Gogo Business Aviation had a big year in 2022 with several market-changing announcements. The company completed construction of its highly anticipated 5G network, and at EBACE it announced a new global low-Earth-orbit (LEO) broadband satellite service for business aviation that will provide fast, low-latency connectivity on a global scale for aircraft of virtually any size.
Gogo continues to work to bring its 5G solution to life, and the new high-speed, high-capacity experience is nearly ready for prime time. Meanwhile, the company is making significant strides in developing its global LEO satellite service, which will be the first complete LEO experience built exclusively for business aviation by business aviation experts.
“Our focus is making sure that we have products and services that address every business aviation customer’s needs regardless of the size of the aircraft or where they fly in the world,” said Sergio Aguirre, Gogo’s president and chief operating officer. “Worldwide less than 30% of business aviation aircraft have a broadband system installed. We have an ambitious goal of connecting 50% of all business aviation aircraft with a Gogo solution through the end of the decade and Gogo 5G and Gogo global LEO broadband are pillars to that strategy.”
From a network perspective, Gogo’s team built an entirely new network for Gogo 5G and did so in less than a year. The 5G network covers the contiguous United States today, and Gogo says it will expand next into Canada midyear in 2023.
The most significant development for Gogo’s 5G solution came in early January when the chip needed to enable the 5G service passed a critical design review. That chip is now in fabrication with delivery expected this summer. For those who don’t know, that chip encountered an issue in late-stage testing which caused a delay in production.
“The critical design review was an important process and milestone before entering into the manufacturing cycle,” said Mike Syverson, Gogo’s senior vice president of engineering. “Given the challenges that our supplier experienced in 2022, we felt that passing this amount of review would give us the confidence necessary to deliver 5G in 2023.”
Gogo’s 5G service is now expected to launch commercially in the fourth quarter of 2023.
“The good news though for customers who want 5G is that they can install the AVANCE L5 with full 5G provisions today, including the MB13 (5G) antennas, and operate on our 4G network while they wait for the 5G (X3 LRU) next year,” said Dave Glenn, Gogo’s senior vice president of customer operations. “That means once the X3 is ready they can get it installed and they’ll begin getting 5G service immediately.”
Gogo 5G is expected to deliver ~25 Mbps on average with peak speeds in the 75-80 Mbps range and has been designed to deliver high throughput with very low latency to address the increasing demand for data-heavy interactive services like video conferencing, live TV and gaming.
“AVANCE L5 is the key element and provides a fast upgrade path to 5G,” Glenn added. “If a customer has an L5 installed in their aircraft, to upgrade to 5G they literally add one small LRU and replace the antennas on the belly of the aircraft.”
Gogo has completed the first-article Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for the 5G belly-mounted MB13 antennas and the X3 (5G) LRU. That STC will be amended once the 5G chip becomes available.
Gogo says it is working closely with business aviation manufacturers and several authorized Gogo dealers to develop STCs that will cover more than 30 aircraft models in the aftermarket and from the factory.
Global LEO Broadband Taking Shape
The biggest milestone for Gogo’s new global broadband service occurred on March 25, when Gogo’s network partner OneWeb conducted its 18th and final launch, putting 36 satellites into space to complete its first-generation constellation. With that step complete, OneWeb can now begin to initiate global coverage with a constellation of 618 satellites. Gogo will be using this network to deliver its broadband service to business aircraft globally.
“We’re very pleased with the progress we’re making with our global LEO service,” Aguirre said. “The OneWeb satellites are fully deployed and we continue to make progress with the development of the antenna to work with that constellation.”
Gogo’s exclusive antenna assembly, designed in conjunction with Hughes Network Systems, will be small enough for installation on the fuselage of business aircraft from light jets and large turboprops to ultralong-range jets.
To access the network, Gogo says, will require just one Gogo AVANCE LRU inside the aircraft, which means customers who have an AVANCE system already installed will only have to install the ESA antenna, with a single cable coming in for power and only one other cable for data to go out.
“What we’re building will be a fast and affordable broadband system that will provide best-in-class global performance on the broadest range of aircraft in business aviation,” said Aguirre, “No other provider has a broadband system that will fit on smaller aircraft. And ours will be much less expensive to install and operate.”
The network will deliver performance comparable to terrestrial broadband services, with latency that is much lower than geostationary satellites (GEOs). Unlike GEO solutions, Gogo’s LEO service will include one fuselage-mounted unit with an integrated antenna, modem, power supply and RF converter; will only require 28 volts of DC power; will not rely on aircraft-positioning data; and will include an AVANCE router.
“We’ve designed the system to reduce costs by simplifying the installation,” Aguirre continued. “We have long delivered affordable, high-quality connectivity, and award-winning customer service to aircraft owners in North America, and now we want to bring those same benefits to all aircraft owners in the rest of the world.”
For customers with an AVANCE L3 or L5 system in North America, the unique multi-bearer capability of the AVANCE platform will allow Gogo to combine capacity of the LEO network with Gogo’s ATG network to deliver even higher capacity than LEO alone can provide.
Gogo says it will be able to provide global customer support through its network of 118 authorized dealers, including 24 that operate outside the United States, plus their 24/7 customer and technical support teams serving Gogo’s more-than-1,000 non-U.S. narrowband satellite customers that operate in 83 countries around the world today.