November 9, 2016 – Panasonic Global Communications (Panasonic) and Newtec – a satellite communications technology specialist – have unveiled a high-bandwidth satellite modem, claimed to offer 20 times the bandwidth of Panasonic’s current system. Versions of this new modem will be available across Panasonic’s mobility markets including air transport, business aviation, maritime, cruise ships, mega yachts and river cruises.
Developed in partnership, the modem is claimed to be capable of exceeding 400Mbps, and it can be scaled to meet the evolving needs of airlines and their passengers by facilitating the increasing bandwidth coming on stream over the next two years as High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) and Extreme-Throughput Satellite (XTSTM) services continue to be layered over Panasonic’s existing global network. This will expand network capacity from 2,300MHz today to 15,000+MHz by 2017.
The modem includes three demodulators for seamless beam switching and simultaneous data and video reception and is also part of the Newtec Dialog multiservice platform. Featuring the Mx-DMA dynamic bandwidth allocation system, the modem combines the efficiency of SCPC with the dynamic bandwidth allocation capabilities of TDMA to deliver up to 300% more data than legacy Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, according to the partners. With support for DVB-S2X, the latest Satcom transmission standard, and VL-SNR MODCODS (very low signal-to-noise ratio modulation and coding), the modem is optimized for HTS and small VSAT antenna applications, maximizing efficiency and availability.
Paul Margis, CEO of Panasonic Avionics Corporation, stated, “As we continue to optimize our second generation Global Communications network, we are constantly looking for new pieces of critical technology that will enable our customers to take full advantage of HTS and XTS technology. Newtec’s broadband modem, which is based on the innovative DVB-S2X standard and customized to our requirements, allows us to access much larger blocks of frequency and better support high bandwidth platforms across all of our vertical markets.”
