Aviation International news News Vertical Markets

Phasor and Airbus sign MOU to develop ESA for government airborne connectivity apps

Advanced ESA will deliver mobile broadband connectivity on Governmental air-transport aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Phasor, a major developer of enterprise-grade electronically-steered antenna (ESA) systems for satellite-based mobile broadband applications, has announced that is has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus through its Network for the Sky (NFTS) programme.

The MoU will see the companies working together to adapt Phasor’s commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) aeronautical electronically steerable antenna (A-ESA) already in development, for use on Governmental air-transport aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Reliable, resilient aero connectivity that can support the highest data rates is essential to Network Centric operations today to enable a broad range of applications and services.

The Phasor ESA will be capable of supporting high bandwidth data communications with Ku-band satellites in both commercial GEO and LEO orbits and will also include an integrated radome, as a single line replaceable unit (LRU).

“We are very pleased to be working with Airbus to address the needs of this important user community,” said David Helfgott, CEO, Phasor. Phasor’s aero ESA features a lightweight, ultra-low-profile design, and is well suited to support traditional fixed satellite networks (FSS), High Throughput Satellites (HTS), Non-Geosynchronous (NGSO) satellite networks.

Delivering as one, NFTS securely and reliably connects airborne assets together with the rest of operations. Operating over a mix of technologies to form one, resilient, high-speed global network. NFTS sets the foundation for connected airborne network-centric operations, with the objective to offer a full operational capability by 2020.