BOEING HAS completed flight-testing of a full-scale prototype of its phased-array communication-antenna system, aimed at demonstrating the technology's suitability for use in commercial and military aircraft.
The Satellite Telemetry Airborne Receiving System (STARS) will be installed on the US Air Force chief of staff's Boeing C-135, known as "Speckled Trout", for the 1996 Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (JWID '96) to take place in August.
The JWID exercises involve the experimental use of the antenna, to receive video and military data via satellite.
"That's when we will demonstrate the system's ability to receive data as well as satellite television-signals," says development manager Stuart Buchan. To date, the signal strength of the 1,500-element STARS antenna has "-exceeded expectations" during trials on a Cessna 206 testbed when TV signals were picked up. Boeing hopes that the STARS will provide an affordable means by which digital real-time data can be transmitted from and received by the aircraft, either directly or via satellite.
Boeing's phased-array technology is designed to provide the high-bandwidth datalinks which are needed to transmit huge volumes of data via satellite. "Unlike conventional mechanically steered antennas that are bulky, heavy and slow, thin, lightweight, phased-array antennas can steer beams electronically, permitting instantaneous connections between satellites and mobile platforms," says Boeing.
Source: Flight International
