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21/10/2025
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Better in-flight streaming and video-calling might just become more accessible thanks to a project supported by the European Space Agency (ESA). Building upon the success of an experiment for a new type of antenna terminal together with ESA, Viasat – a global leader in satellite communications – now plans to commercialise its new in-flight connectivity solution called Viasat Amara.

Viasat Amara has a dual-beam phased array antenna that provides both better access to video calling (a latency-sensitive use), as well as video streaming such as watching a football match (a bandwidth-sensitive use). This is possible because the antenna can connect to satellites both in low Earth orbit and in geostationary orbit, depending on what is needed. Links using satellites in low Earth orbit have lower latency with minimal communication delays, whereas those with satellites in geostationary orbit have a high bandwidth and so can transmit much more data.

Testing the antenna

The antenna terminal was developed, designed and tested within an ESA partnership, under  ESA’s programme of Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES). The experiment, conducted in 2021, consisted of a demonstration flight from Rotterdam in the Netherlands to Payerne in Switzerland. The antenna provided a reliable satellite connection en route, enabling passengers to stream content on Youtube and Netflix, and video call with colleagues on the ground.

The antenna’s design

The antenna uses an innovative design known as an electronically steered phased array. Rather than relying on a single large antenna that physically moves to track satellites, it uses many small components. These individual elements coordinate the timing of their signals to have a unified connection, similar to how a stadium wave forms as each person stands up consequently. This mirrors movement and provides not only a faster way to connect, but also the possibility of connecting to two satellites simultaneously.

Viasat’s in-flight solution’s commercial service is expected to begin in 2028. Thanks to its modular technology, the product can be easily incorporated into existing antennas, making it cheaper and easier to incorporate in passenger airlines.

“Phased array antennas are an evolutionary and much needed step towards more energy and space efficient in-flight connectivity solutions, and we are proud to have contributed to Project Aidan – a key milestone that led Viasat to developing Amara. We’re looking forward to next opportunities for cooperation with Viasat, and many other industry partners – for the benefit of all ESA Member States,” said Massimiliano Simeoni, Aidan’s Project Implementation Manager at ESA Connectivity and Secure Communications.

“The Viasat Aera terminal is a key part of Viasat Amara, our next generation in-flight connectivity solution going far beyond fast and free high-speed Wi-Fi,” said Viasat on its Viasat Amara announcement. “Our pioneering mission remains to help our airline customers maximize connectivity’s enormous potential for brand, loyalty, and growth. It’s been great to work with ESA as one of our key partners to help bring it to fruition.”

This antenna development marks the beginning of exciting opportunities for the future of onboard connectivity.

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LAWRENCE — According to new research, social media may be a surprisingly reliable source for stock tips … if you know where to look.

“We find that when investors discuss analyst revisions on Twitter, it helps the market better understand and more quickly impound the information in the analyst report,” said Eric Weisbrod, associate professor of accounting at the University of Kansas.

His article titled “Social Media Discussion of Sell-Side Analyst Research: Evidence from Twitter” examines sell-side analysts’ stock recommendation revisions on Twitter, observing increased levels of price discovery during intraday windows with more revision-related tweets. This is especially notable for tweets with more user engagement and those posted by more influential authors.

Weisbrod’s work is forthcoming in an issue of Review of Accounting Studies. 

“Whether it’s on Twitter or WallStreetBets on Reddit or whichever platform, people will post about the profits they’ve been making … or sometimes, humorously, about their losses,” Weisbrod said.

“But for the individuals who are making money, other people see that on their social media feed, and since they would like to experience similar profits, they try to follow these individuals’ advice. It’s similar to any type of celebrity or influencer.”

Co-written by KU doctoral candidate Matt Peterson, Andrew Call of the University of Southern California and Mehmet Kara of the University of Georgia, the research finds that platforms such as Twitter have emerged in this space due to the barriers retail investors face in accessing analysts’ stock recommendation revisions in a timely fashion.

“The common metaphor for Twitter is it’s the digital town square. We find that’s true with respect to this piece of information. When an analyst changes their recommendation, the revision used to be very proprietary to only the clients of the brokerage where the analysts work. But the more times information is discussed in the town square, the more that all investors can incorporate the news,” said Weisbrod, who notes the data for the article was culled prior to July 2023, when Elon Musk took over Twitter and changed its name to X.

One key question is why people make any financial decisions based on social media discussions.

“We’re putting one more data point in this debate that there’s good and bad information on social media, and I think that’s the challenge we all face these days of trying to identify what’s credible and what’s not,” Weisbrod said.

His team found several tests to determine if the information is reliably helpful for investors.

“For example, if there’s a link to an underlying source document that can show this was an analyst report — not just a random bot recommending a stock — that makes it more credible. Or if it’s from a verified account. And since our data is from the original Twitter period, to be verified you actually had to submit documentation. It wasn’t just ‘pay for verification’ like it is now. So if you were a verified public figure and tweeted about an analyst recommendation, then your tweets were more credible,” he said.

The impetus for this story stemmed from a presentation Weisbrod and Peterson attended concerning how viral tweets about earnings were bad for investors.

“We both had been thinking, ‘I wonder if people discuss analyst reports on Twitter? And is that good or bad?’ So the two of us started talking, and it evolved from there,” Weisbrod said.

Since analyst research is typically proprietary, the researchers were unsure how much Twitter discussion they would find. Yet they were able to analyze 50,286 recommendation revisions announced from 2013 to 2020. They observed at least one revision-related tweet during the two trading-day announcement window for 90.1% of all these revisions.

“Brokerages don’t really want their analysts’ research getting out because they want it to be more valuable to their own clients,” he said. “But we didn’t know that the leaks or discussion of these things would be quite so prevalent.”

Weisbrod previously served as an academic fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. The Dallas native came to KU in 2020, where his research focuses on financial data providers and financial analysts.

“There’s a lot of information of questionable credibility on social media. Since we’re in the business school, we mostly think about investment-related social media. Even within that, some people are just pumping and dumping stocks, and it’s hard to know who to trust,” Weisbrod said.

“What we found is one way to capitalize on seeing people discussing a stock on social media. You can trust this more if it references a certified financial analyst, and then maybe this person has actually done their homework instead of just trying to scam you into buying a stock.”