Iridium and Thales
Expand Partnership to Deliver Aircraft
Connectivity Services
Sept. 3, 2019
Iridium Communications
Inc. announced Thales as the newest Iridium
Certus aviation service provider.While already developing the Iridium
Certus-based FlytLINK terminal and antenna,
Thales will now be able to offer both
Iridium Certus terminals and Iridium Certus
connectivity services to business jets,
commercial aircraft, rotorcraft, general
aviation and UAVs.
Iridium Certus is the only L-band broadband
platform providing truly global connectivity
and upon aviation terminal availability,
will provide a state-of-the-art solution for
two-way flight deck and business cabin
communications.
Iridium Certus will
turbocharge the company's existing suite of
aircraft safety services, including
providing Iridium Future Air Navigation
System (FANS) applications such as standard
and "enhanced" ADS-C, controller-pilot data
link communications and ATS Safety Voice,
once certifications are complete.Beyond safety services, Iridium
Certus will deliver flight deck and business
cabin-friendly internet capabilities such as
electronic flight bag services, graphical
weather, blackbox streaming, email, credit
card processing, VPN access and social media
posting and monitoring.
"As the aviation
industry continues to adopt satcom as a
primary means of long-range communications,
reliable and cost-effective systems with
truly global coverage are becoming an
increasing necessity," said Michael Hooper,
director and general manager of aviation,
Iridium."The Iridium
Certus platform will provide the only
solutions that meet the coverage, cost and
capability requirements for this new
generation of aircraft communications, and
we're excited to further expand our close
partnership with Thales to bring these
capabilities to market."
Thales plans to be
first to market with an Iridium Certus
aviation product and has a unique place in
the Iridium Certus partner ecosystem as the
only company manufacturing land, maritime
and aviation terminals. This includes a
hybrid FlytLINK solution that combines
Iridium Certus capabilities with Iridium's
traditional narrowband services, including
safety services, which will be available
with its initial release.
"We're
excited about our aero solution on Iridium
Certus and intend to be first to market.
Thales FlytLINK will empower customers to
achieve their big ambitions, and we're proud
to help them do that.
This marks another big step towards a
long-lasting relationship with Iridium and
bringing connectivity to users worldwide,"
said Craig Olson, vice president of
connectivity solutions, Thales InFlyt
Experience.
With low latency and
superior performance capabilities compared
to alternatives, Iridium Certus will be the
ideal solution for the Aeronautical
Telecommunications Network (ATN) Open
Systems Interconnection (OSI) capability
deployed in Europe for domestic en-route
communications. Looking ahead, Iridium has
also been working closely with major
international aviation organizations and
ANSPs on the development of the ATN Internet
Protocol Suite (IPS), which will offer a
more efficient and capable alternative to
existing options for aircraft transitioning
from Oceanic to Domestic satellite
communications.