I was wondering if any of y'all could give me pointers to services I could
use to log into a network during flight on a private airplane. For example
a person is in flight cross-country and needs to do a videoconference,
send email from his network to interested parties, or any of the normal
things we do from the ground. Is this possible or would it interfere with
the plane's other systems?
scott
The FCC prohibits communication using a cellular telephone while in an
aircraft in US airspace. In Canada, I don't believe there is such a
regulation.
From doing research on this topic earlier this year, I came across news
articles that say that several aircraft manufacturers have tested the use of
cellular telephones on aircraft systems and found no effects whatsoever. So
why the FCC ruling?
Likely it's because of the design of the cellular network - which from what I
understand, is far more dense in the US than it is in Canada (which might be
why the CRTC doesn't have such a prohibition). The problem is what happens
when a cellular device is based above the cellular system antennae - there is
an ability to connect to multiple systems simultaneously, and that's something
the system wasn't designed to see happen. Additionally, there's the hand-off
factor, of the negotiation process of what happens when you leave the range of
one cellular tower and enter the range of another. In an aircraft, that
happens at a rate greater than would be if the cellular phone were used in a
car - so again, there's a problem there. The Airphone system found on
commercial aircraft was designed to overcome these limitations - which is why
they CAN be used onboard commercial aircraft systems.
So, besides it being illegal, you run the risk of taking down your service
provider's cellular network - and from what I've heard, this doesn't make them
very happy.
In summary - don't do it.
-- Leigh Anne Chisholm
Network Engineer
Applied Design Networks
I seem to recall a program on the Discovery Channel [ ;Pp ] where cellphone,
FM/AM radio, walkman and CD player emitted radiation possibly could interfere
with some old equipment on old aircraft (ie probably precautionary rather than
real risk) .. I forget the detail but on an affected plane it did sound fairly
nasty!
Think it was a similar thing in hospitals.. ?
Steve </trivia>
I was mainly thinking of satellite systems, but failed to remember the
latency problems associated with them so the videoconferencing example
wouldn't work. (not enough coffee today... 
So for latency tolerent
apps does satellite work well when traveling at air speeds? If the
footprint doesn't cover the entire area traveled how well does hand off
from one 'cell' to another work? What do the big boys like the president
and corporate execs use?
Also, that the cellular network could crash if cell phones are used at
altitude seems like a big security hole to me.
scott
Yo Scott!
Several services will do what you want. They are ALL expensive.
One of them is Orbcomm:
http://www.orbcomm.com
They have several FAA TSOed (a.k.a. certified) redios for aircraft
usage. With Orbcomm you can send and receive email, weather fax, etc.
Echo Flight is one reseller of Orbcomm service to small airplanes:
http://www.echoflight.com
There service is $10/month plus $1/email
The FAA is currently funding several competing data-link projects. The
idea is to force vendors to give away basic services to all airplanes
and be allowed to charge for premium services like email. Details at:
http://www.avweb.com/oshkosh/osh99/day5/fis/index.html
Icarus has their "SatTalk II" phone. It allows cell phone like
connections while inflight. See them at:
http://www.icarusinstruments.com/
But is this really on topic for nanog? I was not going to post until
I started seeing some bad answers...
RGDS
GARY Commercial, Instrument, SEL, N6157R
I'm fairly certain the cell networks won't crash - as demonstrated in some
calls made last fall. It's more like they won't be able to bill for the time
or keep track of your calls.
The FCC prohibits communication using a cellular telephone while in an
aircraft in US airspace. In Canada, I don't believe there is such a
regulation.
I couldn't find the energy to go swimming in the Canadian Air Regulations, but I did find this in the AIP Canada:
COM 5.14 Pilot Cellular Phone Use During a Radio Communications Failure
[...]
In the event of an in-flight radio communications failure, and only after normal communications failure procedures have been followed (see RAC 6.3.2.1), the pilot-in-command may attempt to contact the appropriate NAV CANADA ATS unit by means of a cellular phone. Before the pilot begins using a cellular phone to contact ATS in the event of an in-flight communications failure, transponder-equipped aircraft should squawk Code 7600 (see RAC 1.10.7).
This at least suggests that there's no CRTC restriction on using cellular telephones from altitude (or that any such CRTC restrictions can be overriden by Transport Canada).
Joe
Inmarsat has recently introduced a new service called Swift64.
http://www.via-inmarsat.org/swift64_solutions.cfm
This is a bit more sophisticated than todays Airfone:
www.airfone.com
Inmarsat has many products for video over satellite; I believe some of the hazy CNN video streams you get from Afganistan use one of those Inmarsat small briefcase units.
Since when did any Canadian Federal Government department do anything that
corresponds with the policy of other Canadian Federal departments? (-:
I know several pilots that have left their phones on while in flight - or that
have used them "because they can". They haven't experienced the effects
others in the US have reported - and again, likely due to the less-dense
nature of the Canadian cellular network.
You found something in the AIP? Well yes, I found that too, but these days
that's been the ONLY thing I've been able to find. Oh... I'm longing for the
good ol' days (pre-"CARS").
-- Leigh Anne Chisholm
Network Engineer
Applied Design Networks
The problem isn't logging, billing, or crashing the network. The
problem is
that the Cells are designed to have a certain area of coverage based on
the
assumption that the remote station is a ground-based station. When you
elevate
a station, that station becomes capable of transmitting it's signal
significantly
further, as the horizon expands and obstructions are reduced.
Thus, instead of bringing up a small number of cells from the ground
that are
expecting a certain amount of co-channel interferrence from each other
and from
stations that are between them, you can occupy the channel on a large
number
of cells that are not expecting a single phone to hit all of them.
Bottom line, it's kind of like spewing a flood ping into the net over a
T1.
You aren't going to crash the network, but you're sure using a lot more
bandwidth
than expected, and you're wasting bandwidth that could be used by
others.
Hope that clarifies it.
Owen
P.S. It's against FCC, not FAA regulations, although there are also FAA
regulations
that prohibit the use of a transmitting or receiving device on a part
121 air carrier
unless the pilot gives informed consent. Further, the FCC regulation
prohibits the
use of a cell phone while the aircraft's wheels are not in contact with
the ground.
Jacob M Wilkens wrote:
Thus spake "Stephen J. Wilcox" <steve@opaltelecom.co.uk>
I seem to recall a program on the Discovery Channel [ ;Pp ] where
cellphone, FM/AM radio, walkman and CD player emitted radiation
possibly could interfere with some old equipment on old aircraft (ie
probably precautionary rather than real risk) .. I forget the detail but
on an affected plane it did sound fairly nasty!
Nearly all aircraft have AM radios in them (it's called the ADF), so I'd be
surprised if those caused interference 
Boeing and the FAA did thousands of hours of testing and were unable to cause
any avionics of any vintage to malfunction when cell phones et al were in use
inside the cabin. The official position is that personal electronic devices
produce interference levels above the certified minimum tolerance levels of
avionics. Even if the avionics can withstand higher interference, they're still
being operated outside their certification and that's illegal.
There do exist telephone and datalink systems which are certified for use aboard
aircraft (private or commercial). However, I doubt you'll be interested when
you see the cost.
Think it was a similar thing in hospitals.. ?
I was in an ER a couple days ago; the laptop computers in the halls used 802.11b
and the doctors carried standard cell phones. If there was a problem in the
past, it's not around any more.
Similarly, HDTV broadcasts took down a lot of pacemakers when they first cranked
up; the affected units have either all been replaced or killed their owner --
problem solved.
S
Yo Scott!
Also, that the cellular network could crash if cell phones are used at
altitude seems like a big security hole to me.
Boeing has repeatedly stated that it is not stupid enough to make
airplanes that will fail because someone in the back has an electronic
device on. Ossama would love that if it were so. It is the FCC, or the
individual airline that bans electronic devices, not the FAA.
The FCC bans most (not all!) cell phone in flight because cell phones
are line of sight. So on in-flight cell phone ties up a LOT of cell
towers on the ground. Air ambulances routinely ignore this rule and
I am sure a lot of people are alive today because they do.
One of the airborne certified vendors of airborne cellular is AirCell:
http://www.aircell.com
Garmin sells the NavTalk Pilot which is a combination GPS, ground cell
phone and airborne cell phone:
http://www.garmin.com/products/navTalkPilot/
GTE Airfone is a ground based phone TSOed (a.k.a. certified)
for in flight use in small airplanes. They are at:
http://www.airfone.com
Being ground based it does not have the latency problems of Sat Phones.
The bad part is in only works when you are in the air.
The airline bans electronic devices just to shut up the little old
ladies. My favorite is "please turn off you PDA for takeoff". Huh?
All the On/Off sitch on the PDA does is turn off the screen...
RGDS
GARY
Yo Jacob!
Billing has nothing to do with it. If there is one thing Cell Phone
networks get right it is billing.
The problem is frequency re-use. For old style Analog cell phones
there are only just over 300 chennels per carrier. No problem because
cell phones are line of sight and you can not see very far in your car.
So in a big city like SF, the same frequencies are reused every few miles.
Get in an airplane, fly over SF bay, make a cell call and one frequency
is used up for the whole bay. If everyone on one 747 did that then
all the frequencies would be used up and no-one else could get on.
->I couldn't find the energy to go swimming in the Canadian Air
->Regulations, but I did find this in the AIP Canada:
->
->> COM 5.14 Pilot Cellular Phone Use During a Radio Communications Failure
->>
->> In the event of an in-flight radio communications failure, and only
->> after normal communications failure procedures have been followed (see
->> RAC 6.3.2.1), the pilot-in-command may attempt to contact the
->> appropriate NAV CANADA ATS unit by means of a cellular phone. Before
->> the pilot begins using a cellular phone to contact ATS in the event of
->> an in-flight communications failure, transponder-equipped aircraft
->> should squawk Code 7600 (see RAC 1.10.7).
->
->This at least suggests that there's no CRTC restriction on using
->cellular telephones from altitude (or that any such CRTC restrictions
->can be overriden by Transport Canada).
A slight addition to this (maybe OT) thread but my wife was being
medivac'd on a small jet to a larger medical facility a few years ago, one
of the medical fellows on board used his cell phone a couple of times on
board while in flight. I asked him about that and he said it was no
problem and he said there was no restriction as far as he knew. As long
as there was service he could use the phone. It was a big clunky Motorola
brick phone.
But the plane/medivac is part of the provincial ambulance service so
rules might be different in this case, compared to commercial aviation.
Keith
Thus spake "Keith Woodworth" <kwoody@citytel.net>
A slight addition to this (maybe OT) thread but my wife was being
medivac'd on a small jet to a larger medical facility a few years ago, one
of the medical fellows on board used his cell phone a couple of times on
board while in flight. I asked him about that and he said it was no
problem and he said there was no restriction as far as he knew. As long
as there was service he could use the phone. It was a big clunky Motorola
brick phone.
"as far as he knew" -- You really think a paramedic (who just happens to be in a
helo that day) knows the intricacies of cellular telephone regulations and how
they change when airborne? I think he's a bit more concerned about how to keep
his patients alive.
But the plane/medivac is part of the provincial ambulance service so
rules might be different in this case, compared to commercial aviation.
"Lifeguard" flights get priority treatment by ATC, but they are not specifically
exempted from any aviation or radio regulations.
That said, both the aviation and radio regulations have blanket exemptions for
any otherwise prohibited activity which is necessary for the preservation of
life. This means that if someone's life is in danger, be it yours or a medivac
patient's, anything reasonable goes.
S
Leigh Anne Chisholm wrote:
The FCC prohibits communication using a cellular telephone while in an
aircraft in US airspace. In Canada, I don't believe there is such a
regulation.
The GTE airfones installed in most large planes have data ports if you must connect a computer. But be prepared to pay a very steep per-minute charge for the connection.
-- David
Expensive: US$ 2.49 per minute on United flights...
This probably isn't certified for flight use, but:
http://www.kvh.com/products/product.asp?id=60
would provide the uplink with usable bandwidth. The downlink requires:
http://www.kvh.com/products/product.asp?id=13 for auto tracking.
Tony (who is not affiliated in any way with the manufacturer)
sattelite links do not rule out videoconferencing, ip phones etc. large
portions of the world live with 700ms or higher round trip times for both
voice and data.
joelja