This is one of my favourite subjects.
While I would not particularly want to be in the cabin with 200 people all using mobile phones at once
I have never believed that they are actually a danger to the modern Aircraft.
Now confirmation from Siemens.
Mobile phones @ 30,000 feet?
Siemens
SATURDAY, APRIL 03, 2004
Contrary to popular belief, mobile phones do not pose a safety threat to airliners. On an average transatlantic flight, several phones are usually left switched on by accident, and the avionics systems on modern aircraft are hardened against radio interference.
No, the use of phones on planes is banned because they disrupt mobile networks on the ground. An airliner with 500 phones on board, whizzing across a city, can befuddle a mobile network as the phones busily hop from one base-station to the next.
This obstacle is on the point of being overcome: the technology is being developed to allow passengers to use their existing handsets in flight, without interfering with ground-based networks.
First, a laptop-sized base-station, called a picocell, will be installed in the aircraft cabin. This is connected to the telephone network via a satellite link. The aircraft cabin is shielded to prevent handsets from making contact with base-stations on the ground.
Instead, they roam on to the network signal from the picocell. Since the picocell is so nearby, the handsets need use very little transmission power to maintain contact with it, which eliminates interference with the plane's avionics, and with networks on the ground.
All of these pieces have been put together in a prototype system by WirelessCabin, a consortium led by the German Aerospace Centre with members including Airbus, Siemens and Ericsson.
It will allow mobile phones based on the dominant GSM standard to be used in the air, and also supports laptop-based internet access via the popular Wi-Fi protocol.
The system has been successfully tested on the ground and will be tested in flight this summer, says Josef Kolbinger of Siemens.
A similar system for business jets will also be flight-tested this year, says Mike Fitzgerald of Altobridge, which provides technology to bridge cellular and satellite networks.
Then it will be up to the regulators. In Europe/America, regulators are drawing up rules to govern the use of wireless devices in flight, probably by mid-2005.
On-board telephony may be linked to loyalty schemes, giving regular customers lower rates or loyalty points when they make calls.