Cobham Aviator 200S Reaches First Call Milestone

The first satcom call has been made using Cobham Satcom’s Aviator 200S system over Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband satcom service. It reduces the number of LRUs on the aircraft from four to two, employing an antenna that combines the enhanced low-gain antenna, RF power amplifier and diplexer into a single compact unit, according to Cobham.

The 200S is designed as the first Inmarsat Class 4 terminal and “allows for simultaneous transmission of safety and non-safety services on the same SwiftBroadband channel.” Using Inmarsat’s new generation SwiftBroadband-Safety service, which will be available next year, the Aviator S features secure data communications because the cockpit and cabin domains are separated.

This ensures that cockpit communications are secure, useful for safety-sensitive ATC messaging. It also allows simultaneous transmission of operational and flight data to ground facilities and reception of flight-relevant information such as EFB or FMS updates. With an antenna capable of sufficient bandwidth, the Aviator S can also provide passengers with satcom connectivity.