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Hot Topic: Four You Might Have Missed at WAEA '07

With the onset of portable entertainment we closely followed developments at this years show in Toronto. We should note that for the most part, these are new technologies (wireless) and first time visits to the show. In every case we know about, these units have not been approved by the FAA, FCC or any other body for inflight use on commercial aircraft. With the exception of the Nintendo unit, the operating transmission frequency bands fall around the aircraft VHF/UHF frequency bands. There will be a lot of grumbling till there is some definitive testing on the effects of streaming entertainment to 350 working units on a commercial aircraft!

WiseDV - Founded by an ex-e.Digital Engineering VP, Atul Anandpura, introduced his WiseDV product for the first time at the WAEA Conference. Using under 10 channels of direct broadcast technology, the unit operate in the VHF/UHF frequency bands to stream content. The units sport an extremely bright screen (originally developed for live tennis matches) Interactivity is limited because it is a receive only device, it nonetheless sports a beautiful screen and looks to be a for-sure bizjet solution. WiseDV is looking for partners.

Sodilec - The French avionics equipment company, Sodielec, demonstrated a portable media player. The unit operates with DVB-H wireless ground standard signals. It operates in the 400 ‐ 700 MHz band, which is common for European TV and UHF operations. While only operating on 10 mW of transmitted power, the portable unit received quality, reliable signals throughout the show floor and up to 300 meters. The PMP has channel hopping and is frequency selecting based on intelligent signal selection. It does not have an STC but they have started qual testing and certification is expected on the file server in 2008. The unit has successfully been tested on naval ships and submarines as well as trains. Using a cell "telephone-based" technology, the format has been in use in Italy, so we were told. A new receiver is in development that should give the receiver a 12 hour battery, furthermore the screen size can be made larger at the expense of the battery. Content was streamed via MPEG4 for the WAEA demonstration.

Nintendo- This unit is the popular Nintendo DS (and Lite) with over 50 million units sold. Nintendo sees the unit as a device for airport terminals and in use in airline frequent flyer lounges as a Wi-Fi enabled connected device to snag travel and airline information. The unit was tested recently at a baseball game whereby users in the stands could view player stats, check out slo-mo action of live plays and order food and drinks. While the unit has limited Internet capability because of speed (most probably processor-based), dual screens, text entry and small size and price make it a tool, we think, that has more legs.

Miltope - We should mention here that Miltope's Visionairy System uses Direct Broadcast technology in similar frequency bands as the above units. Unfortunately, the Miltope system hardware was held up in Canadian Customs, so no close-up pictures were available at the show. Included here is an image from the Aircraft Interiors Show ('07). We expect news from Miltope soon and and at that time, we will follow-up with a story on their system.
 

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