SITAONAIR and Teledyne Controls are joining forces to deliver the aviation industry’s first-ever airline-integrated ACARS datalink terrestrial cellular service.
The new partnership announced between SITAONAIR and avionics manufacturer Teledyne Controls, represents what the two companies refer to as an “important evolution in airline and aircraft communications.”
Datalink services are chiefly provided using VHF/VDL radio frequencies and satellites to transmit data messages, communicating vital real-time aircraft status, health and position updates between an aircraft and its airline’s flight operations.
By using Teledyne Controls’ GroundLink® Comm+ system, SITAONAIR is able to integrate terrestrial cellular services into its core datalink network, giving airlines the flexibility of another transmission channel for aircraft communications.
According to a press release, this is the first-ever option of its kind in the aircraft communications market and benefits to airlines of enabling the datalink service over 3G/4G include:
- Providing increased capacity for message transmission with levels of service, support and proactive monitoring that airlines have come to expect
- Relieving traditional datalink networks in congested airports
- Delivering the service through consistent interfaces and integrating the datalink infrastructure for seamless service delivery across networks
- Supplementing VHF datalink ground coverage in sparse areas.
“We are very pleased to formalize our relationship with Teledyne Controls to deliver our unique-to-market, datalink-over-cellular solution to the air transport industry, said Dominique El Bez, SITAONAIR’s Vice President of Strategy. “SITAONAIR is focused on leading the industry in evolving aircraft communications services, and this is the first step of several we are taking to bring new IP networks to aircraft for operational communications.
El Bez said their vision is to deeply integrate available technology to ensure seamless interoperability between new and current networks. “Fundamentally, our industry needs to know that these services, which provide critical communications, do the job, and this is the guarantee SITAONAIR delivers as a dedicated airline partner.”
Marshall Dormire, Vice President of Business Development & Strategy of Teledyne Controls, adds: “We are thrilled to join forces with SITAONAIR to deliver this new datalink service. Customers have been very interested to extend datalink functionality to Teledyne’s versatile GroundLink® Comm+ system. It is now easy to quickly and securely transfer datalink data over 3G/4G wireless cellular networks worldwide.”
For more information visit www.sitaonair.aero.
