Friday, April 22, 2016

Aero Antennas: Bigger is Better!

ThinKom and QEST are both promoting Ka-band flat panel antennas that use about a 25" aperture for receive.  ARINC 791 provisions can support at least a 30" aperture, as shown by Gogo with 2Ku.  Should a Ka antenna be built as big as possible, or is there any size that is "big enough"?

As time moves forward, will service levels going up (due to evolving user behaviors) outrace the cost of services going down (due to expanding capacity and lower costs to launch capacity)?

How valuable will a larger antenna be if trends run away from expectations?

Monday, April 4, 2016

It Takes a Village

Delivering a consistent Internet experience to an airline passenger demands adequate provisioning for the peak periods (highest contention ratios).  It may take many satellites with overlapping coverage to aggregate sufficient capacity to meet the demands in any "hotpot".