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Hot Topic: ASI Debuts First Aircraft Bluetooth Pico-Cell

This is a first in a series of WAEA Conference follow-up reports on some of the cool technology we saw in Miami. If you didn’t go or did not get a chance to see what all the vendors brought, read on. ASI of Australia showed up with their latest line of just-developed products and their answer to seat connectivity really caught our eye (Ok, it is in the breadboard stage). ASI CEO, Ron Chapman, told IFExpress that the latest chips and antenna technology lead to the development of a Wi-Fi alternative to Wireless Personal Area Networking (WPAN) using Bluetooth. We guess their device fits the radio class 2 & 3 that cover up to 30 feet (10 M) and use chipsets that feature Version 2 technology with EDR (Expanded Data Rates). If you need a backgrounder on Bluetooth, try this site http://www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth/.

The Aussies have been really working the cabin-passenger connection and if you remember they recently rolled out another connectivity product using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth called SafeCell. The small SafeCell box uses Bluetooth to communicate with passenger cell phones and then it in turn talks to a cabin Wi-Fi network. The Bluetooth Pico-cell talks directly to passenger phones and then connects to an hardwired airborne Ethernet or possibly some other aircraft network. While there were considerable discussions about in-aircraft Wi-Fi usage during the show, we are not convinced that Wi-Fi will be the only answer (besides wired) for high bandwidth communication to and from passenger seats. Suffice it to say, Boeing and Airbus continue to deliberate the future of wireless airborne Wi-Fi and we wouldn’t be surprised if they hedged their bets with some kind of wired or fiber backbone. It is this speculation that led Chapman to look at Bluetooth, as well as a desire for a quicker connectivity solution. ASI is not looking for Bluetooth to deliver movies and audio, but rather, they see the ubiquitous cell phone as the one connectivity device passengers carry today. Further, they studied over 500 models and came to the conclusion that well over half had Bluetooth and supported JAVA. As an interesting aside, 467 were USB enabled which might provide another way to add apps and/or upload and download data.

Wi-Fi supported products are just now hitting the streets, however, over the last 12 months almost 80% of new cell phones came equipped with Bluetooth. SmartPhones and Skype-type technologies will undoubtedly drive this market, but when? Chapman figures that if an airborne product existed using technology that was on most phones today, take-up by the airlines and passengers would be much quicker. Figuring that email and text messaging (in all forms) is the initial burning desire; he logically followed his present path to Bluetooth. The next questions are: will it work and is it legal? As ASI explores testing and certification, you might want to dig a bit deeper by checking out some interesting reading below that we found about Bluetooth and airplanes. To contact Ron visit www.asiq.net.

• Bluetooth Technology Overview (PDF, ~521k)
• Safety Evaluation of Bluetooth Class ISM Band Transmitters Onboard Commercial Aircraft (PDF, ~326k)
   

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