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Gaurav Raghuvanshi

Bored minutes after boarding the plane? Just switch on ... A future scenario that will see passengers using mobile phones during flights.

THE moment you step into an aircraft, you are instructed to switch off your mobile phone and laptop as a key safety measure.

Once airborne, you are allowed to use the laptop, but your mobile stays dysfunctional because there is `no signal' up in the sky.

OnAir, a Geneva-based solutions provider for the airline industry, has developed a technology that enables passengers to get mobile signals on board and recently announced a tie-up with Airbus to offer this service on the latest A-380 super jumbo of the aircraft manufacturer.

OnAir, a joint venture of Airbus and Holland's SITA along with Seattle-based Tenzing Communications, claims that the system can be fitted on any aircraft, including those of arch rival Boeing.

First things first. The use of mobiles and laptops is not allowed inside the cabin as it can interfere with the communication systems of the aircraft. In fact, the prohibition came into force after an air crash in the US some 15 years ago that was blamed on a passenger using his laptop computer.

"There are crystals in a mobile that emit radiation. In rare cases, the radiation from the mobile phone can match the frequency of aircraft's communication system, leading to resonance. The crew can then have problems communicating with the air traffic control," explains an engineering department official at a leading mobile service operator.

If you see some people twiddling with their mobile phones during a flight, it could either be a kid playing a video game on the cell or a top honcho using the phone just as others use their laptops. Certain high-end models like the Sony Ericsson P-910 and Nokia 6630 and 9500 Communicator come with a `Flight Mode' in which the instrument loses its phone function and becomes akin to a laptop computer.

`Noise pollution' worry

While OnAir's solution seeks to address the problem of resonance leading to interference with the plane's communication system and allow seamless connectivity to airborne users, airlines have a different concern."We are very particular about the comfort and convenience of our passengers. But use of mobile phones in-flight should not lead to noise pollution. At any rate, the technology is yet to be proven and it is too early for us to say if we would be interested in it," says Shiva Kumar, spokesperson for Singapore Airlines in India.

Agrees Vikrant Rao of Emirates. "While most new aircraft have insulated wiring to prevent disturbance from EMI radiation, as a precaution, the use of mobiles and laptops is still prohibited. We are always looking for ways to offer the best services to our clients, but for this, we would have to wait and see what is being offered."

OnAir says it is keenly aware of the social factors involved, particularly in the use of mobile phones on long-haul flights.

`Mobile users, this way'

OnAir's Chief Executive George Cooper has presented a scenario for the use of cell-phones in airplanes: seating plans like the smoking sections in earlier flights could be set aside for passengers who want to talk on flights. Moreover, the cabin crew could turn off the voice part of the service, but leave on the text messaging feature at night.

"We continue to research these issues but, in anticipation of such a need, our system will give cabin crew complete control of the system, allowing them, for example, to switch to SMS-only mode when it is `night' in the cabin," says a company spokesperson.

The OnAir service portfolio will allow airline passengers to use their personal devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants) and laptops to communicate in a variety of ways during flights.

Another issue that would need to be addressed is the desirability of such a service. "We already offer in-flight telephones using satellite technology at a fairly competitive price. Most other international airlines too offer onboard telephone services," says Vikrant Rao of Emirates.

Here again, OnAir's contention is that the passenger would prefer the convenience of using his or her own telephone rather than that provided by the airline. The company is working with vendors to make sure that the communication equipment does not add too much weight to the aircraft.

OnAir is also aiming to make the service as friendly and as transparent as possible for passengers. For example, onboard communications will be invoiced as part of the regular mobile operator or Internet Service Provider bill, at international roaming rates, says the company.

The services, however, will not see actual usage until 2006 at the earliest. OnAir anticipates a market of 700 million passengers using GSM (Global System for Mobile) telephones by 2009.

Meanwhile, the company has already carried out successful ground and in-flight tests of a GSM solution. The trials involved communication to and from personal mobile telephones on board to mobile and fixed telephones on the ground. Functional tests were performed in which several GSM telephones were used simultaneously for both voice communication and text messaging.

The Railways, on their part, have also been testing a technology that would allow continuous connectivity during a journey. While trial runs were carried out nearly two years ago, the Railways are yet to announce a commercial launch of the service. Phones begin ringing and beeping the moment the train enters a station anyway.

All this only means that in the coming years, even the cabin of an aircraft will not offer you protection from that pesky piece of equipment — the mobile phone.

eworld@thehindu.co.in

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