Gogo Business Aviation says that it is using an advanced virtual flight simulator that was constructed by its radio frequency engineering team, to emulate the radio channel in an airborne environment in order to test its 5G software—before it gets its hands on the actual 5G chip that will enable its service.
“By leveraging proprietary information and flight data, Gogo can check performance of the radio frequency, taking into consideration factors like doppler, altitude, flight routes, angle of approach, beam-forming technology and other parameters, all critical factors to understand as Gogo optimizes the 5G service and onboard connectivity performance,” the company said in a release, adding that the emulation enables end-to-end testing of the system and maturation of the software before the company proceeds to flight tests. “With the 5G chip still in production, the RF team viewed a virtual flight simulator as a viable way to accomplish testing and fine-tuning of the software without the actual chip,” Gogo noted in a blog post.
Gogo Business Aviation, which says it has already installed an air-to-ground network of 150 towers to support the service, expects to start delivering its “Gogo 5G” later this year. Gogo Business Aviation only serves the private aviation market; the company sold its commercial airline business to Intelsat in 2020. The company is the subject of a patent infringement lawsuit by SmartSky over the proposed 5G air-to-ground service. That case is set to go to trial in April 2025, according to SmartSky. In January of this year, Gogo received an appellate court ruling which will allow it to begin selling its service despite the ongoing suit.
In the blog post, Gogo Business Aviation said that using the virtual flight test lab, its test team “will make 5G calls and transfer data, checking performance to optimize the 5G service and onboard connectivity performance. Over the next several weeks, the team will simulate hundreds of 5G flights with different geographical positions and altitudes, angles of arrival, beamforming, doppler, speeds, and distances to Gogo’s ground-based 5G towers.”
“The virtual flight simulator our team has constructed is an example of what we do best: innovate,” said Sergio Aguirre, president and COO for Gogo. “Our teams have designed a phenomenal method for validating and maturing our 5G software and hardware to a critical degree before the final 5G chip is in our hands.”
In other test news:
-The Satellite 2024 show was held in Washington, DC this week and the satellite and cellular industries are keeping a close eye on the implications of standards convergence in 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks, or NTN. (See RCR Wireless News coverage here and here.) Keysight Technologies brought its live demonstration of Capgemini’s Open RAN CU/DU with NTN capabilities to the satellite show. That demo was first presented at Mobile World Congress Barcelona, with Keysight working with Capgemini to verify the latter’s 5G New Radio Open RAN central unit (CU) and distributed unit (DU) framework that supports 3GPP Release 17 NTN functionality. The validation relies on Keysight’s UeSIM UE Emulation RAN to emulate NTN devices and Keysight’s Propsim Channel Emulator to play the role of a constellation of LEO satellites and emulate real network traffic, as well as radio conditions including delay and doppler shift which impact connections between a satellite and devices below.
“Capgemini’s 5G NTN software framework is specifically crafted to expedite the implementation of diverse satellite-based communication systems by the Satcom industry,” said Rajat Kapoor, head of software frameworks at Capgemini. “The validation and interoperability of our 5G NTN software framework with key collaborators such as Keysight are crucial milestones, enabling swift progress to meet the escalating demand for 5G NR NTN deployment. This includes catering to different deployment models like transparent or regenerative, and broadband and IoT use cases, ensuring adaptability to various scenarios.“
Peng Cao, VP and GM for Keysight’s Wireless Test Group, said that Keysight’s NTN portfolio “offers state of the art simulation and emulation capabilities for UEs, mobility combined with channel and orbit modeling required to test diverse satellite systems implementations in the lab environment under real-world conditions. By working closely with partners such as Capgemini, Keysight is helping to accelerate Open RAN deployments for non-terrestrial networks.”
-In Keysight news on the ground, the company said that it has developed the industry’s first working 1.6 terabit Layer 2 traffic generation and measurement system, which it demonstrated with Credo Semiconductor in a joint testbed. The demonstration, Keysight said, “provides proof that 1.6T Ethernet speed is possible and that its performance can be measured.”
Ram Periakaruppan, VP and GM for network test and security solutions at Keysight, said that 1.6T Ethernet “addresses the demand for more network bandwidth and data throughput, driven in part, by ever-increasing AI workloads within the network infrastructure. The 1.6T Ethernet Layer 2 traffic generation and analysis demonstration moves the needle forward to enable development of 1.6T devices and the entire networking equipment ecosystem. Keysight’s Layer 2 and FEC test and measurement systems are also vital to the success of the eventual deployment of 1.6T capable networking devices and equipment.”
–Rohde & Schwarz has opened a new service facility in Milpitas, California. The test equipment company’s new location will provide calibration and adjustments to R&S equipment up to 67 GHz initially, with plans to expand the location’s capabilities. For now, the Milpitas location will provide complimentary packing and shipping of equipment with a range above 67 GHz, or any units that need repair.
Wes Fisher, North American director of service at Rohde & Schwarz, said that “Even the best instruments require regular calibrations and adjustments,” and that the expansion “addresses positive customer demand for our calibration service and provides better response time for service requests.”
–Tektronix has launched its new Tektronix CAN XL (Controller Area Network Extended Length) protocol decoder aimed at supporting automotive transport. CAN XL is the newest addition to Controller Area Network (CAN) protocols, and the decoder works on Tek’s 4, 5, 6 Series MSO Oscilloscopes and offers features including error detection, analysis and debugging of timing and protocol headers, according to the company. T
The CAN XL protocol decoder is available now globally as an optional update, and is also available as part of Tek’s application software bundles for automotive and serial bus support.
