Free Wi-Fi in the Air? New Antenna Promises Ultrafast In-flight Broadband

March 30, 2016

By Kate Palmer, Business Reporter

 

Airline passengers will be able to access low-cost superfast internet in the "next three years", according to the researcher behind a six-figure investment to boost broadband connectivity on planes.

Professor Yang Hao of Queen Mary University is spearheading the project to develop a near-invisible satellite dish that he says "use simple materials that are dramatically cheaper than today's technology" after winning £300,000 from industry body, the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

The world electromagnetics expert is developing next-generation antenna that can be attached to planes without creating any drag, connecting passengers with superfast broadband without any need to switch off during take-off and landing.

Currently, most air passengers don't have internet access at all, while a handful of airlines offer limited connections using mobile data - but it is slow and can be expensive.

British Airways, for example, lets business-class travellers access emails, text messages and some web pages but it is similar to "GPRS" speeds on the ground and must be switched off during take-off and landing.

 The new technology acts like a satellite but doesn't require a large dish, Professor Hao said

Meanwhile, US airlines have begun to roll out on-board Wi-Fi at a cost of around £3.50 an hour - but Professor Hao said his new system will beat this on speed and price.

He said: "Current bandwidth is too slow. While passengers can now get speeds of just a few megabytes per second, my system is around a hundred times faster. This is all using smart antenna systems that are low-cost, unlike existing technologies that are price prohibitive."

Inflight internet company Gogo, for example, claims it offers peak speeds of 70 megabits per second (Mbps) using two external aircraft antenna: one for uploading and another for downloading.

But Professor Hao said his technology offers speeds of "several hundred" Mbps, well above the Government's definition of superfast broadband as providing download speeds above 24 Mbps.

 British Airways' business class passengers can access emails, text messages and some web pages whilst in-flight 

But he faces competition from space companies, which are racing to be the first to provide Britain's air passengers with a broadband connection.

Inmarsat, Britain's biggest satellite telecoms firm, is now working with Deutsche Telekom to develop a European network that will provide aircraft flying over the continent with broadband.

It will use a series of towers on the ground that link to a spacecraft, creating a unbroken network that can be accessed at 30,000ft.

Sir John O'Reilly of the Institution for Engineering and Technology said he hoped the funding grant would be "a springboard for propelling Professor Hao's research to even higher levels".

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