Satcom Direct is the first service provider to successfully send and receive SATCOM datalink (AFIS/ACARS) messages over the Inmarsat-4 satellite constellation.
This achievement in technology took place onboard a Global Express aircraft using Satcom Direct‘s FlightDeck Freedom™ in collaboration with SITA‘s datalink network and the new Inmarsat-4 satellite constellation. To enable this advancement, Satcom Direct worked directly with SITA, the first network provider to implement classic aeronautical service over the new Inmarsat-4 satellite constellation. Satcom Direct took its existing knowledge of and working relationship with Inmarsat and built upon SITA’s milestone to offer dual-direction service for satcom datalink messages.
SATCOM datalink is used by pilots to upload flight plans into the aircraft flight management computer and to receive weather updates, text messages, Air Traffic Control clearances, and various other items pertaining to the flight, including position reporting. Satcom datalink messages can be sent or received via FlightDeck Freedom through Inmarsat and SITA. Satcom Direct offers a variety of bundled solutions which include voice, fax, Internet, and datalink communications, such as FlightDeck Freedom. With FlightDeck Freedom, customers can access multiple flight plan and trip planning providers and have flight information sent directly to the aircraft via datalink. It also enables text and graphical weather, pre-departure clearances, oceanic clearances, digital ATIS (DATIS), text message delivery, and satcom systems status, plus use of VHF and satcom for datalink, all for a fixed annual fee with no extra charges for satellite communications. FlightDeck Freedom interfaces with different types of avionics, including Honeywell AFIS, Honeywell Primus Epic, Rockwell Collins CMU-4000, Teledyne Controls Telelink, and Universal Avionics Unilink, and is compatible with aircraft produced by Boeing, Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault Falcon Jet, Gulfstream, Hawker, and others.
