So I worked at Trimble Nav in the radio group, so this by no means perfect || expert on the first go: Rough specs of something that might be respectable: -

So I worked at Trimble Nav in the radio group, so this by no means perfect || expert on the first go: Rough specs of something that might be respectable: - wind & solar powered - externally-mounted, self-contained, near zero maintenance - compatible with deicing chemicals & equipment - multiple redundant location sources: GPS, GLONASS, LORAN, cell-tower - jam-resistant multi antennnae / recvr config - highly compressed satellite telemetry with cellular, pager and HF backups - location & alt delta every 3 minutes (12 bits +- 100m) - absolute location & alt every 8 hours (46 bits +- 100m) - physically hardened against several hours blunt-force phsyical damage - (eg enough to slow down a die-grinder w/ a diamond cutoff wheel) - pretty app similar to google earth where carrier operators can see their fleet live or in the past Unit cost of ~$100k USD at first, getting to $35k at scale Shoe-string budget dev costs: $1.2 mil for a bump to fit the most popular model of jet first, then expand to others and airbus if successful. Assumes engrs that can bust it out quickly and hustlers that can finagle enterprise & get distribution (Eg make it an FAA mandatory device for classes of airframes).