Mobile satellite communications company Inmarsat has launched SwiftBroadband Helo (SB-Helo) X-Stream, a new system for X-Stream services specifically developed for rotary aircraft and designed to achieve advanced streaming performance on intermediate and high-gain antennas, alleviating the connectivity constraints traditionally caused by rotary blades.

SB-Helo X-Stream will expand the resilience of the X-Stream service on the aircraft by mitigating against data packet loss. Based on testing conducted earlier this year, the helicopter-grade service has been proven to achieve a 40 per cent reduction in data packet loss compared to the standard background IP service, as well as delivering throughputs of up to 400kbps per single channel. Multiple channels can be aggregated enabling enhancements in the overall performance of the system.

President of the global government business unit Todd McDonell comments: “The introduction of this new solution will ensure government helicopter operators have reliable satellite connectivity, enhancing the capability of rotary wing platforms by providing simultaneous voice and data communications.

“Inmarsat has had a long-standing commitment to developing helicopter connectivity technology. We want to ensure that our customers are able to select the optimum solution when considering helicopter-specific hardware options, and the introduction of the Inmarsat SB-Helo X-Stream services will offer even more choice to government end-users seeking optimum connectivity.”

The solution ensures that applications requiring the consistent transmission of real-time data, such as video streaming, provide a high-quality delivery during operational use. Traditionally, satellite data connections to rotary wing platforms have been constrained by the effect of the rotating blades, but this SB-Helo will deliver additional power and effectively reduce packet loss and jitter, significantly improving the bandwidth, quality and reliability of service.

A variety of hardware options allows customers to select the most appropriate hardware for their platform, whatever the needs of the crew or passengers on board, and Inmarsat has created a dedicated commercial offer which is fully adapted to helicopter grade services.