EMMA KELLY / LONDON
Swift64 services for passenger and cockpit applications should be ready before year-end
Satellite communication (satcom) specialist Inmarsat expects its long-awaited high-speed data services to become available this quarter through to early 2002. The services, dubbed Swift64, will provide much faster data speeds for in-flight passenger and cockpit applications than are currently available and they come as the airline demand for in-flight e-mail services is booming.
The two types of Swift64 services will provide data rates of 64kbit/s compared with the current 9.6kbit/s. The mobile ISDN service will provide a clear channel to the aircraft, ISDN connectivity and is charged at a per minute rate, while the mobile packet data service will provide a shared channel and will be charged per megabit. The former will be offered in the fourth quarter, while mobile packet services will follow in the first quarter of next year, says David Featherstone, head of Inmarsat's aeronautical operations, portfolio and partnership marketing. Inmarsat concedes that service introduction is later than it hoped, but says that "development timescales of some of the avionics manufacturers was slower than we would have liked". Swift64 involves a minor upgrade to satcom avionics.
Applications include in-flight e-mail, file transfer, internet access, video conferencing and operational applications. Its introduction corresponds with "a wave of interest in in-flight e-mail and internet", says Dick Smith, technical manager. Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Varig and Virgin Atlantic are all equipping their fleets for in-flight e-mail provider Tenzing's services, which operate via the Inmarsat satellites.
Swift64 is initially expected to be taken up by corporate aircraft operators, but a number of airlines are interested in testing the services. Two initiatives with unnamed airlines will see Swift64 tested "very early", says Smith.
Swift64 also has cockpit applications, including extended twin engine operations clearance, updating the navigation database and graphical weather information.
In response to increasing data demands, Inmarsat is already planning faster rates. The new Inmarsat-4 satellites, to be operational from 2004, will provide rates up to 432kbit/s on long-haul aircraft and 32 to 128kbit/s on medium- and short-haul aircraft. Inmarsat is also aiming to get higher rates out of the Inmarsat-3s.
Source: Flight International
