As the wheels on our Legacy 600 tucked up on a sprightly
departure from Orlando Executive, I was already logged onto the Internet,
checking mail and reporting back to the Show News office. This particular
article was written entirely onboard at 26,000 ft somewhere over the Gulf coast
and mailed back to our convention newsroom before the aircraft had even reached
the halfway point of our 45-minute flight.
It was an impressive demonstration of what Legacy users can
expect from "High Speed Data from Embraer"— a seamless onboard broadband
Internet connection now available for every owner. Embraer's system is a
$337,000 factory-fitted option that can be retrofitted to any existing
aircraft. Its value cannot be measured in dollar terms alone. Embraer says that
its HSD solution is the very best available because it delivers uninterrupted
connectivity. While the company admits that the system, which uses a Swift64
connection to the Inmarsat satellite network, may not be the fastest available,
worldwide coverage is 100%— unlike that of some of its competitors (such as
Connexion by Boeing).
The basic system operates at a data rate of 128 kb/sec (over
two 64 kb/sec channels), but that can be increased to 256 kb/sec (over four
channels). It's not long ago that numbers like that would have been an
impressive broadband speed for your home or office, but Embraer can now deliver
it wirelessly throughout the aircraft to 16 simultaneous connections. If you
don't have a WiFi enabled laptop, then the Legacy has full cable LAN coverage
throughout— but if you can afford the airplane then you can probably splash out
on a new laptop too.
A growth option now under consideration will boost
connection rates to 432 kb/sec per channel— improving speed by a factor of 13
and delivering superfast broadband, all at 41,000 ft. The Embraer system allows
business users to conduct video conferencing or voice-over-Internet phone
calls. You can log on to your company's intranet or a secure VPN server. Any
conceivable business use has been covered.
The Legacy's impressive satcom system is provided by
Chelton, and the technology used is quite revolutionary. Instead of a
conventional mechanical antenna (which is large, heavy and not always reliable)
the Legacy is fitted with a phased array antenna— a technology that is typically
found only in the most advanced military radar systems. The roof-mounted
Chelton antenna is linked to a Miltop-supplied wireless/data network. The
Internet service itself can be provided by ARINC, Telenor or SITA. Embraer says
the lightweight phased array was specially chosen with an eye on incorporating
it on the Phenom small jet family in the future.— Robert Hewson
The photos for this article were taken on a Sony Ericsson
K750i camera phone, transmitted via Bluetooth to a Macintosh iBook laptop and
transmitted wirelessly to Inmarsat and then to Show News.
