Is the “connected aircraft” coming of age?		ITU 030072/Copyright Airbus
	Philippe Chenevier, VP Special Projects, Products and Services Policy Division, Airbus

Usage of Ku band from aeronautical mobiles for broadband connection to the ground

The “dot-com” bubble two years ago has served at least one purpose: showing that the world is becoming totally connected, and the Internet is the ubiquitous network bringing the digital revolution. Coupled with the already widespread usage of mobile phones, and growing usage of laptop personal computers, the trend is definitely towards mobility without being disconnected.

The last frontier is the commercial airliner, where the only available connection to the ground is the in-flight phone, which is very little used, due to poor audio quality and discouraging pricing schemes and levels.

In the past two years, initiatives have been launched by a large aerospace firm to link the aircraft to the ground, opening to the airlines and the travelling public the perspective of being connected like at home or in the office.

Whilst the aircraft was until now out of the digital world network, is the time coming where it will be just another node in the Web?

The needs

When speaking of getting the aircraft connected, people start dreaming of various applications, from simple e-mail, short message service (SMS) to Web surfing and live television, not forgetting more sophisticated applications directed to the airline.

These applications do not need the same bandwidth, and only virtual private networks (VPN) and video applications require broadband. The airlines professional applications and e-mail can be served with less than 100 kbit/s channels.

When speaking of getting the aircraft connected, people start dreaming of various applications, from simple e-mail, short message service (SMS) to Web surfing and live television, not forgetting more sophisticated applications directed to the airline ITU 030073/Copyright Airbus

The networks

There are several networks available through which airliners can be connected to the ground. Some are ground-based and others are satellite-based. These networks differ in maturity and coverage.

In terms of maturity, so far, only two networks can be said to be mature and can claim several years of continued operations. The others are either with an uncertain future, or recently deployed or in limited scale experimentation.

As for coverage, having a worldwide coverage is a myth. Only one network covers the polar area, and it has very limited data speed. The established L-band network gives a quasi-global coverage, spanning to 70/75° latitude. There are also some regional networks, using land-based systems, which provide low speed data communication over the United States. Finally, one broadband network, using Ku band, is under trial on limited North Atlantic coverage with plans to expand to worldwide coverage. Ku band has, however limitations to about 65° latitudes.

The challenge of aeronautical mobiles

Developing connectivity solutions for commercial aviation is facing some specific challenges, which have an impact on the potential success of the business:

• First, the development of technical solutions inflates with the stringent aeronautical requirement. This impacts both time to market and cost.
• Second, the antenna is limited in size and height, since it has to be mounted outside of the fuselage under a radome. It drives the cost of the antenna to skyrocketing values.
• Third, the regulatory environment is still forbidding transmission from aeronautical mobiles in the Ku band, which is the prime candidate for broadband connectivity.
• Fourth, the airline decisions process is slow. After a few leading, innovative airlines, it will take several years before a large proportion of airlines decide to equip their fleet.
• Finally, fitting a fleet of several hundred aircraft without incurring specific downtime leads to several years before completing the equipment of the aircraft.

All this adds up to several years, before reaching a number of aircraft large enough to ensure a proper load and traffic volume.

Airbus is now using available solutions via the Inmarsat Swift64 service associated to a portfolio of airline applications and passenger messaging featuring e-mail and SMS. At the same time, it is working to mature the broadband technology so as to lower cost and weight of equipment ITU 030074/Copyright Airbus- Image Graphique i3m

The economics

Broadband service is not cheap presently. The aircraft equipment cost is high; close to USD 1 million. The impact on the aircraft operations is expensive: drag of the radome, weight of the equipment and loss of payload (as much as 3 passengers). Finally, the network will require a large number of transponders to achieve quasi-worldwide coverage.

Networks that are dedicated to the aeronautical service only run the risk of facing several years of fixed expenses without commensurate revenues to ensure breakeven due to the slow ramp-up of the traffic.

Besides, there are still uncertainties on the real level of passenger demand for broadband service at the cost of USD 30 to 35 per flight quoted presently.

Today, airline applications run on lower speed networks that do not require expensive, bulky and heavy equipment on board. It is expected that a number of airlines will prefer concentrating first on these solutions, for which they have a better visibility in terms of business return, while offering messaging services that use the existing equipment on board.

The speed of worldwide roll-out of in-flight broadband services will hinge on a number of factors, including customer demand, approval of frequency allocation and a change in the Radio Regulations — a matter that is on the agenda of the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-03), to be held in Geneva from 9 June to 4 July 2003.

Conclusion

In summary, demand for connectivity is diverse and no single solution fits all needs optimally; there is a variety of networks, few of which have demonstrated maturity. Finally, broadband cannot cover all needs, due to its cost, weight and bulkiness.

Airlines need a clear, positive and prudent response, that:

• limits their risks;
• is modular and scalable;
• can be installed on any aircraft;
• uses open technical solutions and available networks;
• provides a step-wise growth path to higher bandwidth;
• provides a return from improvement in their own operations;
• matches target price of USD 10 to 15 for passenger mail service.

In that perspective, Airbus is now using available solutions via the Inmarsat Swift64 service associated to a portfolio of airline applications and passenger messaging featuring e-mail and SMS. At the same time, it is working to mature the broadband technology so as to lower cost and weight of equipment. In the meantime, demand should firm up, so that both increased market demand and lower access cost to the technology will eventually switch the broadband business model from impossible to sustainable. However, if that happens, it should not be before several years.