
