WCDMA Gets Set For TakeOff in Air Transport

date: March 15, 2002

EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, working with Roke Manor Research, successfully completed 3G wideband communications trials, involving QinetiQ's BAC1-11 research aircraft.

The potential of wideband communications technology to enhance safety, security, air traffic management; and its capability to support airline operational and passenger services was demonstrated in flight.

During the trials, live video of activities in the cockpit and cabin were relayed to the ground station along with still photographs, which were taken with a web-cam. Simultaneously, a voice call was made while a passenger on the aircraft browsed the Internet and watched a video selected and streamed from a server on the ground.

The Siemens demonstrator used in the trials was built in 2000 by Roke Manor Research to stimulate interest among telecommunications operators worldwide in the potential offered by third generation technologies.

Safety and security for crew and passengers when travelling on an aircraft is the highest priority for EUROCONTROL and airline operators. Third generation wideband technologies could enable on-board activity to be continually monitored for security purposes, giving passengers and crew increased confidence in the safety of air travel.

While it is already possible to transfer a limited amount of data between the air and ground today, third generation wideband communications offers the prospect to exchange data at much higher data rates in conjunction with voice communications. In addition to its application for security purposes, the benefits of this technology to increase capacity for Air Traffic Management, and to provide Airline Operational and Passenger services can be substantial.

The results of these initial trials are very encouraging and further activities are planned by EUROCONTROL in the near future. However, the deployment of operational systems is still some years away.

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