On the Record with
DENNIS FERGUSON, PRESIDENT, AIRSHOW INC.

Airshow Tackles Problem of Live TV Aloft

There are many challenges for companies playing in the arena of live television and digital broadband services for the cockpit and cabin.

"One of the most challenging things we've addressed is live TV," says Airshow president Dennis Ferguson. "We've enjoyed nice growth in the business, and we have some good customers flying the product in the U.S. But taking TV to the rest of the world has been a challenge.

"How do we improve performance and what are the opportunities to take TV systems to broader international coverage, and also make use of data services?" Ferguson asks, highlighting one of the major challenges for Airshow in the coming year. "It has so much potential, not just to entertain folks but to keep executives in touch."

What's holding those capabilities back? For Ferguson it's a double whammy: technical capability and cost.

"There are so many companies scratching to figure out how to get high-speed data to the airplane," he says. "We're investigating everything, but we need to pull it together into a plan with a viable solution and a technology that will be around for awhile. The key is to make sure the product in the cabin isn't viewed as non-essential, so it must be avionics-quality, FAA-certified equipment."

At the moment such equipment is costly, and customers who are willing to pay that cost are few and far between in the corporate world.

"The technology is already there for true broadband," Ferguson notes. "The industry demonstrated Ku-band technology for data a couple years ago. The big questions are: how do you manage it long term? What does it cost? Do you need that bandwidth so badly you'll pay anything for it? We don't think so.

"We're all trying to chase after the same thing. My personal view is that with companies like Tenzing and Connexion, because their services are so costly, they're looking for the largest customer base and trying to make sense out of managing the cost of service. The technology is here; the issue is how do we do things that make financial sense?"

Ferguson believes satellite-based Ku-band communications will only be a stopgap technology until a more affordable one comes along. As yet, though, it is still over the horizon.

"Ku is a short-term solution. Another thing will come along on the order of Ku-band frequency that's not so expensive, and might offer another way to do things."

As part of its pursuit of new capabilities, Airshow has been working with Qualcomm on a broadband terminal for the commercial and corporate aviation markets that will deliver up to 144 kbps of bi-directional data over the Globalstar satellite communications system. The speed of the proposed service is more than 15 times the 9.6 kbps rate of current airborne systems. Much-higher transmission speeds will allow Airshow to offer a broad array of business communications services to passengers in flight.

Ferguson said the project has been delayed, however, because of uncertainty over the financial future of Globalstar.

"We're moving ahead with the airborne hardware that will operate with Globalstar, but there are still some financial issues," he told Show News. "Globalstar is struggling and working to put its financial plan together. We have nothing if Globalstar doesn't come together, but we want to partner with them (if they proceed)."

The planned system, which can be adapted to a variety of aircraft types, will incorporate a 144 kbps data terminal developed by Qualcomm. The terminal can be connected to an Airshow onboard cabin file server that is programmed to deliver live Internet, email, information services and video services.

The new broadband terminal will allow up to eight simultaneous voice calls in addition to high-speed data connectivity. The complete system includes a small, lightweight, omni-directional antenna weighing two pounds and measuring 9.5 inches long by 5 inches wide by 1.4 inches tall. The antenna receives signals at the higher latitude routes typically flown by corporate and commercial aircraft, which Airshow says provides a more effective and practical solution than competing high-speed concepts.

-Barry Rosenberg