Stay Connected When On Air !

[chandramauli 0]

Now call from the plane with CDMA

Qualcomm and American Airlines have demonstrated in-cabin voice communications using commercially available CDMA mobile phones on a commercial American Airlines aircraft. Through the use of an in-cabin "picocell" network, passengers on the test flight were able to place and receive calls as if they were on the ground.

The proof-of-concept demonstration flight originated out of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. During the approximate two-hour flight, passengers were able to place and receive phone calls and text messages on their mobile phones. Passengers included members of the media and government representatives.

A small in-cabin CDMA cellular base station on the plane, that uses standard cellular communications, was connected to the worldwide terrestrial phone network by an air-to-ground Globalstar satellite link. The information gathered during this proof-of-concept demonstration flight will be used to further research into the quality, convenience and safety of communications with personal CDMA mobile phones carried by passengers on a commercial aircraft.

"We are pleased to have worked so closely with American Airlines to complete this proof-of-concept demonstration for the in-flight use of 3G CDMA technology," said Dr. Irwin Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. "Together, we have anticipated the future needs of wireless subscribers in the airline industry and are aggressively driving the delivery of innovative solutions to meet those needs."

"Today, American Airlines and Qualcomm showcased their strength as technology pioneers and market leaders in their respective industries," said Dan Garton, executive vice president of marketing for American Airlines. "American is committed to researching and providing innovative, cutting-edge products and services that enhance our passengers' traveling experience and give our customers what they value. Even though commercial availability of cell phone use in flight is approximately 24 months away, American Airlines knows that our customers want to stay connected and this proof-of-concept event is an important step in bringing in-cabin wireless services to our customers."

I saw this on a 3G forum. I thought i should share it out ....

[hritik123 4]

it will be a long time this technology comes to india. it will be gr8 if it works well in city only

[chandramauli 0]

Well Hritik123

RIM/RFWP rocks... it works gr8 in cities tooo..

i havent had any bad/sad experience with RIM / RFWP so far ..

I have been using RIM for for over a year now....

[madhukutty 0]

in fact know someone calling me from a flight using a CDMA phone, sound quality was excellent

[Chirag 5]

in fact know someone calling me from a flight using a CDMA phone, sound quality was excellent

24873[/snapback]

Pretty interesting! Which part of the globe was the call from? any idea which airline?

[linuxguy 0]

It is possible with GSM phones too. Nothing great about it. They have an onboard base station thats all

[Ashokjp 15]

It is possible with GSM phones too. Nothing great about it. They have an onboard base station thats all

24893[/snapback]

Guess, presently only CDMA phones can be used

[imvikky 0]

I dunno what you guys mean about available in future... EarlierI had a GSM phone and i tried all spice, airtel and bsnl networks they don,t work anything above 5000 feet above ground and reliance works till 20-21 thousand feet... and just that you have to fly your aircraft over any city in India which has got reliance connectivity it shows you almost four signal strength.. and you can send/recieve sms I am not sure about calls.........

[linuxguy 0]

imvikki do you realize you could've crashed the aeroplane? There is a reason why those guys warn against the use of cellphones/laptops onboard an aircraft. I am not joking. I am dead-on serious. The aircraft contains very sensitive equipment which are HIGHLY sensitive to radio waves

[madhukutty 0]

in fact know someone calling me from a flight using a CDMA phone, sound quality was excellent

24873[/snapback]

Pretty interesting! Which part of the globe was the call from? any idea which airline?

24877[/snapback]

this was when the person was flying from europe to america

[chandramauli 0]

It is possible with GSM phones too. Nothing great about it. They have an onboard base station thats all

24893[/snapback]

Naah i dont think its posible with the GSM technology man.... even when a gsm phone rings u get some annoyiong buzzzzz sound and any electronic item (like a computer or tv se ) get some vibrating sounds !!! and imagine in a plane the pilots would have a shock of their lives if these buzzzz sounds and vibrations happen on the screens !!!

[chandramauli 0]

I was flying thru air sahara to b'lore....

my rim phone was on (in slient mode thou)

we were flying @ 37000 ft and there was connectivity !!!

its amazing !!!

[SexyGurl 0]

I dunno what you guys mean about available in future... EarlierI had a GSM phone and i tried all spice, airtel and bsnl networks they don,t work anything above 5000 feet above ground and reliance works till 20-21 thousand feet...  and just that you have to fly your aircraft over any city in India which has got reliance connectivity it shows you almost four signal strength.. and you can send/recieve sms I am not sure about calls.........

24951[/snapback]

fool ... you could've crashed the aeroplane

[city02 63]

do you realize you could've crashed the aeroplane? There is a reason why those guys warn against the use of cellphones/laptops onboard an aircraft. I am not joking. I am dead-on serious. The aircraft contains very sensitive equipment which are HIGHLY sensitive to radio waves

That's not true anymore:

- no airplane in the history of the world has ever crashed due to radio interference from any kind of phones or even towers which have 10-20 times greater power outputs at least

- 10-20 years ago the shielding against any kind of interference was much lower than today and analog phones would emit @ much higher power levels so it was more of an issue

- ALL modern jets have redundancy built into all critical systems including shielding from direct lightning hits which are usually in the millions of volts and which also hit an avg jet once/week over the long run globally

- the EM interference produced by the SMALLEST direct lightning hit is equivalent to about ALL the passengers & crew talking on their mobiles at the SAME time for the ENTIRE duration of a long distance flight (6-9 hours and 250-350 people) as pointed out on the Discovery Channel about 1-2 months ago when they were showing the construction & testing of Boeing planes!

- the MAIN reason that airlines continue with this practice is both inertia (too lazy to bother changing) and commercial since they need to force passengers to use the expensive in flight satellite phones

- the MINOR reason is that since planes are travelling @ over 250+ km/h, the mobile is passing through towers every few secs so a lot of 'control' traffic is produced with each handover from base stations which clogs up the cell capacity and affects ground subscribers

- the TRIVIAL reason would be for other passengers peace of mind, the airplane cabin is quickly becoming the last outpost against the aggravation of stupid ringtones going off very loudly for a few hours

- ALL aircarft avoinics are shielded against very high levels of interference (including analog & digital cellular transmissions) since 2000 with new regulations being passed in the US and EU (Boeing & Airbus)

Think about it:

if airplanes were so sensitive to interference from mobiles, there would have been a world wide ban on all cell towers within 5-10 km of any airports and no one would be able to use their mobiles inside any aiport due to lack of coverage.

Also the planes would have started dropping out of the air like flies during landing/takeoff which are the most critical times of the flight.

PS:

I'm not endorsing the use of mobiles when an airplane is off the ground since it does impact subscribers below but there is no SAFETY issue with it.

When the plane is taxing around the runways, there is virtually NO issue of any kind...

maybe i spend too much time watching netway!

[Dilbert 0]

OK.. even if we say it is fine, then why do they prevent from using any electronic equipment while take-off & landing??

Even laptops are been allowed to switched on after the craft reaches a certain altitude....

Regards

[city02 63]

as i mentioned before:

the MAIN reason that airlines continue with this practice is both inertia (too lazy to bother changing)

maybe laptops could become projectiles during landing/takeoff but they do not interfere with the electronics of any jet

so the reason could still be safety in general but not specifically EM interference...

if any device in an aircraft causes interference at ground level, it would still do so at any altitude so laptops should not be switched on ever if they did actually do any harm.