The year is 2025, but the inflight connectivity (IFC) experience often doesn’t feel that way to airline passengers. Passengers today deserve to use their connected devices – smartphones, tablets, or laptops – seamlessly, as if they were on the ground in their living room.
That’s the mission of the Seamless Air Alliance (SAA) and why Telesat is a member. The SAA is comprised of 45 companies – airlines, aircraft manufacturers, telecom operators, and service providers – dedicated to simplifying connectivity and improving the IFC passenger experience. Regardless of your airline seat, you deserve a consistently reliable and predictable communications experience.
Extending mobile networks to support IFC
The SAA’s recent joint announcement with the European Space Agency (ESA) exemplifies progress towards that goal. Significant advancements in developing 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) for aviation connectivity were revealed before the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Spain. The SAA/ESA collaborative effort marks a major milestone in integrating space-based communication technologies to enable a seamless extension of mobile networks to provide inflight connectivity and exceptional passenger experiences.
ESA-led testing trials, conducted with industry partners Telesat and Eutelsat OneWeb, have demonstrated 5G NTN links over LEO satellites. In parallel, ESA and Hispasat have completed successful trials of 5G NTN links over GEO satellites. ESA, SAA, and Airbus will now focus on engaging industry partners to demonstrate multi-orbit NTN capabilities across Europe and the United States. The organizations seek additional participation from chipset vendors to enhance the ecosystem further and drive innovation.
The ability to fully integrate into terrestrial networks and create hybrid terrestrial/non-terrestrial mobile infrastructures was baked into Telesat Lightspeed’s initial design. Telesat Lightspeed is a highly advanced LEO broadband infrastructure that leverages state-of-the-art technologies and a sophisticated satellite architecture to revolutionize Internet and 5G connectivity worldwide.
A promising 5G future
The broad enterprise transition to cloud computing has led telecom operators to offer their customers Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platforms. Leveraging Carrier Ethernet via satellite enables telecommunications service providers to expand the service geography of their offerings, providing SD-WAN and IP services, cloud connectivity, and advanced 5G applications beyond the footprint of their core terrestrial networks.
However, for satellite operators to participate in this new market opportunity, integrating satellite connectivity must be frictionless and must accommodate an automated ecosystem. This is why Telesat Lightspeed will be certified to MEF 3.0 standards for Carrier Ethernet connectivity, ensuring easy integration and unlocking the potential of terrestrial and NTN service orchestration for a seamless IFC experience.
The recent 5G NTN link testing conducted by ESA and SAA may eventually lead to a 5G waveform-based LEO service based on 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G standards. 3GPP is currently working on the technical and ecosystem standardizations required for possible large-scale market deployment of 5G waveform-based hardware.
Fortunately, airline passengers don’t have to wait. By leveraging the MEF Carrier Ethernet standards, Telesat Lightspeed enables the 3GPP backhaul transport use case for NTN integration into carrier networks. Connecting from your seat should be no different at 35,000 feet than from your home.
Telesat will continue to be a leader in improving the IFC experience. Working through the SAA and with our industry partners, we’ll continue to deploy next-generation LEO technology that gives passengers and airlines more choice, interoperability, and performance.
