Test WiFi PaxEX in Aircraft

Constant connectivity on Air. Not an aspiration anymore.

Connectivity is changing the way passengers and crew communicate on & with an aircraft. Passengers expect connectivity whether they are at the airport check in, waiting at a gateside coffee shop or onboard an aircraft. They have begun to select their airlines or aircraft type based on the connectivity offered. The bottom line for airlines and IFE providers is a requirement of a partner with hardware expertise, systems integration engineering and often systems certification services to bring it all together, safely.

According to the latest market reports, increasing orders for newer generation aircraft, adoption of IFE systems by LCC operators, and the need to enhance passenger experience are the main drivers for the market.The adoption of features, like bring your own device (BYOD), are expected to generate growth opportunities for the market, in the near future. Though the internet speed remains a matter of concern for most of the airlines’ inflight entertainment, some airlines have started providing inflight live content streaming for most of the flights with high internet speeds. Today, upgrading your aircraft cabins pertaining to the advent of new technologies, in order to attract more passengers has become critical. Technological integration also shows your brand value.

The ground reality is that there are challenges to Testing:

• Testing with 100’s of real devices on the aircraft is costly, time consuming and difficult to execute. It is also not repeatable

• The alternative is to test in the lab. However that approach fails to account for all the scenarios and the unique environment of the aircraft

• Different applications that passengers use will have a huge impact on the network. Throughput and latency measurements mean nothing in the real world

Creating a reliable on-board test system for IFE solutions

The Sky’s the Limit when it comes to future features. When you define an on-board test system, you need a solution that is flexible, agile and reliable on a consistent basis. Hence, some of the specifics we offer are:

• Small, portable & rugged
• Low power
• Easy to wire up, manage, configure, and automate
• Replicate 10s of passengers – including their online behavior

SWAT WiCheck Lite from Alethea meets all these criteria and helps you test  your connectivity on-board and on the go

WiCheck Lite

• Emulates 32 802.11n or 802.11ac Wave 2 / 802.11n 2×2 clients
• Runs real applications
• Easy to use UI + APIs – browser based management
• Integrates with test frameworks
• Ruggedized, palm sized hardware
• Power consumption – Just 19 Watts

Need to test connectivity in the air

Before you deploy and certify your onboard IFC system, you need to understand how it will respond to 10s – 100s of passengers accessing it simultaneously. Do all the touchpoints survive this surge? Do the solutions provided by your partners work as advertised? Do you want to risk potential operational headaches with the network affecting so many passengers?

You definitely do not want bad connectivity experience to hit your brand. And you definitely want a partner that can sail you through the unseen disruptions of the future.

To  understand how Lite can be used to validate your IFEC system onboard, you have several options:

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