In-Flight Cell Phone System
Survives Test Flight

July 19, 2004
Tired of not being allowed to use your cell phone on planes? A solution has completed its test flight. Estimated time of departure for full-scale consumer service is about 24 months.

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

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

The system uses a small in-cabin cellular base station which in turn is connected to the worldwide terrestrial phone network by an air-to-ground Globalstar satellite link.

The problem with using cell phones in flight is that, far from interfering with the aircraft navigation system, airborne phones tend to "suck up" all of the available bandwidth from ground stations, potentially causing major interference for cell users on the ground.

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," said Dan Garton, executive vice president of marketing for American Airlines.

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