Inmarsat is a leading provider of global mobile satellite communications, and delivers assured and reliable connectivity for drones, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and other unmanned systems.
Inmarsat
Inmarsat
BVLOS Connectivity & Safety Services for Uncrewed Aircraft & UAVs
Go BVLOS with Inmarsat Velaris
Our newest innovation, Inmarsat Velaris, delivers ubiquitous connectivity and safety services for uncrewed aviation. Velaris is built on our ultra-reliable ELERA L-band satellite network and our experience as a global leader in air traffic communications. So, your aircraft will be able to integrate with commercial airspace. Safely and seamlessly.
BVLOS Safety Service UAV Data Link
The definitive safety services data link for uncrewed aviation, built by ATM experts
Velaris enables the safe, reliable, scalable integration of airspace for uncrewed and crewed aviation.
- Built by Inmarsat’s ATM & UTM experts, Velaris is a highly secure BvLOS safety service data link that works wherever your uncrewed assets need to operate for the safe integration of uncrewed aviation into commercial airspace.
- Operate at scale with Velaris’s ability to enable one controller to operate multiple UAVs from a central location. Access a range of readily available benefits from our Velaris Partners, made up of some of the biggest names in the industry who offer transformative software and services tested and integrated with our satellite network.
- Delivered by Inmarsat’s global, fully redundant L-band network with 99.9% reliability, ELERA.
Learn more: Inmarsat Velaris >
Why Inmarsat?
Inmarsat is a proven, trusted aviation connectivity leader, offering an assured, fully-funded future of continual service improvement, to keep pace with your ambitions.
- Key enabler of air traffic management and aviation safety for more than 30 years, where we have developed systems for crewed ATM, such as Iris – the secure IP-connectivity, cost-effective satellite-based data link communication over Europe.
- Trusted by global aviation regulators including the FAA and EASA, providing approved cockpit connectivity for safety voice and data for crewed aviation and decades of experience proving secure, encrypted live streaming for civil and military government uncrewed systems.
- Inmarsat’s satellite launch roadmap is proactively delivering additional L-band capacity to prepare for the needs of uncrewed aviation, while the network of the future, ORCHESTRA, which seamlessly integrates satcom with 5G, future-proofs against evolving use cases within the industry.
On-Demand UAV & Drone Communications
A suite of value added on demand uncrewed aviation connectivity services
Access on-demand connectivity solutions specifically designed to enhance inspection, autonomous cargo & AAM operations, in a single connection.
- Incorporate additional, value added, real-time, on demand commercial UAV services into your solutions through our tried and tested Velaris Partner Ecosystem: identification, video surveillance, health metrics, voice and more.
- Scale these services up and down as and when you need them to optimise operational efficiencies.
- No other drone communication service can match Velaris’s reliability in all-weather alongside C2, UTM, HD video, end-to end encryption, and terminals suitable for the vast majority of UAVs used for commercial projects, all in a single connection.
Learn more: Inmarsat UAV Communications >
Frequently Asked Questions
Isn’t Inmarsat hardware too heavy and bulky for my UAV?
Not anymore. Check out the latest developments from our Value Added Developers Cobham, Honeywell and TTP. These nifty terminals will provide you with up to 230kbps of connectivity in terminals ranging from 1.45kg to as light as 300g. That’s 10 times more transmit bandwidth than other satellite providers in the terminal size class*.
*ELERA Core module 150g Rx230kbps Tx230kbps vs Iridium 9770 185g Rx88kbps Tx22kbps
Doesn’t Geostationary have high latency compared to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites?
The feedback from our customers who have used low bandwidth LEO services on their UAVs is that the latency is highly variable due to the way traffic hops across the network to find a path down to a ground station. With Inmarsat ELERA our satellites are in geostationary orbit and are directly linked to our ground network, providing a fixed latency of 800 milliseconds, meaning you can factor it in to your operations and positional information.
- Reliability: operates over the Inmarsat L-band global satellite network, with 99.9% availability
- Performance: standard IP at a rate of up to 230kbps with a low latency from 800 milliseconds
- Easy to integrate: simple for field teams to set up, integrate and maintain without technical expertise or training
- Cost effective: New low data rate plans for commercial UAV
- Easy to manage solution: remote terminal management, debugging and configuration options
UAV SATCOM Terminals
Cobham UAV200
AVIATOR UAV 200 is a full-coverage Inmarsat SwiftBroadband solution for UAV SATCOM. Providing an all-in-one satellite communication and control package, AVIATOR UAV 200 has been size, weight and power-optimized for small tactical UAVs and drones, weighing in at just 1.45kg in a compact 24 x 16 x 6cm form factor.
Honeywell Small UAV Satcom
The Small UAV SATCOM is the world’s lightest and most compact satellite communication system currently available. But don’t let its size and weight fool you. The Small UAV SATCOM is packed with all the high-speed broadband capabilities you need to accomplish your mission anywhere in the world.
Nextgen Terminal
In test and commercially available in 2023, a new range of terminals based on Inmarsat’s ELERA core module (which provides a full satcom system, LTE, GPS and a System on Module for embedded applications all on a single PCB) will dramatically reduce the size of terminals.
Learn more: Inmarsat UAV Communications >
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