Latest Enhancement To Airtext Airborne Messaging System Offers High Speed Transmission Of Documents And Graphics, ATIS Information

Airtext has announced enhancements to its Airtext+ service that in-cludes high speed transmission of graphic images and crew access to Digital ATIS information.  Airtext+’s “Big Data”  can be internally switched to a high speed datalink in order to send and receive documents and pictures pertinent to the passengers or crew. Pilots can also request what the FAA has designated as D-ATIS, a textual copy of radio-based Airport Terminal Information for specific airports which have the capability to transmit it in that format.

“These enhancements to our services are just the latest in an ongoing evolution of customer-requested communication capabilities that we offer at extraordinary savings compared to what owners and operators of business aircraft previously had to choose from,” said David Gray, Airtext Chief Executive Officer.  “We started with a simple, Iridium-based text messaging capability that could accommodate up to 16 simultaneous users, eventually increased that to handle 64 concurrent users and then developed the ability to add phone calling with Airtext +.

Now, we’re ‘taking it up a notch’ with high speed graphics and digital capabilities so that passengers and crew members can use visual media to ensure precise and accurate understanding of their messaging.

 “For instance, while enroute to a meeting, a document can be sent to the airplane for final review prior to the arriving at the destination.  Or perhaps ,for an event at a factory that requires the boss's  advance approval, a photo can be sent to the airplane.”

Gray also pointed out how “Big Data” could be used by the crew for service and maintenance issues:  “In the event of an in-flight anomaly, the pilot could take a picture of an illuminated  warning light and send the image to a maintenance technician who would then secure the necessary replacement part or research the remedy while the plane is in-bound, keeping the trip  on schedule for the rest of the day.  Or, a flight plan could be filed while enroute to expedite the time spent on the ground when an itinerary change is made while airborne.  Keeping the pilots and passengers productive while coordinating with the rest of their business contacts is easy with Big Data.”

Pilots will definitely appreciate the availability of Digital ATIS information.  Having a textual version of the information will educe radio transmissions and distracting events during critical phases of flight and significantly increase safety.

Typically, ATIS information is only available within VHF frequency range of an airport.  That means it’s being collected during descent—at a time when the crew is at its busiest. With Airtext's D-ATIS capability, ATIS information can be accessed anywhere in the world at any altitude.  Currently D-ATIS has been limited and available to airlines or larger aircraft with very expensive legacy avionics.  Airtext utilizes Iridium satellites to request ATIS data from the FAA.  It can then be shown on the pilots’ PEDs, which are currently used for other NEXRAD and traffic information, in the cockpit.

“I see this capability as a great feature that everyone will use,” Gray projects.  “We already had the capability to request worldwide TAF’s and METAR’s, D-ATIS  just adds to the WX request portfolio for the pilot.  More and more airports are becoming equipped with D-ATIS.  A streamlined automatic process of requesting,  transmitting and receiving accurate information is a big boon to aviation safety.”

Expanding bandwidth will provide even greater advances for Airtext in the next year, he noted.  “Right now, Airtext works on a relatively small bandwidth, and yet we can do so much.  Iridium Next is coming in late 2018 and we will be increasing the pipeline to the plane by 44 times —that’s a 4400% increase! There is also a huge transformation in Bluetooth coming.  At this point,  we use a low power BLE solution.  Over the next year, new devices with BLE-5 will be released that will open up bandwidth on phones and tablets.  BLE-5 is twice as fast, enables further range and can transfer 800% more data. With “Big Data, we’re already positioned to take advantage of these improvements…and we’ll be able to do it economically and efficiently.  We’re just scratching the surface of helping our customers communicate seamlessly from anywhere in the world!”

(Source: Airtext news release)

FMI: airtext.aero