Panasonic Forms Strategic Partnership | Inmarsat Unveils ELERA | New Study From Sustainable Aero Lab | Other News

PANASONIC

Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic Avionics) is enhancing its in-flight mobile connectivity offering through a strategic partnership with GigSky, a global mobility provider based in Silicon Valley, California.

The partnership between Panasonic Avionics, its subsidiary AeroMobile and GigSky enables any eSIM-equipped mobile phone user to enjoy their in-flight mobile connectivity service—regardless of network operator—on selected airlines and flights. By downloading the award-winning GigSky app prior to departure, passengers can effortlessly pay for and access a daily connectivity pass.

Kevin Rogers, Senior Director, Mobile Services at Panasonic Avionics, said, “Digital innovation is at the forefront of everything we do at Panasonic Avionics. Our collaboration with GigSky marks our first eSIM partnership and enables us to enhance and bring more choice to the passenger experience. With GigSky’s support of our mobile services platform, passengers can connect their mobile phones across the globe regardless of which network provider they are with, replicating on-the-ground integrated connectivity in the skies.

Ravi Rishy-Maharaj, Founder and CEO at GigSky, said: “We are thrilled to partner with Panasonic Avionics to bring a first of its kind service to airlines and passengers. Through the GigSky app, we now offer data services in the air, land and sea with our partners. With the addition of an inflight plan, customers can stay connected at their destination – and in between destinations – truly enabling an always-online, always-connected experience, anywhere they go.”

INMARSAT

• Inmarsat ELERA will be a catalyst for the next wave of world-changing technologies and is ideally suited for the Internet of Things and the billions of devices that are being connected every year
• Inmarsat ELERA builds on the company’s global leadership in L-band satellite services with breakthrough technologies that will deliver unparalleled L-band speeds and the smallest, low-cost user terminals, underpinned by Inmarsat’s record for reliability, resilience and availability
• Inmarsat ELERA will help ensure the world works better for decades to come, by delivering vital services already trusted by businesses and governments worldwide to drive operational efficiency and effectiveness, while protecting people, assets, data and our environment
• ELERA will be a key component of Inmarsat ORCHESTRA, a world first network that will combine GEO, LEO and 5G into one harmonious solution

In its second major announcement in two weeks, Inmarsat is unveiling Inmarsat ELERA; a global narrowband network that is ideally suited to the rapidly evolving world of the Internet of Things (IoT) and for global mobility customers, including aviation, maritime, governments and select enterprises.

“ELERA is perfectly suited to the needs of the connected IoT world,” said Rajeev Suri, CEO, Inmarsat. “Global reach, extraordinary resilience, faster speeds, smaller and lower cost terminals are all part of ensuring that we remain ahead of others in meeting the needs of our customers.”
“ELERA is a further sign of a company with true momentum and one that is delivering new innovations and strong performance,” continued Suri. “I expect that Inmarsat will grow strongly in 2021 compared to the previous year, and that growth will span most of our business units. Our progress was evident in the first half, where we saw strong growth in revenue and EBITDA and robust cash flow. We have sharpened our strategy to focus on driving growth, accelerate decision making, launch new innovations, and are creating a more commercially focused, customer-centric culture.”

ELERA builds on Inmarsat’s #1 position in Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) and will be a springboard for innovation, unlocking, accelerating and scaling pioneering use cases on land, at sea and in the air. Its foundation is Inmarsat’s world class L-band network and incorporates new innovations ranging from higher speeds to smaller, low cost terminals and [the previously announced] Inmarsat-6 satellites, the first of which (I-6 F1) is scheduled to launch before the end of the year.
Coming just 14 days after Inmarsat announced ORCHESTRA, the world’s first network to combine GEO, LEO and 5G into one harmonious global communications solution, ELERA underlines Inmarsat’s strategic focus on the global mobility segment of satellite communications. It is also a signal of a company with momentum, delivering major technological innovations and growth.

The unique capabilities of ELERA, combined with Inmarsat’s superior spectrum and the ideally suited orbital position of its satellite networks, will make it the essential catalyst for new IoT use cases, across everything from autonomous transport and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to industrial and agricultural IoT applications.

ELERA is built on Inmarsat’s market leading L-band network, which already delivers the world’s most reliable and flexible global connectivity service with unique resilience in all conditions and full global redundancy. It supports everything from worldwide maritime and aviation safety services and humanitarian missions to IoT applications across agritech, transportation and utilities, among many others.

The new innovations that the company is investing in to bring to market in the near future include spectrum management technology to deliver L-band speeds up to 1.7Mbps, the smallest footprint, low cost L-band terminal and two new L-band satellites, which are the largest and most sophisticated commercial communication satellites ever created.
The new spectrum management capabilities (known as Carrier Aggregation) being incorporated into the ELERA network will deliver the fastest speeds globally available to L-band customers, far outstripping the capabilities of any other worldwide L-band network.
Live customer trials in commercial aviation are scheduled to start during the course of 2022 and this technology will be rolled out across a range of sector specific applications for Inmarsat’s mobility, government and IoT customers over the coming few years.

ELERA will also see the creation of the smallest footprint, low cost terminal for L-band users, delivering the ideal framework for satcom IoT at scale, with supporting cloud-based management, for vertical sectors such as infrastructure, rail, logistics, mining, agriculture, government, maritime and aviation.

Inmarsat is launching two new satellites to enhance the ELERA network. The I-6 satellites, the first of which is scheduled to launch at the end of 2021, are the largest and most sophisticated commercial communications satellites ever built.

The L-band capacity on each I-6 satellite will be substantially greater than Inmarsat’s 4th generation spacecraft and, among other enhancements, they will deliver 50% more capacity per beam; meaning that much more data can be carried over the same geographical area, in addition to unlimited beam routing flexibility.

ELERA will also deliver a major extension to Inmarsat’s portfolio of voice-enabled devices, bringing new capabilities and innovations to hundreds of thousands of customers. This initiative represents our commitment to voice service innovation and underlines the company’s long-term commitment to the handheld voice services over satellite market.

“ELERA is the exciting vision of how Inmarsat is planning to transform the capabilities offered to IoT and mobility customers for years to come and confirms our long-term commitment to L-band services. We will be sharing further detail on these innovations with our partner community in the coming months and continue our programme of announcements as we achieve major milestones.” said Rajeev Suri, CEO, Inmarsat.
The investments in ELERA are already included in Inmarsat’s current CAPEX plans and guidance.

HAMBURG AVIATION

With climate change progressing, the measures that are currently planned by the aviation industry will be not enough. A new study by Hamburg-based Sustainable Aero Lab maps 40 promising startups in the new field of sustainable aviation.

The overview by Sustainable Aero Lab maps 40 promising startups, clustering sustainable aviation in four technological fields: Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), Electric Propulsion, Hydrogen, and the Digital Backbone. It also looks at global venture capital investment into zero emission tech, a field that has gained significant traction over the last six years, but so far has been shy to connect with the aviation sector, especially when it comes to complex segments such as hydrogen. Yet with a growing attention in all industries to act on climate change and reduce global CO2 emissions, the potential for new players in aviation technology has never been greater.

Sustainable Aero Lab is focused on accelerating startups and has been mentoring startups in each segment outlined in this study since its launch in February 2021. Some of the most prominent experts from all segments of aviation have already joined as mentors.

You can find the entire study by Sustainable Aero Lab, including the startup map and an analysis of venture capital investments into zero-emission tech, on the Lab’s website www.sustainable.aero.

OTHER NEWS

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• Bitcoin mining – Inside the Largest Bitcoin Mine in the U.S News And you thought Boitcoin didn’t use any power!
• As you may know, the world is getting into hypersonic weaponry and here is a AvWeek pix link to a look at US hypersonic technology – Hypersonics Through The Years | Aviation Week Network

Editor’s Note: It is with much sadness that IFExpress reports the passing of long time IFE professional, Harry Gray. Harry worked in the inflight entertainment realm for 30 years and was the consummate professional, as well as, an extraordinary salesman. But most importantly, he was a great friend. Our hearts go out to the Gray family at this time. Rest in peace Harry, you will be sorely missed.