In a testament to the growing excitement in aviation for Telesat’s debut of Lightspeed Ka-band Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-powered inflight connectivity, the satellite operator has already started nailing down aero antenna agreements with suppliers, announcing that German firm QEST will develop a flat panel antenna (FPA) for the aviation market.
Industry observers and stakeholders will know QEST; it is involved in a variety of IFC programs, including as a key partner on the Satcom Direct, now Gogo, antenna series known as Plane Simple which includes a FPA; and as a partner to Anuvu.
“QEST will extend their patented FPA antenna technology for Telesat Lightspeed, including the development of the transmit and receive antenna apertures, RF components and the antenna control unit,” said Telesat in a statement released just as the big SATELLITE 2025 conference got underway in Washington D.C.
Lightspeed is expected to be in revenue service in 2027, supporting the mobility vertical including aviation. The intent of Telesat’s development contract with QEST is to bring a LEO-optimized FPA to market that is compatible with Lightspeed. Testing is scheduled to begin in 2026.
We reached out to Telesat to learn more, including to ask whether multi-orbit functionality will be pursued for the FPA. Aneesh Dalvi, who serves as vice president of Lightspeed systems development at the Canadian satellite operator, said: “Telesat’s initial focus is to bring a ‘Lightspeed/LEO-optimized’ antenna to market. Telesat and QEST intend to work with partners to determine what the optimum combination of performance vs. SWaP-C [size, weight, power and cost], and then bring that antenna product to market.
“However, the QEST tech is scalable/suitable for larger multi-orbit solutions (LEO/MEO/GEO). Telesat would expect that such a solution would be most successful if developed in cooperation with GEO partners and/or OEMs, so we are working those relationships to understand the market for such a solution.”
Telesat has traditionally adhered to an agnostic, partner-centric approach. And it intends to stay the course with that model, with Dalvi telling RGN: “Telesat remains committed to an open architecture antenna ecosystem, we are investing in QEST, and other antenna vendors, to ensure that promising technology that offers competitive advantages like QEST’s low powered high performing aviation FPA makes it to market in a timely manner.”
Other antennas have already proven capable of supporting Lightspeed including the ThinKom Solutions Ka2517 VICTS antenna and Anuvu’s Ka-band gimbaled antenna. “The advantage of the Ka2517 is it can work with our [Lightspeed] constellation but it can work also on existing networks. So that gives a lot of flexibility for the service provider, gives flexibility for the airlines also in terms of choices rather than having a solution that is unique to a constellation,” Telesat vice president, aviation Philippe Schleret previously noted.
Viasat senior vice president and GM, Commercial Aviation, Don Buchman also recently disclosed to RGN that Viasat has “done all of the analysis and work with providers like Telesat” to verify the compatibility of its GM-40 gimbaled antenna with Lightspeed. “And yes, we are fully confident that the GM-40 on a network like Telesat will be able to fully support.”
Notably, in aviation, we’re starting to see a two-antenna paradigm emerge for some jets (Starlink on larger aircraft; and Hughes Fusion has been tapped by Delta, which combines the Ka2517 VICTS + a Hughes ESA). And so, RGN put the question to Dalvi: does Telesat anticipate that the QEST flat panel antenna will find itself operating in standalone form for some customers but also as part of these new two-antenna hybrids?
“We expect a single, small version of the QEST antenna to support over 1,000 Mbps, potentially removing the need for a second antenna,” he said. “If a customer is looking for network diversity, a larger multi-orbit product is feasible. As we are still in the technology demonstrator phase of the product, we can still optimize the product best for our partner’s needs. If a two-antenna solution is of interest, a single LEO-optimized will be small enough to be installed with another solution.”
Indeed, Viasat is exploring the possibility of adding a LEO-optimized antenna beside its GM-40, even though it expects the GM-40 to be fully compatible with Lightspeed.
Related Articles:
- Intelsat ESA fitted to over 100 aircraft; LEO/GEO live on most
- Viasat reveals details about cross roaming play, Telesat prep
- Telesat retains Lightspeed partner model in aero as momentum mounts
- Viasat in advanced talks with Telesat for Lightspeed capacity
- ThinKom on unsticking airlines with a sticky multi-orbit antenna
- Antenna-maker Qest delivers update on multiple aero work packages
Featured image credited to istock.com/Herbert Pictures
