Originally Posted by
AtlanticXpat
Couple of observations:
1) Commercially operating LEO constellations (SpaceX, OneWeb) are 3-4 years away. Forget the hype, there are significant technical difficulties in getting mobility working effectively for LEO megaconstellations. And that's without addressing the need to replace that $300k of onboard kit to displace an incumbent GEO operator.
2) ATG is a big piece in the US through GoGo. Europe is up and coming through the European Aviation Network (EAN) from Inmarsat/Deutsch Telecom. I rather suspect that Satellite will displace ATG in North America in the near term but we'll see.
Air Canada has GoGo 2Ku on widebodies. It ain't bad for general browsing and working, in my experience. I've not tried streaming. It's been a while but my WJ Gogo 2KU was sort of comparable experience.
I don't believe AC is using Inmarsat.
The challenge for any Satellite connectivity to an aircraft is providing a big enough pipe. Very High Throughput Satellites (VHTS) are coming that will improve the ability to do this, but currently, performance is really predicated on the fact that only a fraction of the 300 or so people on a widebody actually plan to use the internet at the same time. Consumer pricing is engineered to make that unlikely - i.e. its too expensive for the masses. When capacity increases then I expect pricing to fall.
Yes, the digital fractal antennas are a necessary part of LEO cluster/mesh systems as opposed to mechanical steering antennas. They are available pretty well in prototype form at the moment and allow digital beam steering up to a lower elevation for the same gain compared with mechanical systems, but typically multiple antennas would be used as they are solid state and only about 2cm thick. Rapid satellite lock or pre-lock with multiple antennas can allow millisecond level as opposed to tens of seconds of switching between satellites and tracking at high angular transition rates is not a problem.
i would say 3-4 years is too aggressive for introduction of LEO on commercial aircraft (but realistic for business aircraft). More likely 5-10 years to overcome certification and refresh cost issues.