LEO vs. GEO battle presages IFC multi-orbit future

The future of aviation connectivity is multi-orbit, and will require in-flight connectivity (IFC) operator partnerships. For example, SkyPerfect JSAT partners with Intelsat on IFC.

In the meantime, competition remains fierce between operators of geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellites and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, with IFC operators eagerly touting the benefits of their solutions.

GEO satellites have multiple advantages, Don Buchman, vice president of commercial mobility at Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT), told Connectivity Business News. “In lower Earth orbit, you don’t have many satellites over any specific geographical area, so you’re stuck with what’s there at any time.”

Viasat’s GEO satellites, however, “can see one-third of the Earth, so we can be clever about how we’re using it,” Buchman said. GEO satellites are in sunlight constantly while LEO satellites are not, he added.

LEO operators tout the latency advantages the satellites offer.

“We’re somewhere around 100 milliseconds (ms) compared to 600 ms or more from a GEO and — as much as they argue that it doesn’t matter — that’s the law of physics,” Nick Maynard, marketing director for mobility at OneWeb, told Connectivity Business News.

“More and more applications rely on low latency, such as cloud access and video conferencing, not that any of us necessarily want to have a plane full of people doing [Microsoft] Teams calls on our flights,” Maynard said.

Geography matters when it comes to IFC, Daniel Welch, co-founder and senior consultant at research firm Valour Consultancy, told Connectivity Business News.

“I think there are some areas, such as the polar regions, where GEO capacity is thin and the introduction of LEO will benefit airlines significantly,” Welch said.

And some applications that require low latency — such as video gaming — may never be permitted in-flight, he added.

The multi-orbit future

Airlines will seek IFC solutions that deliver both LEO and GEO connectivity, according to Welch. “I think LEO combined with GEO will finally give the airlines the assurance of quality they’ve been after,” he said.

Dave Bijur, senior vice president for commercial aviation at Intelsat, agrees that a combination is preferable.

“LEO plus GEO is better than LEO or GEO [as standalone networks],” Bijur told Connectivity Business News. “The best of both worlds is what customers want. And it’s what we plan to deliver.”

LEO provider Starlink, for one, is offering LEO IFC service without GEO, Welch noted.

“They might succeed in that strategy,” he said. “But in the mid-term and certainly the long-term, in our view, [IFC] has to be multi-orbit.”

Adding 5G to IFC

The next frontier in IFC is the addition of 5G terrestrial connectivity, Welch said. Terrestrial 5G will support gate-to-gate connectivity, and enable airplanes to offload crew connectivity needs as well as the data collected by smart airplanes that is stored in the air and forwarded after the plane has landed.

Recent 5G announcements include IFC specialist Gogo’s (NASDAQ:GOGO) project due to launch in October, and antenna maker ALL.SPACE’s new S2000 terminal offering multi-orbit and terrestrial wireless capabilities, scheduled to begin production later this year, with a special aviation version planned for the future.