EADS (France) will decide at the end of the year on a development and marketing schedule for its In Flight Telecom System (IFTS), which will use the GlobalStar satellite system to allow passengers to use their mobile telephones and laptop computers on board an aircraft. The move follows successful trials of the equipment earlier this year.
The first in-flight demonstration using a mobile phone last April was "entirely successful", says the head of EADS Aerospatiale Matra Airbus division's electronics department, René Corbefin.
The IFTS uses a cellular phone base (called a Picocell) installed in the aircraft, which accepts calls from on-board modems used by mobile phones and other equipment. It converts the signals to the GSMprotocol and relays them to GlobalStar satellites for delivery to the ground and terrestrial network.
Because the Picocell is on the aircraft, minimum modem power - less than 50 mW - is required, says Corbefin, meaning that aircraft avionics are not affected. "Passengers can work with their existing equipment as if they were in their office or home without having to learn to operate satellite communications equipment," he says. The Picocell can be switched off during critical phases of flight such as take-off and landing.
Initially, transmission speeds will be at a relatively slow 9.6kbit/s, but new generation satellite systems, such as Skybridge and Teledesic, will increase speeds. Installation costs will, says Corbefin, "be less than for an on-board satcom-based system".
This is the latest move into in-flight communications for GlobalStar, already in an alliance with the Rockwell Collins/News Corp joint venture, In-Flight Network, which is designed to provide in-flight internet and e-mail services for airline passengers.
Source: Flight International
