Honeywell Aerospace, Inmarsat and Kymeta are currently working on the development of a new, higher-speed Ka-Band wireless antenna for business and commercial aircraft customers around the world.

The new antenna will have unique and advanced capabilities that will bring faster connectivity and a higher quality broadband service to the aircraft.

The smaller and more compact design will allow the antenna to be installed on a wider variety of aircraft, including smaller business aviation aircraft. The flat-panel design is lighter and will reduce weight and drag on the aircraft, in turn reducing fuel and maintenance costs.

“Honeywell’s work with Inmarsat on GX Aviation is at the forefront of bringing high-speed, global connectivity services to airlines and operators,” said Jack Jacobs, vice president of marketing and product management at Honeywell Aerospace. “Having Kymeta and Inmarsat aligned with us ensures we stay forward-looking with new antenna technology that will be more efficient and compact, providing customers with even faster global in-flight connectivity.”

All three companies will work together to bring this new, faster, lightweight antenna to the business and commercial aviation market. Kymeta will deliver its mTenna antenna products to Honeywell, which will be responsible for testing and integrating the antenna into its JetWave aviation product line - the family of satellite communications hardware that exclusively supports Inmarsat’s GX Aviation service.

“Honeywell and Inmarsat changed the connectivity landscape in 2012 when they announced GX Aviation with the goal of bringing reliable, high-speed connectivity to the skies,” said Dr Nathan Kundtz, Kymeta’s president and chief executive officer. “Now, with mTenna technology from Kymeta, Honeywell’s terminal solutions, and Inmarsat’s global service portfolio, we will be able to expand upon Honeywell and Inmarsat’s commitment to high-speed global aviation connectivity.”

“The demand for constant high-speed connectivity in the aviation industry in this day and age is non-negotiable. Business jets, commercial airliners and their passengers want access to a quality broadband service at all times,” said Leo Mondale, president, Aviation, at Inmarsat. “Inmarsat has a proven history of delivering a trusted, reliable service to the cockpit. We’re applying this knowledge to our GX Aviation services, scheduled to be available later this year, giving our customers a high-quality, consistent and reliable broadband service to the cabin as well.

“This will be the first truly flat-panel antenna for aviation that will offer great performance at the right price,” Mondale added. “The relationship between Honeywell and Kymeta has taken a great technology and turned it into a product ideal for aviation. We’re very excited to be working with these companies to include this innovative product in the Inmarsat product road map and to bring it to the market.”

Mondale said the agreement represents Inmarsat’s commitment to continuous improvement of technologies and delivering lower-cost, lighter and more-efficient next-generation hardware and services to operators. – TradeArabia News Service