Paves The Way For Worldwide Datalink WX Service
The world just got a little
smaller... and that's great news for pilots. Avidyne announced
Monday at NBAA 2008 its MLX770 Satellite Datalink Transceiver has
received system certification by Iridium Satellite LLC. The
approval gives Avidyne the authority to operate on the global
Iridium satellite network, paving the way for the launch of
Avidyne's worldwide datalink weather service.
"We are pleased to welcome Avidyne to the growing family of
value-added partners," said Don Thoma, executive vice president of
Iridium Satellite. "Avidyne's Datalink product leverages Iridium's
global connectivity and robust two-way low-latency data channels to
develop innovative new products for the burgeoning aeronautical
satcom market."
The MLX770 will provide huge situational awareness and safety
benefits for all those Avidyne customers flying in airspace outside
the continental United States (CONUS) where broadcast datalink
weather information is unavailable. Avidyne customers operating
within CONUS now have the option of Broadcast Datalink via Sirius
or XM, Two-way Datalink using the MLX770 and Iridium... or
Avidyne's exclusive MultiLink, which combines the benefits of
broadcast datalink and two-way datalink for added redundancy and
increased capability.
"This certification by Iridium represents the clearing of
another major technical and programmatic hurdle for Avidyne," said
Patrick Herguth, Avidyne's Chief Operating Officer. "This moves us
another step closer to meeting the launch date for our worldwide
datalink weather system."
Utilizing Avidyne's Network Operations Center (NOC) and the
Iridium low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, the MLX770
delivers strategic datalink weather services to Entegra- and
EX500-equipped aircraft. The MLX770 also provides two-way textual
communications available with satellite signal coverage at all
altitudes, even on the ground. Datalink weather services include
graphical and textual METARs, TAFs, and Winds & Temperatures
Aloft.
Radar and Lightning are also available as premium offerings.
Additionally, the MLX770 provides convenient two-way SMS text
messaging from the airborne Avidyne MFD to any ground-based
SMS-capable mobile phone or e-mail address, allowing pilots to
communicate with family and friends from their aircraft in
flight.
Introduced earlier this year, the MLX770 is on target to begin
initial shipments in mid-Q4 2008 as originally scheduled, according
to Avidyne. Pricing starts at $11,995 USD plus installation.