DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW / LONDON
Researchers are preparing to demonstrate a system that suppresses potentially hazardous mobile telephone power levels to allow aircraft passengers to use GSM telephones during flight with no interference risk to avionics.
Irish wireless communications specialist Altobridge intends to have an experimental system installed on a business jet by the fourth quarter of this year and says a parallel effort will address the commercial aircraft market.
The project involves installing a localised "picocell" gateway on board the aircraft which instructs mobile telephones to restrict their transmission power levels. The call is then transmitted through normal air/ground channels, and a corresponding gateway at the receiving ground station connects the call to standard mobile networks.
Altobridge chief executive Mike Fitzgerald says the idea takes into account the conclusions of a recent UK Civil Aviation Authority research paper, which showed avionics such as instrument landing system receivers are affected by telephone transmissions. "At high power levels, there is the possibility for interference," he says. "We need to establish a suitable parameter."
Fitzgerald says airlines could use mobile telephone traffic as a strong revenue stream, adding that the Altobridge GSM technology could be installed on "seven to 10" aircraft for the price of a broadband alternative on a single aircraft. Altobridge's plan follows communications provider Sita's decision in April to seek proposals and partners for its Mobile in the Sky programme, which aims to explore the feasibility of GSM telephone use on aircraft.
Source: Flight International
