Skip to main content

Kymeta tests antenna for satellite-based internet connectivity to support autonomous driving

Global connectivity specialist Kymeta has successfully connected its 20 cm mTenna satellite antenna subsystem module (ASM) for the consumer connected car industry to the Intelsat satellite constellation. This test continues Kymeta's progress toward bringing high throughput, secure mobile connectivity to the automotive industry and follows the partnership announced with Toyota Motor Corporation in 2016. The test showcased that Kymeta mTenna technology for consumer vehicles could successfully connect to In
February 24, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Global connectivity specialist Kymeta has successfully connected its 20 cm mTenna satellite antenna subsystem module (ASM) for the consumer connected car industry to the Intelsat satellite constellation. This test continues Kymeta's progress toward bringing high throughput, secure mobile connectivity to the automotive industry and follows the partnership announced with Toyota Motor Corporation in 2016.

The test showcased that Kymeta mTenna technology for consumer vehicles could successfully connect to Intelsat's Epic satellite network. The test also demonstrated that Kymeta mTenna technology can transmit and receive data with a single aperture, connect to the internet and access YouTube videos and conduct a Skype call, all within its first attempt.

Currently, the only way to take advantage of high throughput satellites (HTS) is with a large, traditional satellite dish with moving parts. The Kymeta satellite solution aims to eliminate the need for a gimballed dish and provide terabyte level capacity to cars allowing broadband level connectivity even in areas that have no terrestrial coverage.

The test is the first step in making a connected car it’s most secure and connected at a global scale. This successful testing was conducted with Intelsat, the world's leading provider of satellite services, which has a partnership agreement with Kymeta to enable satellite connectivity for the auto industry.

Related Content

  • Truck platooning trials take to the highways
    July 24, 2017
    There is rising enthusiasm in America and beyond for the concept of truck platooning with trials being planned in several US states, as David Crawford reports. Growing numbers of US states are considering or implementing plans for trials of electronically-linked truck platooning on public road networks. This is in response to the interest being shown by the US$70bn a year road freight industry, where fuel represents 41% of the operating costs making the prospect of improving fuel economy by trucks travellin
  • Need for harmonisation in ITS standards
    February 1, 2012
    As the calendar rolls over, and we hop from continent to continent and World Congress to World Congress, where Memoranda of Understanding and cooperation agreements are the headline news, it is easy for those not intimately involved to forget that standards definition is a well-nigh continual process. Significant progress has been made in recent months towards achieving the critical mass and economies of scale which are going to drive development and deployment in, amongst other things, cooperative infrastr
  • DSRC? ‘It’s become a faith-based thing’
    March 2, 2021
    The US FCC’s decision on 5.9GHz led to Applied Information offering DSRC buybacks to DoTs. Bryan Mulligan tells Adam Hill that we now just need to get on and roll out CV technology...
  • Adopting universal technology platforms for tolling
    July 16, 2012
    Dave Marples of Technolution argues that the continuing development of tolling-specific onboard equipment is leading us up a blind alley. We should, he says, be looking to realise universal platforms with universal application. The near-future automobile contains information systems of a sophistication to rival a jet airliner of only a few years ago, yet is 'piloted' by a considerably less well-trained individual of highly variable mental and physical capacity, and operated in a hostile, unpredictable and p