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Wireless LAN Onboard Passenger Aircraft
KjetilK writes "Scandinavian Airlines System announced today that they will start testing a wireless LAN based on IEEE 802.11b, onboard their aircrafts this year." It sounds like they have might have some restrictions in web sites available and such, but this is a darn cool idea. Of course, SAS isn't doing any domestic US flights but... *sigh*
For an aircraft to file a weather report while in flight is common. Even as a student pilot my flight instructor had me file PIREP's with the flight service whenever I ran into weather that was not exactly as the forcast said it should be.
There are some things like cloud tops which can only be seen from above.
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Which, judging from the comments, many of us are quite familiar with.
The concerns I have are mostly practical. Philosophically there is no problem for me.
Things like security, reliability, speed.
Security, of course, depends on the encryption standards they use, if any. There could be a couple of good spy movies based on this somehow. [Insert plotline here]
Reliability. This is partly a simple hardware issue, the solution to which is 'trivial', because it is "merely" a matter of getting the right equipment. Some of it is not so trivial in terms of enviromental interference. Remember, this is in Sweden. For instance, there are reports in the far north of the Northern Lights being very intense and coming quite low into the atmosphere. As seen here, for example:
There is also this page, with many interesting articles.There is this article about auroral effect at ground level. I even recall reading about aurora being *visible* at ground level, but that was long ago, and I cannot find the link. There is even this article about aurora being *audible*, however. So the effects of such enviromental factors on an aircraft at six miles up can be important.
Speed is not so much an issue internal to the aircraft, but again is a problem of interferance with the ground stations. Enviromental factors are again in play
Needless to say, I am going to be very interested with the results of these trials
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There have been several crashes linked to cell phone usage in-flight
That's only because the pilot wasn't using a hands-free kit and took his hands off the stick to take the call.Singapore's airport provides free internet access to anyone carrying one of these cards. Works great. There are signs scattered around the terminal indicating the areas in which it works, usually with nice comfy chairs nearby. They'll even lend you a card for your laptop if you don't have one. (Unfortunately people without computers are stuck paying about US$6/hour to use the airport's machines)
This is definitely the sort of thing more airports should do - maybe I wouldn't always be so late for flights because I need to finish my work, if I knew I could take care of it in the departure lounge after checking in.
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Actually, the big reason (besides the fact that you are sitting in a big metal tube) is that cell phone antennas are pointed down towards the earth. Remember that most people on cell phones are on the ground level, and to improve the signal strength cell towers actually have three different antennas, each one directional and covering 120 degress of the sky (actually more, there is some overlap) horizontally and only a few degrees vertically.
On a plane, your cell phone would be constantly out of range anyway.
Plus the 802.11b standard can be tested on the planes first to be sure it doesn't interfere with the controls.
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Wouldn't it be easier to just add a RJ-45 jack next to the headphone jacks on all the seats?
The problem with RJ-45 sockets (or any physical connection for that matter) is that they wear, get damaged and require maintenance/ replacement constantly; especially in a location where constant insertion/ removal is envisaged. Imagine having a 747 with 300-500 such RJ45 sockets, each connected to a hub by an 8-core wire, and the potential for problems is immense. They have enough problems with the current wiring on an aircraft.
Wireless LANs on the other hand, have no parts subject to wear and abuse, only have a small number of components and the standard LRU/SRU repair procedure easy to implement.
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This is not the first time this has happened. If you read Telia's press release they state "SAS will be the first European airline to implement this wireless technology on board their planes." If you read on a bit into the Tenzing site, Air Canada is starting a free Beta test of this technology here.
Now I fly a lot and this sounds like it's really going to take off, pardon the pun, but why are Air Canada and SAS the first? I would have expected this from one of the bigger airlines like United or something. Air Canada is a member or United's Star Aliance though. I guess if this works well, we may see this everywhere!
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I wonder how much the NWS would pay me for a web cam uplink with GPS from my coach seat across the atlantic. The oceans are a bitch to get data from, maybe this announcement is the first step to more accurate forecasts!
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Now if only you could log on to a Quake Arena or Half-Life server on-board and play coach section against business class.
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802.11b is showing up everywhere. Think about this for a couple of minutes and you might feel inclined to breathe a sigh of relief. This is an area where a number of players would have liked to establish a de-facto standard, potentially a closed and monopolistic one. It didn't happen. 802.11b happened, with ordinary TCP/IP and DHCP running over it. Do you realize what an impediment to Linux users it would have been, if "the standard" ended up being a closed one? I'm thankful for this. I'm looking forward to a time in the not-too-distant future where I'll be able to boot my Linux-based laptop in lots of different places -- coffee shops, airplanes, offices, perhaps even my home if I feel so inclined -- and just be on the net without any further consideration. This is one of those futuristic things that really looks like it's going to pan out just the way the dreamers imagined it. My hearty congratulations go out to the people who made it happen.
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this isn't really access. it sounds like they will have a couple of sites that are uploaded to the plane. the plane will sync w/ the groundstation "at regular intervals". you can probably send email to anywhere (message size restricted???) but you won't be able to "surf"
Am I the only person posting in this group who thinks this idea is a waste of money?
I mean, I'm as nerdy as the next guy; I really am. But cummon, who really takes that many flights longer than 2 - 3 hours. Isn't it enough that you can sit there and use your computer and get work done, do you have to be able to do real-time research and communicate with people for that whole three hours? Stuff like this can't wait until you land and take 4 minutes to get inside the airport, "Our customers already have access to wireless communications in our SAS lounges through Telia HomeRun"
In the end, any modifications the airline makes to the plane are going to raise the price of airline tickets. I don't want to pay more money for my flights so joe-asshole on his $8.00/min cell-phone can also type while I'm trying to get an hour or two of sleep.
Is there such thing as a business job that requires you to travel *and* get so much work done that you can't take a 3 hour break from being connected to the outside world? Not even a break from working, just a break from being connected... it sounds like 'too much hype' to me.
It reminds me of all the "business men" I used to sell Palm Pilots too back in my hay-day as a fledgling guru. "Whoa! I can connect to the internet with that!? anywhere?!". Guess how many of them actually do that 3 weeks after they get one... I think 90% of the guys running with leading-edge technology are actually wasting their time (and often other peoples time) figuring out how to be more efficient with their new technology.
ie: Hey, this palm pilot lets me get my email anytime i want, now I can check it on my way to work instead of when I get there. They then spend 4 hours setting it up, and save 5 minutes in their work day for a month or two until something new comes out.
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Let's just hope they give the flight controlls an IP.
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That may be one reason, but the reason I've always heard was that, on the ground, cell phones can only "see" a few cell towers at a time. At 35,000 feet, it can see hundreds, and will switch cells every few seconds (given how fast the airplane is moving). This tends to play havoc with cellular systems as a whole. The ban on cell phone use in airplanes originated from the FCC, not the FAA.
A better example would be AM/FM radios. We've been told that years that radios shouldn't be used on airplanes, because they can cause problems with navigation equipment. I find it hard to believe that a passive receiver can cause more problems than an active 802.11b transmitter.