OnAir (telecommunications)

OnAir
Private
Industry Telecommunication, Technology, Aviation
Founded 2005
Headquarters Geneva, Switzerland
Website www.onair.aero

OnAir is a company that enables airline passengers to use their mobile phones and laptops for calls, text messaging, emails and Internet browsing. By May 2014, OnAir’s services were available in over 60 countries; used by 22 airlines flying over five continents.

The company is a fully owned subsidiary of SITA, originally incorporated as a joint venture with Airbus in February 2005. In February 2013 Airbus sold its 33% final stake to SITA.[1] The company is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has operations in Seattle and sales offices in London, Singapore and Dubai.

Services

OnAir offers three services which aircraft operators can order together or separately:

All three services share the same satellite connection to the ground.

OnAir was the first company to provide integrated GSM and inflight wifi services, with Oman Air as the launch airline in March 2010.[5]

OnAir’s technology has been certified for use on many types of aircraft – both private and commercial jets including Boeing and Airbus – for short and long haul. In most cases, it is available for linefit or retrofit.[6]

Technology

typical location of satellite antenna radome

OnAir's onboard system is based on a Wi-Fi access point and/or a GSM picocell connected to the ground through a satellite link. All onboard equipment, except for the satellite antenna, fits into a hand-luggage compartment.[7]

OnAir offers the satellite connectivity required for its onboard services using Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband service operating in the L band and prospectively Inmarsat's Ka band-based Global Xpress system which is expected to be launched in 2015. However customers are free to use third-party services for the backhaul to the ground. 90% of the onboard equipment can be used with any radio link, for example other satellite networks or a direct air-to-ground link.[8]

Due to the limited bandwidth of only 864 kbit/s offered by OnAir today and its inability to feed in live television in February 2013 Emirates, one of OnAir's largest customers, has selected a Ku band-based service provided by OnAir's rival Panasonic Avionics (Global Communications Suite (GCS)) for its fleet of Boeing 777s and future Airbus A380 deliveries, while existing Airbus A380s for now remain connected through OnAir's service.[1][9]

Inmarsat SwiftBroadband (L band)

A satellite data unit (SDU) manufactured by Thales and branded TopConnect establishes a backhaul link to the ground through Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband geostationary satellite constellation operating in the L band around 1500 MHz which allows the use of electronically steerable antennas mounted atop the aircraft fuselage and encased within a fiberglass, RF-transparent radome that have a low profile compared to systems operating in the Ku band or Ka band which today still require mechanically steerable antennas with a significantly higher profile. Thus drag and fuel costs are reduced allowing economical operation even on smaller aircraft like business or regional jets. Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband system covers much of the planet except for the polar regions above −82 and below +82 degrees latitude and currently provides symmetric data rates of up to 432 kbit/s per channel dependent on signal quality and overall load on the satellite's spotbeam serving the corresponding geographical area. Currently the Thales SDU can bond two channels resulting in a maximum bandwidth of 864 kbit/s.[10]

Inmarsat GlobalXpress (Ka band)

There is also a clear upgrade path from SwiftBroadband to Inmarsat's Global Xpress system, a constellation of three Ka band satellites which will come on stream in 2014-2015 and will globally provide downlink bandwidths of up to 50 Mbit/s. OnAir was appointed as distribution partner for Inmarsat's Global Xpress service in November 2011.[11]

Onboard Server

A server installed onboard manages the satellite connection and routes the data traffic while also compressing and decompressing all data transmitted, including GSM phone calls that are recoded using the AMR codec which reduces bandwidth while maintaining a voice quality virtually indistinguishable from the native GSM codec.

Wi-Fi Network

Broadband Internet access (Internet OnAir) is provided by Wi-Fi access points. In order to access OnAir's Wi-Fi Internet service (Internet OnAir) passengers need to bring a Wi-Fi compatible device. Access can usually be purchased on board.

GSM Network

A picocell operating according to the GSM-1800 standard provides a GSM network (Mobile OnAir) enabling voice telephony, SMS and narrowband Internet access (GPRS). The GSM signal is distributed by a leaky line antenna, essentially a coaxial cable with a slotted shielding through which RF signals are radiated. This coaxial cable is installed above the ceiling panels along the whole aircraft cabin and provides a uniform linear coverage of the aircraft cabin at very low radiation power levels. In order to prevent handsets from connecting to terrestrial networks which would lead to high transmission power levels a so-called network control unit (NCU) installed onboard generates a broadband noise floor which is being emitted through the existing leaky line antenna masking reception of terrestrial mobile networks within the aircraft. These measures ensure that handsets can only connect to the onboard GSM network and will then operate with the lowest possible transmission power level (GSM-1800 power control level 15, nominal output power of 0 dBm) which results in significantly lower radiation levels than those experienced on average when using a mobile phone with terrestrial networks on the ground. The GSM network is being realized based on Monaco Telecom's core network. It uses the MCC / MNC tuple 901-15 assigned to SITA, one of OnAir's two owners, in March 2005.[12]

Passenger Equipment Compatibility

OnAir's inflight cellphone service (Mobile OnAir) requires a mobile phone supporting the GSM-1800 standard, also called DCS (Digital Cellular Service), which most modern GSM phones support as well as a SIM card from a network operator having a roaming agreement with Monaco Telcom. So-called quad-band handsets always support GSM-1800 and so are compatible with Mobile OnAir.

IFE Connectivity

The system can also provide IP-based connectivity to existing in-flight entertainment systems which allows news content to be fed in and messaging services as well as Internet access to be offered on in-seat units.

Customers

OnAir's customers which have been publicly announced are:

Airlines:

Cruise ship operators:

Private jet operators and VIP:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Mary Kirby (11 February 2013). "Exclusive: Airbus exits inflight connectivity business with sale of OnAir stake to SITA". APEX. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Global Distribution Systems & Technology Partners".
  3. ↑ Focus (22 September 2011). "Lufthansa: Ja zur SMS im Flieger, nein zu Telefonaten". Focus. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "Philippine Airlines to be launch customer for OnAir Play".
  5. ↑ "Oman Air launches full mobile phone and wi-fi connectivity aboard new Airbus A330s".
  6. ↑ "The new inflight 'must have': An interview with OnAir CEO Ian Dawkins".
  7. ↑ "Emirates puts emphasis on inflight live television as mammoth deal with Panasonic is revealed".
  8. ↑ Mary Kirby (21 August 2012). "Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband is about to get swifter for airlines, business jet operators". APEX.
  9. ↑ Mary Kirby (8 February 2013). "Emirates puts emphasis on inflight live television as mammoth deal with Panasonic is revealed". APEX. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  10. ↑ "Thales launches connectivity demonstrator suite".
  11. ↑ OnAir (29 November 2011). "OnAir selected by Inmarsat as Global Xpress Distribution Partner" (PDF). OnAir. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  12. ↑ http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/sp/T-SP-OB.832-2005-PDF-E.pdf
  13. ↑ "FARNBOROUGH: Emirates to fit 90 A380s with OnAir connectivity". Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  14. ↑
  15. ↑ "SriLankan Airlines flies its first fully-connected aircraft". 13 Nov 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2015.

Bibliography

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