If you haven’t yet heard about it or talked about it at ABACE 2018, you likely will: “The ‘connected’ aircraft is the talk of the moment in the industry,” said Andy Gill, Honeywell Aerospace senior director, business and general aviation, Asia Pacific. “The excitement around it is almost unprecedented.”

The inauguration last year of global high-speed broadband service through Inmarsat’s Jet ConneX (JX) Ka-band satcom network sparked the increased interest, and at ABACE, the world’s leading providers of JX and other connectivity and cabin communication solutions—including U.S.-based Gogo Business Aviation (Booth P503), Rockwell Collins (Booth H1106), and Satcom Direct (Booth H1214); along with Honeywell (Booth H1115)—are demonstrating their latest offerings and explaining what they can do in both the cabin and cockpit.

“Once you bring that high-speed pipe to the aircraft, you can offer all kinds of services,” said Gill. “That’s one of the key things we’re showing and talking about at ABACE.”

Honeywell is highlighting its GoDirect suite of interconnectivity services, introduced in November at the NBAA Convention, “designed to leverage that connectivity more efficiently,” said Gill, for example, ensuring “the principal always has a certain amount of bandwidth” while onboard.

Here at the show, Honeywell’s connectivity team would “love to see operators come by the booth, and we’d also love to see pilots and maintainers, so we can tell all three communities about how they can improve their aircraft and keep it updated with the latest technology,” said Gill.

Today, the size of onboard antennas required for high-speed satcom service limits it to at least large-cabin airframes, but given the predominance of such aircraft in the region, China “is going to be key market” for connectivity systems and service, both as retrofits and in new aircraft, Gill said. (While several companies offer branded JX services as Inmarsat value-added resellers, Honeywell is the exclusive provider of the enabling onboard JetWave hardware.)

Satcom Direct, which offers global connectivity solutions for business aviation, recently added to its Satcom Direct Pro offerings a predictive mapping module that “can actually show any [connectivity] issues on the planned flight route,” whether due to service or coverage issues, said Chris Moore, Satcom Direct’s chief commercial officer. “Geostationary satellites give a big belt of broad coverage around the Earth, but at high latitudes—say if you’re going quite northerly from New York to London—there might be a degradation of service.” Flight crews can inform passengers about any expected shortfalls in service and alter the route accordingly if needed.

Meanwhile, a selection of apps including automated flight logs, flight tracking, telemedicine, and data acceleration programs give flight departments, passengers, and crews access to the customized package of services and information they need, including security monitoring. Recently, Moore related, the company detected multiple unauthorized attempts to access the email account of a passenger on a customer’s jet, and alerted the crew. “The customer’s laptop was fine, but a guest onboard had malware on a laptop,” said Moore. “We were able to capture that and report it to the customer.”

Satcom Direct also operates a wholly owned, purpose-built data center that provides enterprise-level security for all data going on or off clients’ aircraft.

Cabin Comforts

Onboard connectivity isn’t only about making sure wireless devices work just as they do on the ground, but also that Wi-Fi, in-flight entertainment (IFE) and other cabin systems work together seamlessly in the air. The providers are displaying their proprietary cabin management systems (CMS), which handle this role: Satcom’s Satcom Direct Router, Honeywell’s Ovation Select, Gogo’s new Avance L3, Rockwell Collins’s Venue, and Honeywell's new lightweight GoDirect Router.

Rockwell Collins recently integrated subsidiary ArincDirect’s airborne connectivity services into its Venue CMS, providing bundled solutions that can be tailored to each operator’s needs. Its fiber-optic backbone provides wired and wireless access points throughout the cabin, delivering licensed Hollywood content, live TV, video conferencing capability and seamless use of personal and smart devices, along with high-speed Internet and social media access. Meanwhile, whatever the CMS or network, Rockwell Collins’s acceleration and compression protocols can add 100 to 400 percent bandwidth capacity to a cabin network, not only speeding communication but also lowering costs, according to the company.

Rockwell Collins is also showcasing Stage, its recently launched wireless streaming media server and content service. The stand-alone unit, compatible with any CMS, offers about two terabytes of storage for content that can be quickly uploaded via USB or Wi-Fi. A head-of-state 747 based in the Middle East was Stage’s launch platform, according to Taylor Prosba, director of business jet cabin solutions.

Gogo Business Aviation’s new 2Ku, a Ku-band high–speed service, offers another path to global broadband service. The system boasts speeds up to 70 Mbps now and a capacity of up to 200 Mbps as future satellites come online and is compatible with low earth orbit (LEO) satellites planned for deployment in the near future.

Gogo also operates an air-to-ground (ATG) broadband system in North America and is slated to launch Gogo Biz 4G ATG in the second half of this year. For operators who frequently fly within North America, an ATG network offers greater bandwidth and speed at a lower cost than satcom services. Many U.S.-based large cabin aircraft with satcom broadband connectivity have an ATG system onboard, as well.

Another highlight of Gogo’s display is its Smart Cabin Systems: SCS Elite and SCS Media, voice and IFE services that can be personalized to passenger needs on a flight-by-flight basis. Introduced at EBACE in Geneva in May, SCS integrates passengers’ own mix of technologies to create a “unique and ideal” cabin environment, said Sergio Aguirre, president of Gogo Business Aviation. “We created it to be a simple, powerful way to integrate all the necessary technology onboard for an enjoyable passenger experience.”

Light and compact, the SCS Elite router can be installed on virtually any size business aircraft and works across ATG and satellite systems. It supports and manages multiple data bearers, voice bearers, and CMS, and offers a single interface for easier control of the cabin environment.

With equipment continually getting smaller, lighter, and less expensive, connectivity’s moment may last a long time, and ABACE 2018 is the ideal place not only to see where it is today but find out where it’s going.