Panasonic Intros Ku Broadband

Panasonic Avionics has introduced what it calls a “global communications suite” that is designed to provide head-of-state aircraft with the ultimate in airborne connectivity. Branded as eXConnect and eXPhone, the Ku-band satellite services made their debut in a Boeing Business Jet last month. Additional customer discussions are ongoing to outfit the hardware in the Airbus Corporate Jetliner and executive versions of the Boeing 747 and 777. Panasonic said the Internet data service will be capable of guaranteed transfer speeds of up to50 megabits per second, which is several times faster than a typical DSL connection. It will also broadcast live TV globally. The hardware and antenna for the service are the same as those developed for the air transport market.