Mobile video streaming
on luxury jets
Innovative Advantage
Innovative Advantage has installed their in-flight video system on over 900 private jets. But passengers weren’t satisfied with using built-in aircraft displays—they wanted to stream movies and TV channels on their iOS and Android devices.
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We developed an app allowing passengers to stream video from the in-flight system directly to their iOS devices. We also packaged the streaming player for use in aircraft cabin management apps developed by Gulfstream and other partners.
THE CHALLENGE: AIRCRAFT VIDEO STREAMING
Unlike typical app projects where UI design is paramount, this engagement was a pure technology play. Innovative Advantage didn’t need an app, they needed a code library enabling their customers’ development teams to include video playback within their existing apps.
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We developed a software framework allowing third-party developers to connect to the in-flight network, browse and select video content, and enable streaming and playback on iOS devices. The framework smoothly handles all low-level networking and controller functions, allowing app developers to focus on the playback user experience.
FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS
QUICK CONNECTION
Establish and maintain
AVDS server session.
CONTENT PROTECTION
Stream and play protected content via DTCP-IP.
CONTROL FUNCTIONS
Supports channel selection,
play, and pause.
PARTNER APPS
Include mobile video playback in only a few lines of code.
THE PROCESS: RELENTLESS IMPROVEMENT
During our on-site kickoff in Redmond, Washington, we created and demonstrated a proof-of-concept app capable of playing DTCP-protected video on the iPad—a key requirement. We then developed an iOS library implementing a new protocol provided by the Innovative Advantage engineers, allowing mobile apps to control the A/V system.
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We’d like to say the project was smooth sailing from there, but along the way we encountered some serious problems. Connecting to the system took way too long; the DTCP activation sometimes crashed for no apparent reason; changing channels was unreliable and slow, but only on certain devices.
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We worked closely with the Innovative Advantage team to trace the source of these problems. We painstakingly monitored network protocol traffic, debugged DTCP handling code, and experimented with many hardware configurations. After significant effort, we identified and resolved all of the issues. The final result was a fast, reliable, easy-to-use video streaming solution.
"We partnered with Lorien Digital to develop an aircraft
video streaming app. Their high-level skills in making the
app robust were critical to the success of our project."
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Greg Smith, VP Engineering
THE RESULTS: RELIABLE VIDEO STREAMING
Mobile jumpstart
Based on our iOS development work, a newly-hired Innovative Advantage engineer quickly developed a video streaming library supporting Android.
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Maintained focus
Partnering with us allowed Innovative Advantage engineers to focus
on their core technical expertise.
