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VIRTUALISATION Qantas to trial in-flight mobile service
VIRTUALISATION Qantas to trial in-flight mobile service | Qantas to trial in-flight mobile service |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Thursday, 19 April 2007 | |
  
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Qantas will initially conduct a three-month trial on a Boeing 767, and only enable email and SMS services. International roaming charges will be applied. In addition to mobile devices, laptops equipped with GPRS modems will be usable in-flight, but only for email. A voice trial may be conducted if the initial tests go well, but users will need deep pockets to cope with the high cost of international roaming. ACMA officials said the Authority "has granted various approvals and exemptions including a carrier licence and a scientific assigned apparatus licence for a network control unit, and two Nominated Carrier Declarations." The network control unit (NCU) connects the onboard 1800MHz picocell to the ground-based network via a satellite link. The picocell will restrict mobile devices' power output to a level that will not cause interference with the plane's avionics. The NCU also blocks the 900MHz band while the plane is above 6000m, preventing direct communication with normal base stations. Aircraft travel between cells more quickly than GSM was designed to handle, and their altitude means a signal can reach more cells than normal. Together, these factors can disrupt normal network operations. The NCU will be under the control of the cabin crew, who will be able to vary the service according to operational requirements. For example, they could block all communications while continuing to manage the power output of active devices. Qantas already offers onboard voice and SMS services via the inflight entertainment handsets on Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A330-300 aircraft, charging $US1.90 for each SMS sent or received and $US5 per minute for voice calls.{moscomment} |
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