Executive Bios — John Broughton

As director of engineering at EMS SATCOM, John Broughton is responsible for the development of the company’s antenna and terminal products. Broughton brings more than 17 years of experience in aeronautical communications systems architecture and development to EMS SATCOM. He manages product decisions, architecture and standards with an eye toward innovation, simplicity, and market demand.

Broughton joined EMS SATCOM in 2000 and held a series of positions in the company’s engineering group, including senior technical manager and director of aeronautical products. Under his leadership, several key technologies were developed that launched new businesses for EMS SATCOM, including several new high-speed (GAN) satellite communication products: intermediate and high gain antennas, high-speed voice and data terminals and mobile cabin gateways. The utility and quality of these products is reflected in their great commercial success and in the number of military and commercial aircraft on which these products are installed.

EMS SATCOM is currently (since mid 2005) developing new products and product upgrades for SwiftBroadband, an even higher speed satellite service (BGAN). The increase in bandwidth is expected to open new markets and possibilities for Satcom avionics and Broughton is focusing his teams’ efforts on developing products that exploit the strengths of both GAN and BGAN technologies and simplify the new SwiftBroadband service.

Prior to joining EMS SATCOM, Broughton managed the Swift64 program at Inmarsat, where he advocated and brought about investments in high speed data services in anticipation of a demand for these services. The high speed data market in now growing at an annual rate of 36 percent and Broughton’s work at Inmarsat still defines satellite BGAN systems. Prior to Inmarsat, he managed the development of the very first Aero H system at CAL Corp and the development of naval radar systems at CMC Electronics Inc.

Passionate about satellite technology and its possibilities, Broughton is an acknowledged industry expert and a frequent lecturer at aviation and satellite communication industry events. He holds a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from McGill University, Canada.

Broughton is based out of EMS SATCOM main facilities in Ottawa, Canada.