Air to Ground (A2G)

The trial was conducted in the airspace between Riyadh and Jeddah, with a Saudi Airbus A321 that flew on its regular route service. Several A2G base stations were deployed on the ground to provide seamless broadband connectivity to this aircraft.

The solution used in the trial closely resembled the commercial setup, which consists of an aircraft modified with a Wi-Fi cabin network and an A2G terminal (incl. GACA airworthiness certification), the ground network, and service operations

Executive summary

  • Conducted 5 flight test in between Jeddah and Dammam with assistance of STC.
  • Continuous coverage noticed in between Jeddah and Riyadh.
  • A2G link in between ground network and aircraft was absolutely stable.
  • Experienced high quality group video/conference call from Aircraft with colleagues on ground, it was continuous throughout the route, no drop at all.
  • Highly satisfied with video streaming (YouTube, Live TV) and Web Browsing.
  • Witnessed max internet speed of 100Mbps in downlink and 35Mbps in uplink.
Date From To Max. uplink Max. downlink
17.10.2022 JED DMM 35.8 Mbit/s 104.6 Mbit/s
21.10.2022 JED DMM 35.4 Mbit/s 105.4 Mbit/s
21.10.2022 DMM JED 34.1 Mbit/s 105.1 Mbit/s
21.10.2022 JED DMM Not rep. 105.3 Mbit/s
21.10.2022 DMM JED Not rep. 105.2 Mbit/s

* Max. downlink (ground →aircraft) and uplink (aircraft →ground) throughput

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