Blog

March 13, 2023

By Danny Frai

One of Euroconsult’s latest Prospects for In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity report confirms what all of us are experiencing: In-Flight Connectivity for passengers is becoming more popular year after year. As more and more travelers expect to be able to use flight time to stream movies, surf the web and carry out business, airlines are learning just how much impact in-flight entertainment options have on their market positioning.

But as we all know, IFC is exceedingly difficult to provide. When a plane moves out of range of one satellite, the IFC system has to be able to soft hand-over to another, while assuring zero disruption to the data flow – and quantities of data supported are increasing by the minute.  As a result, there is a crying need for a new generation of IFC: technologies that are easier to deploy, that can handle more data, and that can provide the seamless experience required via simultaneous communications with multiple satellites and multiple orbits.

We at SatixFy are proud to offer the solution they’re looking for. SatixFy’s Onyx, our first multibeam, multi-orbit Ku-band Aero terminal, has now completed successful flight testing, and general availability is planned for Q4 this year. This is the first In-Flight-Connectivity (IFC) product that we will be bringing to market, and will be followed by a full-scalable Aero product family.

Our IFC solutions bring the market disruptive satellite communication technology and capabilities for a broad variety of aerial platforms, from business jets to narrow and wide body platforms. Our software-defined antenna solutions offer an optimal blend of thin form factor, low weight and scalable size, with future-proof multibeam and multi-orbit operation.

Our advanced underlying technology enables seamless, simultaneous communications with multiple satellites, with performance that is higher a profile that is lower and that is significantly cost effective than existing solutions . During its successful wide-body aircraft flight test, the Onyx communicated with a Ku-band LEO constellation at hundreds of megabytes per seconds, and in parallel communicated with additional GEO satellites in different locations running on different networks.

Our state-of-the-art IFC satellite Aero Terminal is based on our advanced Electronically Steered Multibeam Antenna Array (ESMA) technology, which uses an in-house-developed, first-of-its- kind digital beamforming True Time Delay (TTD)-based ASIC.

At any given time, the Aero terminal simultaneously communicates with multiple GEO/MEO/LEO satellites, implementing make-before-break continuous communication, with instant in-between satellite switching to provide high-performance broadband IFC to aircrafts. The terminal supports acquisition and tracking capabilities for multiple beams, and integrates SatixFy’s future-proof Software Defined Radio (SDR) ASIC modem for a comprehensive terminal solution. It offers straightforward integration with available network or broadcast operators along with support for any external modem.

As a high performance, wide-band product, the Onyx is able to serve the full data rate provided by LEO constellations, both for downlink and uplink communications.

And the all-in-one Aero terminal allows fast and simple installation, with quick and automatic self-calibration, delivering the highest reliability while insuring low maintenance. It contains active antenna apertures, Antenna Control Unit (ACU), high-speed multi-channel SDR Modem and a thermal management capability for various use cases and gate-to-gate operation.

So if what you’re looking for is an IFC solution that is quick and simple to install, that self-calibrates automatically, that provides the highest reliability with the lowest maintenance, we are here with the ultimate solution.

For more information download the Onyx brochure