Cellphones in Flight Face Technical and Social Hurdles
By ERIC A. TAUB
The New York Times
Published: September 2, 2004
BUSINESS travelers who think there are not enough hours in the day,
take note: in two years there may be a few more at your
disposal.
In 2006 the nation's commercial airliners may begin to allow
passengers to make cellphone calls and connect to the Internet
throughout a flight. No longer will passengers have to cram in
their last cellular calls before takeoff. Instead, they will be
able to use standard mobile phones to make and receive calls while
in flight.
Technical and social issues must still be worked out. The airlines,
the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications
Commission must be assured that cellphones will not interfere with
navigation or communications equipment. And the airlines also must
devise ways to avoid conflict between cell yellers and passengers
looking for a quiet trip.
While the airlines wait for government approval, Lufthansa
currently offers Internet access on some international flights. As
a foreign carrier, it is not subject to federal restrictions.
"A circle of mobility defines how people want to work and live
today," said Monte Ford, senior vice president of American
Airlines. In July, the airline conducted a test flight in which
passengers could place calls throughout the United States without
interfering with the plane's operations.
"Cellphones and laptops are used in cars and offices, but the
missing piece has been the airplane," Mr. Ford said. "But it's
critically important that this technology be utilized in a proper
way."
Airline passengers have been able to make calls during flights for
years, using telephones built into seat backs. But high cost and
poor connection quality have discouraged their use.
Until now, there have been concerns that cellphone use during
flight could disrupt cell networks or interfere with the plane's
navigation systems. The F.C.C., which has jurisdiction over ground
communication, forbids the use of cellphones in flight out of
concern that passengers calling from the air could overwhelm the
nation's system of cell towers. That policy is currently under
review and is likely to be modified this October, according to
Lauren Patrich, an F.C.C. spokeswoman.
For its part, the F.A.A., which governs in-flight communications,
recommends that airlines forbid the use of any device - including
cellphones and pagers - that transmits signals, because of the risk
of interference.
Two newly proposed solutions will allow passengers to use their own
cellphones to place calls in flight in a way that their makers say
addresses both concerns. Unlike the current seat-back phone system,
airlines will not have to pay for costly interior wiring. Instead,
a small cell tower, known as a picocell, will be installed inside
the cabin. Cellphone signals will be picked up by that cell, and
then, depending on the system, relayed either first to a satellite
or directly to the ground.
AirCell of Louisville, Colo., a large provider of in-flight
communications services, has proposed a system that would bypass
existing cellphone towers on the ground and direct calls instead to
a separate grouping of receivers installed throughout the country.
Equipment inside the plane would effectively create a cabin-wide
hot spot handling voice and Internet communications.
The AirCell system can handle any of the three digital phone
standards in use by the American carriers: C.D.M.A., T.D.M.A. or
G.S.M. Signals from each phone would be received by the plane's
picocell, and then translated into one digital signal that would be
sent to one of AirCell's terrestrial receivers. (To keep costs
down, those receivers could be situated next to ones operated by
cellphone carriers.) The signals would be separated and sent to the
customer's carrier for routing and billing.
The system is designed to be able to transmit signals a distance of
50,000 feet, and hand them off from one ground receiver to the next
while a caller is moving at 600 miles per hour. Because of the
height at which planes fly, only 150 cell sites will be needed to
provide coverage across the continental United States, according to
Jack Blumenstein, AirCell's chief executive officer.
