Tail-Mounted Antenna Offers SwiftBroadband Connectivity

EMS SatCom introduced its eNfusion AMT-700 High-gain Antenna (HGA) at the NBAA National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Annual Meeting and Convention this week. The new tail-mounted antenna will provide higher gain than competing antennas of similar size and weight.

The antenna was designed with Inmarsat's new SwiftBroadband service in mind. Its successful sister antenna, the AMT-50 HGA, currently flies on more than 1,400 aircraft.

"EMS SatCom entered the avionics market in the early 1990s offering aircraft antennas. Since then we have had significant success with our AMT family of products," said Vice President of Product Development John Broughton. "Our AMT-700 HGA builds on more than 15 years' experience and millions of flight hours of the AMT-50 HGA in the field. More important, this new antenna incorporates several new technological advances—initially brought to market in our AMT-3800 phased-array product. By maximizing data throughput and system capacity, these advances are designed to get the most out of Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband service."

Mechanically-steered and designed for aircraft tail-mounting, the AMT-700 HGA is a small, light, high-performance solution. It is well suited for installation on smaller aircraft such as Cessna's newly announced Citation Columbus and the Embraer Legacy. It will provide weight savings for large aircraft over the AMT-50 HGA, while offering comparable or better performance than the AMT-50 HGA. The AMT-700 antenna's addition to the eNfusion family of products further demonstrates EMS SatCom's commitment to enabling SwiftBroadband connectivity on an increasingly broad array of aircraft types. The antenna is planned to be commercially available in May 2009.

Composed of two LRU's (Line Replaceable Units), the AMT-700 HGA features lower power consumption, higher gain (>13.5dB) and a small footprint, and is specifically designed to meet or exceed the most stringent SwiftBroadband requirements. The antenna control functions have been integrated into the antenna package, offering more flexible installation.

Weighing in at less than five pounds, it is the lightest of EMS SatCom's line of eNfusion antennas. The first variant to be available will be DC-powered, with an AC model to follow.

FMI: www.ems-t.com