Status of international standards for aeronautical satellite communications

The International Mobile Satellite Organization (formerly International Maritime Satellite Organization), Inmarsat, has provided satellite capacity to support mobile communications for more than fifteen years. During this time it has been solely responsible for the development of standards and specifications for the equipment that is installed (typically on ships and road vehicles) for operation through the Inmarsat satellite system, and for the ground earth stations that provide the terrestrial interconnections to the satellite system. When Inmarsat began to develop requirements for equipment to support aeronautical services, it was aware that, for many years, the aeronautical community had its own organizations which had the responsibility for developing equipment and service standards. It was therefore necessary for Inmarsat to work closely with these organizations if the approach adopted by Inmarsat was to be accepted by the aeronautical community. In particular, commonality between the standards developed by these organizations was essential, and elimination of duplicate testing was highly desirable