Honeywell's JetWave is a piece of

satellite communications A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. ...

hardware produced by

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

that enables global in-flight internet connectivity. Its connectivity is provided using Inmarsat’s GX Aviation network.Miller, Seth (December 18, 2019). �
Gilat delivers a successful Ka-band ESA test flight with Honeywell, Telesat
��. ''Paxex Aero.'' Retrieved December 26, 2019. The JetWave platform is used in business and general aviation, as well as defense and commercial airline users.

History

In 2012, Honeywell announced it would provide Inmarsat with the hardware for its GX Ka-band in-flight connectivity network. The

Ka-band The Ka band (pronounced as either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The designation "Ka-band" is from Kurz-above, which stems from the German word ''kurz,'' meaning "short". There ...

(pronounced either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum defined as frequencies in the range 27.5 to 31 gigahertz (GHz). In satellite communications, the Ka-band allows higher bandwidth communication. In 2017, after five years and more than 180 flight hours and testing, JetWave was launched as part of GX Aviation with Lufthansa Group. Honeywell’s JetWave was the exclusive terminal hardware option for the Inmarsat GX Aviation network; however, the exclusivity clause in that contract has expired. In July 2019, the United States Air Force selected Honeywell’s JetWave satcom system for 70 of its C-17 Globemaster III cargo planes.Zazulia, Nick (July 11, 2019). �
USAF Picks Honeywell’s JetWave Satcom for C-17 Fleet
��. ''Aviation Today''. Retrieved January 2, 2020. In December 2019, it was reported that six AirAsia aircraft had been fitted with Inmarsat’s GX Aviation Ka-band connectivity system and is slated to be implemented fleetwide across AirAsia’s Airbus A320 and A330 models in 2020, requiring installation of JetWave atop AirAsia’s fuselages. Today, Honeywell’s JetWave hardware is installed on over 1,000 aircraft worldwide. In August 2021, the Civil Aviation Administration of China approved a validation of Honeywell’s MCS-8420 JetWave satellite connectivity system for Airbus 320 aircraft. In December 2021, Honeywell,

SES SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to: Business and economics * Socioeconomic status * Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland * SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia) * SES, a ...

, and

Hughes Network Systems Hughes Network Systems, LLC is an American telecommunications company that specializes in providing satellite-based communication services for consumer and enterprise markets. It is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland and provides satellite i ...

demonstrated multi-orbit high-speed airborne connectivity for military customers using Honeywell’s JetWave MCX terminal with a Hughes HM-series modem, and SES satellites in both

medium Earth orbit A medium Earth orbit (MEO) is an geocentric orbit, Earth-centered orbit with an altitude above a low Earth orbit (LEO) and below a high Earth orbit (HEO) – between above sea level.

(MEO) and

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...

(GEO). The tests achieved full duplex data rates of more than 40 megabits per second via a number of SES' (GEO) satellites including

GovSat-1 SES-16 / GovSat-1 is a geostationary communications satellite designed and manufactured by Orbital ATK; LuxGovSat is a joint venture between SES and the Luxembourg government. It has a mass of and has a design life of at least 15 years. The s ...

, and the high-throughput, low-latency

O3b O3b is a satellite constellation in Medium Earth orbit (MEO) owned and operated by SES, and designed to provide lower-latency broadband connectivity to remote locations for mobile network operators and internet service providers, maritime, av ...

MEO

satellite constellation A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global pass (spaceflight), coverage, such that at any time everywhere on E ...

, with connections moving between GEO/MEO links in under 30 sec.

Uses

Commercial aviation

Honeywell’s JetWave enables air transport and regional aircraft to connect to

Inmarsat Inmarsat is a British communications satellite, satellite telecommunications company, offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate with groun ...

’s GX Aviation network. The multichannel satellite (MSC) JetWave terminals share the same antenna controller, modem and router hardware with the business market, but have an MCS-8200 fuselage-mounted antenna.

Business aviation

Honeywell’s JetWave hardware allows users to connect to Inmarsat’s Jet ConneX, a business aviation broadband connectivity offering to provide Wi-Fi for connected devices. JetWave offers a tail-mount antenna for business jets.

Defense

Honeywell’s JetWave satellite communications system for defense allows users to connect to the Inmarsat GX network, offering global coverage for military airborne operators, including over water, over nontraditional flight paths and in remote areas. JetWave and the Inmarsat GX network enable mission-critical applications like real-time weather; videoconferencing; large file transfers; encryption capabilities; in-flight briefings; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance video; and secure communications. JetWave is configurable for a variety of military platforms and offers antennas for large and small airframes.�
JetWave High-Speed Satellite Communications Hardware Defense
�� Honeywell Aerospace. Retrieved December 27, 2019.

References

Computer hardware Satellite Internet access