Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Sky-Fi?
There are a few things about airplane regulations that have amused me. For example, why do they insist on doing that drill in case of a landing on water? Have any of you heard of a Boeing 747 that landed on water and the people surviving to tell the tale? I would assume just the impact of the crash would be enough to kill everyone on board. And one can also safely rule out a jetliner gliding gently to a halt on the Atlantic Ocean.
Similarly, why do they ask you to switch off your mobile phones once you are air-borne? The general assumption is that it would interfere badly with the aircraft's avionics. But if it were that simple, all an Al-Qaeda nutter would need to do would be to switch on his cell-phone. The Economist throws some light on the latter issue in a piece on mobile phones on planes.
Contrary to popular belief, mobile phones do not pose a safety threat to airliners. On an average transatlantic flight, several phones are usually left switched on by accident, and the avionics systems on modern aircraft are hardened against radio interference. No, the use of phones on planes is banned because they disrupt mobile networks on the ground. An airliner with 500 phones on board, whizzing across a city, can befuddle a mobile network as the phones busily hop from one base-station to the next. This obstacle is on the point of being overcome: the technology is being developed to allow passengers to use their existing handsets in flight, without interfering with ground-based networks
First, a laptop-sized base-station, called a “picocell”, will be installed in the aircraft cabin. This is connected to the telephone network via a satellite link. The aircraft cabin is shielded to prevent handsets from making contact with base-stations on the ground. Instead, they “roam” on to the network signal from the picocell. Since the picocell is so nearby, the handsets need use very little transmission power to maintain contact with it, which eliminates interference with the plane's avionics, and with networks on the ground.
All of these pieces have been put together in a prototype system by WirelessCabin, a consortium led by the German Aerospace Centre with members including Airbus, Siemens and Ericsson. It will allow mobile phones based on the dominant GSM standard to be used in the air, and also supports laptop-based internet access via the popular Wi-Fi protocol. (The first commercial airborne Wi-Fi service is being launched this month by Lufthansa.) The system has been successfully tested on the ground and will be tested in flight this summer, says Josef Kolbinger of Siemens.
As of April 5th, Lufthansa's claims remain just that, according to Om Malik. That said, I think its a great idea and I would happily pay $20 to get rid of the sheer boredom of long-haul flights. Now, if only they would also provide power slots, especially for the non-Centrino laptops that lack the juice to make full use of a fixed-price model. I dont know if Lufthansa also has an a la carte pricing model in the works.
Similarly, why do they ask you to switch off your mobile phones once you are air-borne? The general assumption is that it would interfere badly with the aircraft's avionics. But if it were that simple, all an Al-Qaeda nutter would need to do would be to switch on his cell-phone. The Economist throws some light on the latter issue in a piece on mobile phones on planes.
Contrary to popular belief, mobile phones do not pose a safety threat to airliners. On an average transatlantic flight, several phones are usually left switched on by accident, and the avionics systems on modern aircraft are hardened against radio interference. No, the use of phones on planes is banned because they disrupt mobile networks on the ground. An airliner with 500 phones on board, whizzing across a city, can befuddle a mobile network as the phones busily hop from one base-station to the next. This obstacle is on the point of being overcome: the technology is being developed to allow passengers to use their existing handsets in flight, without interfering with ground-based networks
First, a laptop-sized base-station, called a “picocell”, will be installed in the aircraft cabin. This is connected to the telephone network via a satellite link. The aircraft cabin is shielded to prevent handsets from making contact with base-stations on the ground. Instead, they “roam” on to the network signal from the picocell. Since the picocell is so nearby, the handsets need use very little transmission power to maintain contact with it, which eliminates interference with the plane's avionics, and with networks on the ground.
All of these pieces have been put together in a prototype system by WirelessCabin, a consortium led by the German Aerospace Centre with members including Airbus, Siemens and Ericsson. It will allow mobile phones based on the dominant GSM standard to be used in the air, and also supports laptop-based internet access via the popular Wi-Fi protocol. (The first commercial airborne Wi-Fi service is being launched this month by Lufthansa.) The system has been successfully tested on the ground and will be tested in flight this summer, says Josef Kolbinger of Siemens.
As of April 5th, Lufthansa's claims remain just that, according to Om Malik. That said, I think its a great idea and I would happily pay $20 to get rid of the sheer boredom of long-haul flights. Now, if only they would also provide power slots, especially for the non-Centrino laptops that lack the juice to make full use of a fixed-price model. I dont know if Lufthansa also has an a la carte pricing model in the works.
