A Stroll through APEX 2015

Wireless connectivity with passengers was the mainstream theme at the 2015 APEX exhibition in Portland, Oregon. If not connectivity to passengers, it’s connectivity to airplane systems. If not the technology, then content or monetization.

Skeletal remains of a payphone - lost too is the directory

Airplane Mode 2015

Twitter - Will Ferrell

UPDATE 24 Sep - Here is the current issue list:

* Should (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS) stay on when engaging Airplane Mode?

* How can a mobile client application become aware of Airplane Mode?

* How can the network command "mute/pause" during Passenger Address?

* How should a laptop operating system accommodate an Airplane Mode?

* Should the user have control settings to manage/monitor how each network is utilized?

* How should Airplane Mode recommendations be developed and approved?

* Should the local access point have a protocol to convey maximum streaming rate, relative cost, and network quality of service level?

* Should a special "Cellular Airplane Mode" used with picocells provide overarching EIRP limits or any other useful information?

Average Page Load should be less than Five seconds

Connected Airplane - How did we get here, what's next, and what are the big challenges?

The Connected Airplane

Net Neutrality: The end of Inflight Internet, or business as usual?

How will emerging inflight broadband comply with Net Neutrality?

Are spot beams better than wide beams for aviation?

Are spot beams better?

Skew Angle and Effective Aperture of an Airborne Antenna

Skew angle is a difficult concept to grasp, but the effect can be profound.

Low-profile antennas installed on the top of an airplane fuselage introduce special challenges.

Second generation antennas just entering the market sit flat, creating a change in gain and beamwidth as a function of the relative elevation of the target satellite.

Skew angle rotates the beam-pattern as shown above for various antenna types, at both zero and 90 degree skew.

Amazon Prime Air: If you can't beat them?

photo credit: Amazon

How can a UAV safely delivery packages?

Are the FAA UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) (or drone) rules taking too long and are they too restrictive?

It is not possible for an operator (remotely) to overcome all the risks of a UAV when overflying a community...

...since the failure we are concerned with most is loss of control.

Ka-band Airborne Antenna Figure of Merit (G/T)

Estimated Receive Performance

Circular and Square 24"x24" ESA

30"x6" rectangular horn array

Data Link Available

Ken Simmons, Ed Porisch, Peter Lemme,
Mary Nakasone (Sato), Dave Allen
QANTAS 747-400 FANS Certification Flight Test
June 19, 1995

Ku-band Airborne Antenna Figure of Merit (G/T)

Estimated Receive Performance

Circular and Square 30"x30" ESA

34"x7" rectangular horn array

Postcards from Apollo 15

Rain Fade

Apollo 1 (Apollo 204) - January 27, 1967

I happened to tour Launch Complex 34 a few days ago, today being the 48th anniversary of the catastrophe. 

While only 8 years old when the fire happened, it was devastating to me and remains a sorrow-full moment. 

Remember them not for how they died but for those ideals for which they lived

Ku-band Return Channel Maximum PSD

Summary for Fixed 30x30 Rectangular and Circular plus Gimbaled 34x7

Ka-band Return Channel Maximum PSD

Summary for Fixed 24"x24" Square and Circular ESA plus Gimbaled 30x6 Horn Array

Return Channel Link Budget

CPDLC - Connecting 40% of the pilots to 70% of the controllers

I read this article from Woodrow Bellamy, Avionics Magazine, updating status of CPDLC programs and professing voice congestion was a growing concern and required benefit from CPDLC

(controller - pilot data link communication)

Advancing CPDLC

Forward Channel Downlink Regulations

Forward Channel Considerations

Transponder Downlink dBW Contours

Link Budget Background, Definitions, and Assumptions

When "Black and White" is better than a Rainbow

Flying home from a committee meeting where we discussed miswiring,
I look up and find that the no-smoking and seat-belt wiring are reversed only on the indicators over my seat!

Miswiring, typically when two connectors are mistakenly swapped, can become a hazard to the airplane and airplane systems.

In-Flight Telemetry

Is it technically feasible for a flight data acquisition unit parametric feed, normally directed to the crash-survivable digital flight data recorder, to be also transmitted in real time?

I hate it when my free Internet doesn't work?

Are people more frustrated and vocal with the experience they pay for?

ACARS needs to embrace modern data links using IP

If only ACARS could look beyond VHF and L-Band

The popularity of a product is somewhat related to its price, where free is in its own universe

Norwegian Air, which gives away Internet access that cannot fulfill but a few with unlimited desires, much less everyone's, is in fact a wildly popular part of their award-winning passenger experience.

FANS-1 ACARS and Satcom must pass Airplane Equipment Interoperability Test (AEIT) (1995)

Boeing sold production and retrofit commitments to install and certify FANS-1 functionality without regard to specific ACARS and SATCOM part numbers.  All existing ACARS, and many SATCOM systems, do not support the Airplane Equipment Interoperability Test (AEIT) requirements.

Until their ACARS and SATCOM are approved, customers who purchased the FANS-1 changes will not be able to activate the air traffic services (ATS) function, which is not what they are expecting.

Airplane Personality Module

I presented opposition to the Airplane Personality Module, for reasons stated in this paper.

Airplane Personality Module (1996)

The decision was made to proceed, and ARINC 607 supplement was published in Aug 1998.

TRANSITIONAL USE OF ARINC SPECIFICATION 622 (1994)

COMMENTS ON DRAFT REPORT ON ATNP/1 AGENDA ITEM 2:

"COMMUNICATION ASPECTS OF INTERFACING APPLICATIONS TO THE ATN (E.G...TRANSITIONAL USE OF ARINC SPECIFICATION 622",
14 JUNE 1994.

Inmarsat Satellite Communications (1994)

Four years after the first satcom on 747-400,  here is a snapshot of the technology, the interfaces, and the applications.