Gogo Business Aviation’s new Gogo Galileo offering fulfills the company’s commitment to delivering reliable, high-speed connectivity to any type and size business aircraft anywhere in the world.
What’s the number-one difference between small, midsize and large-cabin business jets? Well, if you said that only the latter offer high-speed worldwide satellite connectivity, you’re a winner!
Yes, travelers on turboprops and light to midsize jets operating everywhere but in the U.S. are disconnected when they fly. And it’s not because of the cost. It’s because current geosynchronous (GEO) satellite antennas are just too darn big for most business aircraft.
Fortunately, Gogo Business Aviation’s new low-earth-orbit (LEO) Gogo Galileo satellite connectivity solution is going to change that.
“We saw the need coming for a truly global broadband inflight connectivity service a long time ago” explains Gogo’s Director of Corporate Communications, Dave Mellin. “That’s been a driving force behind the development of our Gogo AVANCE platform and is the root of our new Gogo Galileo global solution.
“Gogo Galileo is being developed to provide a high-quality broadband experience to the
20,000-plus small-to-midsize-cabin business aircraft that operate around the world today,” he continues. “It’s made possible by the AVANCE platform, the OneWeb LEO satellite constellation, and the new Gogo Galileo antennas – the HDX and FDX – that we’re developing with Hughes.”
Mellin says that the Gogo AVANCE hardware was originally designed to be “multi-carrier capable.
“If you have a Gogo AVANCE L3, L5 or Smart Cabin System, you can add multiple networks and they can function simultaneously,” he explains. “Customers have been using their Gogo ATG [air to ground] in concert with Iridium and Swift Broadband satellite systems for a long time. But the large antennas the GEO operators require are too big for smaller aircraft.”
Gogo Galileo’s new fuselage-mounted HDX antenna is small and light enough for most turboprops and light-to-midsize jets. In fact, Gogo Business Aviation is working with Duncan Aviation to secure an STC for the Gogo Galileo HDX system on the Bombardier Challenger 300 series of aircraft.
“The Challenger 300 is one of the most popular super-midsize jets on the market, making it a perfect candidate for our Gogo Galileo HDX system,” says Sergio Aguirre, Gogo’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “Pursuing the STC for parts manufacture approval is a critical step as we are ready for commercial launch next year.”
Nearly 900 Challenger 300 series aircraft (300, 350, and 3500 models) have been sold since its inception in 2004. Today, 66 percent are flying with a Gogo ATG system, and 50 percent of those are equipped with the company’s industry-leading AVANCE platform.
Aguirre says that provides an easy path for an upgrade to the Gogo Galileo product line. In fact, all it takes is the addition of the new fuselage antenna and a couple of cable connections, and your AVANCE L3 or L5 LRU is going global.
But it’s not just small and midsize aircraft that will benefit from the new service. Gogo has recently announced a larger-format FDX antenna that will deliver higher throughput and a more robust connectivity experience for large-cabin jets.
“More passengers means a lot more data moving on and off the aircraft,” Mellin says. “That requires a larger antenna to ensure that it can all move at the high speeds that today’s passengers and new data-heavy applications demand.”
Gogo Galileo’s a No-go without LEO
While knowing the limitations of large satellite antennas is nothing new, it took a breakthrough in low-earth-orbit satellites and steerable electronic antenna technology to make a leap like Gogo Galileo possible.
In short, GEO satellites, the kind that legacy satcom systems use, orbit the earth at altitudes between 22,000 to 25,000 miles and thus require a large antenna and larger, heavier equipment onboard. Long distances require a lot of power.
Closer to earth, LEO satellites zip over our heads somewhere between 400 and 1,200 miles up. That relatively shorter distance means they require less power and work fine with smaller antennas. Plus, there’s a lot less signal latency. And even a couple milliseconds of latency can ruin a video call.
“The OneWeb LEO constellation is fully launched with more than 588 satellites deployed that we are using. It is a true enterprise-grade network, so it delivers exceptional service everywhere in the world,” Mellin says. “It’s so good that we can offer an agreement that guarantees a minimum level of service.
“If we fall below that level, we are accountable to the customer,” he adds. “That wouldn’t be possible without OneWeb’s reliability. No other provider can offer this guarantee—at least not on the LEO side of things. That’s a huge differentiator for Gogo Galileo.”
The Highs and Lows of GEO and LEO
“As you can see, the differences between GEO and LEO are profound,” Aguirre adds. “And there are advantages and disadvantages to both. We felt that LEO was the best way to go for many reasons. One was it provides true global coverage, including over both poles.”
Another plus in LEO’s favor is that it’s a new technology that allows Gogo’s team to introduce performance and service innovations that are not possible when using GEO satellites.
“The pace of innovation in GEOs is slow because the satellites cost hundreds of millions to build and launch, so it’s understandable why they stay in orbit for decades, but that also means the technology can’t remain current,” Aguirre says. “Because the lifespan of the typical LEO satellite is only three to five years, we can introduce new capabilities faster to deliver a better connectivity experience to passengers sooner and keep current with technology. People want the same services in the air that they enjoy on the ground.”
Gogo Galileo’s LEO’s smaller antennas, reduced latency, and pole-to-pole coverage will finally enable passengers in smaller aircraft worldwide to enjoy true high-speed connectivity.
One Year from Concept to Connectivity
While Mellin stresses that everyone at Gogo Business Aviation is excited about what Gogo Galileo will mean to its global customer base, he says the development team is equally proud of the way they were able to beat the odds and demonstrate the system as promised.
“We announced the Gogo Galileo program at the 2022 EBACE event,” he recalls. “And just a year later, we put on a live system demonstration in an aircraft’s cabin in the EBACE 2023 static display. It was great to do it there, but we could have done the demo anywhere in the world, and it would have been just as successful.
“Everyone who saw what Gogo Galileo could do was extremely impressed by what they experienced,” Mellin says. “And soon, Gogo will be able to fuse LEO and Gogo 5G connectivity for the fastest and highest-capacity inflight service available, no matter where in the world the customer is flying.”