Some of the world’s top experts in Aviation Industry convened at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, VA, on August 5-6, 2010. The 2^nd Annual conference focused on the latest technology, industry updates, certification information and the future of Satellite communications.

On Thursday, August 5, 2010, guests were educated on various topics on the latest technology from Cabin to Cockpit.

The speakers included:

Armin Jabs from ICG welcomed the crowed and educated them on the latest and greatest products produced by ICG. (Picture below)

Carlos Monsalve from ICG showed how the ROI on Iridium can pay off. (Picture below)

Mike Moeller from LiveTV spoke about the latest technology for the cabin and how this technology is evolving.  (Picture below)

Sean Reilly from Astronautics spoke about how EFB’s with Iridium Communications is moving forward and the different features to look forward to in the future.  (Picture below)

David Zeigler from Spectralux spoke their D-Link + and the new features that are being introduced.  (Picture below)

Brian Pemberton from Iridium spoke about the future of Iridium and how it’s here to stay.  (Picture below)

 Tom Kraft with the FAA provided Industry updates on ATC Communications and Surveillance and where the industry stands in certifying Iridium for Safety Services.  (Picture below)

 Bob Lentz with ARINC provided insight on the trials with the Cathay Pacific B777 EFB installation.  (Picture below)

 Alex Rodrigo from ASG educated the group with a crash course on Supplemental Type Certificate Process 101.  (Picture below)

 Darren Emery from ICG wrapped up the presentations with advantages of ICG’s Customer and Product Support.  (Picture below)

 The day ended with the Cocktail Hour at Moody’s located at the resort. (Pictures below)  

Friday began with a tour of the ICG facility.  The group was able to have a hands-on demonstration of ICG’s NxtLink ICS-220A product with ACARS messaging.  Also a live demo took place with ICG NxtMail Server.  (Pictures below)

The conference concluded with a round of golf at the Kingsmill PGA Plantation Course or an outing at Busch Gardens. (Picture below)

ICG would like to thank the sponsors consisting of ARINC, ASG, Astronautics, Iridium, LiveTV, Rockwell Collins and Spectralux for a successful conference.  Keep your eyes peeled for the announcement of the dates for next year’s conference.

To view the presentations, please go to myICG portal and go to the Press page.

Many of you may already be familiar with our Customer Web Portal, myICG.  We first launched the portal back in mid-2009 having recognized the need for Customers to gain 24/7 access to valuable resources including manuals, utilities and bulletins on their own schedule; well the aircraft schedule at least!   The Portal has already become hugely popular and we have begun to expand the available resources to quick reference guides, frequently asked questions, on-line training and more.  As we move through the remainder of 2010 and into 2011 we are committed to expanding this wealth of knowledge to ensure that all of our Customers are both familiar with our current products and ready for new and emerging services as well as exciting new products to come.   Current members will receive e-mail notifications as we add to the site and I would encourage those reading who have not yet  signed up to do so at the earliest opportunity in order to stay up to date.

I would like to thank all of you who have provided feedback to us over the past year.  We listened to your ideas and I am pleased to say that we have implemented changes to make the site more user-friendly and efficient. Those who have logged in to the Portal in the past couple of weeks will have noticed a change to the Portal home page and a reorganized menu structure.  Our new easy access to manuals, bulletins and other resource sections from the home page with a simple click of the mouse has already proven popular and I encourage everyone to give it a try.  You may even find something you hadn’t realized was there before!

We always welcome feedback, comment and ideas that will help us to expand the site and look forward to hearing from you all.

As always, we are just a phone call or e-mail away!

ICG Customer Service & Technical Support – (800) 279-1991 Option 5 – +1 (757) 947-1060 Direct – techsupport@icg.aero or visit us on the web at www.icg.aero

Darren Emery

Manager, Customer Service, Support & Integration

ICG prides itself on the design and production of PBX and Transceiver systems that will be installed in dark and remote locations within the Aircraft, hopefully untouched by human-hand for many years.  Inevitably, however, there are times when the Operator may wish to make minor configuration changes to their routing tables or perhaps system monitoring or download of log files will be required.

Each of our systems provides a custom utility or emulation software that can be run on a standard PC, allowing the Operator or Installation Center to quickly configure or monitor the system.  In the unlikely event that you experience an issue our Support team will often ask, “Do you have the utility and programming cable available?”  Being prepared as the Boy Scout motto implies can save precious minutes when a critical flight schedule is looming; I would encourage everyone to do just that, be prepared for the unlikely.

All Products shipped from ICG are pre-boxed with the necessary Software CD, Programming cable and Installation manuals for just such events.  For those who wish to obtain additional copies, or perhaps are unable to locate this information, I urge you to logon to our Website and join myICG our Customer Portal.  Here you will find the most current versions of Utility software, Installation manuals and other useful information to help you keep up to date and maintain the knowledge to react if and when the time comes.

Our Support team have years of experience with regards to the best way to custom configure your installation to suit the Operators needs and can quickly talk you through system monitoring and troubleshooting techniques and we are ready to help.

As always, we are just a phone call or e-mail away!

ICG Customer Service & Technical Support – (800) 279-1991 Option 5 – +1 (757) 947-1060 Direct – techsupport@icg.aero or visit us on the web at www.icg.aero

Darren Emery

Manager, Customer Service, Support & Integration

It is acknowledged within the aviation industry, that the current Air Traffic Management (ATM) system is experiencing capacity issues with some popular routes reaching 100 % saturation during busy periods. With air traffic predicted to grow at the rate of five percent annually, the industry must find new solutions for the air traffic management system that provides greater capacity.  The FAA’s current solution to alleviate congestion in the North Atlantic is to encourage the industry to become Future Air Navigation System, or FANS compliant. FANS 1/A compliance offers a space-based method for handling increasing air traffic by reducing separations between aircraft permitting a higher density of aircraft in a route.  Direct flight routes, reduced separation, over-the-pole flights, and constant descent approaches decrease flight time, and increase fuel savings. For the ATM systems to be effective, a key requisite is that the Air Traffic Navigation Service (ATNS) providers responsible for directing aircraft in their assigned air space, be able to communicate with an aircraft 100% of the time for all ATS services.   On the operations side, reliable communications for AOC and AAC communications,  permit operators to obtain maximum efficiencies from their operations while ensuring safe conditions for their passengers.

FANS would be less expensive and less dependent on ground communications than the current air traffic management system. Currently, FANS mandates periodic and automatic position reporting and direct message deliveries to the MCDU.  These messages are handled through a program called Controller Pilot Datalink Communications or CPDLC. Using the CPDLC program, flight crews and air traffic controllers would communicate through digital data links based on satellite networks and a global positioning system. This equates to having an Instant Messenger (IM) address for the aircraft which allows ATC to send and receive messages seamlessly.  Aircraft would also send data link position reports using satellite communication networks.

Currently, when flying in oceanic airspace where there is no VHF coverage, the pilot's traditional method of communicating with ATC is via HF voice radio. HF voice messages from the aircraft are transcribed by a radio operator and sent to the ATC center. HF voice frequencies on the North Atlantic are often congested making it difficult for pilots to communicate efficiently with ATC. Poor HF transmission conditions mean that messages may have to be re-transmitted or relayed by other aircraft. This consumes time and effort by pilots, radio operators and controllers, and increases the risk for errors. A routine request to change flight level can take 20 minutes or more to process in this way. With FANS, the risk for mishearing or misunderstanding is almost eliminated and thus safety is enhanced. The CPDLC messages are delivered to ATC in near-real time and with higher reliability than HF voice.

Once FANS is implemented, operators are able to take advantage of several needed improvements such as reduced separation between airplanes, more efficient route changes, satellite communication, no altitude loss when crossing tracks and more direct routings (including polar routes).

The ICG NxtLink 120A and NxtLink 220A products, though initially developed for the Air Transport industry, operate equally well for Executive Jet and military aircraft CNS/ATM operations . The devices meet all ARINC, RTCA and ICAO industry standards and requirements to provide Flight Deck Datalink and Flight crew voice in support of safety communications services. Once installed on the aircraft the operator has the communications facilities to support ACARS, FANS 1/A, CPDLC, etc. The optimum configuration and NxtLink product selection will often depend on the capabilities of the flight deck avionics as well as the number of users who may have demands for communication services. Both the NxtLink 120A and 220A devices offer preemption and priority features to permit the flight crew to always have access to a channel.

In addition, the NxtLink 120A and 220A have recently achieved ARINC’s Avionics Qualification Program (AQP) certification and are currently being tested by SITA for VAQ certifications. These certifications are mandated for operations on the SITA and ARINC Datalink networks. In January, the devices also received FAA PMA approval which means that our Air Transport and business aviation customers can have the confidence that what they’re putting on their aircraft meet the industry’s highest standards for quality, reliability and performance.