The Gilat ESA terminal, situated on the top of the Cessna Caravan fuselage during recent Gogo tests. Photo: Gogo

Gilat Satellite Networks and Gogo completed a series of test flights with an electronically steered antenna (ESA) for performance on the OneWeb satellite network. 

Gilat said Monday that tests for the ESR-2030Ku ESA antenna delivered full-duplex connectivity with throughput of 195 Mbps downlink and 32 Mbps uplink. Gilat reported the terminal remained stable and reliable throughout the tests.

The ESR-2030Ku is a compact and low-power full-duplex aero ESA built for the OneWeb Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) network. Gogo is the exclusive distributor of the terminal for business aviation and defense markets and markets the antenna as the Gogo Plane Simple ESA. 

Gogo said in a recent release the tests were conducted from Titusville, Florida, on a Cessna Caravan aircraft. The terminal supported applications including streaming, Teams video conferencing and messaging, WhatsApp video calls, email, corporate VPN access, and OneDrive usage simultaneously for multiple passengers.

“We are extremely pleased with the results of these flight tests,” said Hagay Katz, chief product and marketing officer at Gilat. “This achievement positions Gilat to capitalize on the fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar market for LEO-based ESA solutions in the defense and in-flight connectivity sectors.”

Production hardware delivery to support customer supplemental type certificates (STCs) is expected later this year.