Aerospace technologies company, Astronics CSC has announced that it will supply inflight entertainment (IFE) system hardware for a next-generation inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) system being developed by what it describes as “one of the largest airlines in the United States”. Under the agreement, Astronics will equip nearly 50 of the airlines’ new widebody aircraft.
The airline’s new IFEC system will feature Astronics CSC’s Summit Line content servers, CabinEdge content loaders, Cabin-ACE wireless access points (WAPs), and a custom passenger control unit (PCU). Together these products are intended to enable the airline to offer on-board audio/video on-demand services that provide for redundancy, self-healing capabilities, and modularity for uninterrupted performance during flight.
“The airline relied on us to provide a significant portion of the design, development, and manufacturing services to deliver their solution on time and on budget,” stated Michael Kuehn, president of Astronics CSC. “Astronics offers the most complete and most widely deployed set of IFEC hardware solutions available from a single vendor.”
Astronics has already completed flight worthiness testing and certification work for DO-160G retrofit STC installations and linefit offerability for the systems. The products have been found to fit seamlessly with the airline’s existing inflight connectivity system.
