London SW-based Racal Avionics Ltd has been awarded its first commissioning certificate for Satfone – the aeronautical satellite voice and data system – by Inmarsat, London. This announcement marks the entrance of Satfone – which is claimed to provide the traveller with the quality of voice communication he is familiar with in the home or the office – into commercial service. Racal Avionics, in conjunction with Honeywell Inc of the US, is the sole supplier of the equipment for which over 40 orders have already been received, 21 of them with Savannah, Georgia-based Gulfstream Aerospace, the business jet builder. Satfone installations have also been ordered by Boeing Co. According to Leo Gallagher, Racal Avionics’ marketing director, this is a milestone in the history of aeronautical satellite communications – the commissioning of Satfone enables Racal to offer airlines and business jets complete telephony service. Satfone is a single full duplex, digital voice-data channel of 21,000bps capacity. Signals are relayed between the aircraft and ground telecommunications network via the Inmarsat geostationary satellite constellations. Gallagher is confident of a significant number of further orders for Satfone which, he says, is now a total market of around $1,400m.
