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September 09, 2013

Air China to Enable In-Flight HD Video Streaming to Mobile Devices

As any road warrior knows, the term “in-flight entertainment” is usually synonymous with a lone second-run movie or group of syndicated TV shows, shown via tiny overhead monitors. Some airlines are working to improve the experience by allowing HD video streaming over Wi-Fi to connected devices. Air China, the incumbent airline in that country, has decided to do just that.

The airline has tapped Meru Networks to provide in-flight Wi-Fi on its A330 Airbus wide-body jets, and is also partnering with Flight Focus, whose appropriately named Cabin Wi-Fi platform will integrate with Meru to allow hundreds of passengers to stream HD video directly to their mobile devices, simultaneously.

"Historically speaking, and largely today, when more than 10 or 20 percent of passengers on a commercial airliner start trying to stream video, the experience degrades very quickly,” said Ralf Cabos, managing director of Flight Focus. The network just can't handle the load. This powerful solution changes all of that, scaling to a true 100 percent uptake capability with technology in production now."

He added, "The Flight Focus platform integrating Meru virtualized Wi-Fi technology delivers more simultaneous video streams, and at higher quality, than any other Wi-Fi [in-flight entertainment] (IFE) on the market.”

As a result of the deployment, Air China has become the first Chinese carrier that operates flights with an on-board Wi-Fi system.

The in-cabin wireless network integrates a dual-radio, dual-band, 802.11a/b/g/n wireless access point (AP) with a 3X3:3 MIMO design. Operating over the 2.4GHz and 5 GHz bands, it delivers a maximum data rate of 450Mbps per radio, to support streaming video, voice, and other data traffic.

"The Meru RF virtualization has stood the test of time since we first invented and patented it," said Srinath Sarang, co-founder, vice president and general manager of the hospitality business unit at Meru Networks. "The ability to have a Wi-Fi network behave in a deterministic manner like a wired network is one of the hallmarks of the Meru Networks solution. Meru's RF virtualization delivers plug-and-play deployment and easy capacity expansion for the highest-density, most demanding and harsh environments, such as inside an aircraft. We partnered with Flight Focus to deliver this industry leading solution having built up our expertise in other in-flight and cruise ship deployments around the world."

Image via Shutterstock




Edited by Rachel Ramsey


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