We all know, Inflight Entertainment is quickly becoming an experience that is supplemented on the ground (and many times in the air) by an assortment of devices, the most notable of which, is the iPhone. A lot of road warriors rely on smart phones for entertainment, telephony, and data. The telephony part is the focus of this Hot Topic and the seemingly lack of consistent voice connectivity is the problem we set out to solve. Enter 5BARz from CelLynx, the mobile/fixed, cell phone solution. Simply put, the 5BARz Road Warrior (product image)pumped-up any and every telephone signal to 5 bars on our phones. If there was a signal (and sometimes where there wasn’t one), 5BARz found it and connected our iPhone every time. Seldom do we test a product that works so effectively but this gadget is really worth the bucks, after all, what is a dropped call worth?

Technically, the 5BARz solution is a femtocell (Access Point Base Station) and it simply increases the effective range of your cell phone by “relaying” the existing signal, amplifying it, and coupling the output to your phone, thus raising the signal level (5 bars – get it?). Current femtocell solutions are only one-carrier service and are not portable like the 5BARz. The system is really simple – two units (base station/receive antenna) and phone cradle. After hooking them up and dropping in our iPhone, need we say it – five bars in a home location that previously produced barely one bar…and at times, zero bars! The unit is also portable, and it is this feature that we had to test. With a cigarette lighter gooseneck attached to the phone cradle and the base station on the dash, we started our testing on the road where dropouts are notorious. After 4 exhaustive 100 mile trip tests up and down Interstate 5 near Seattle, we were amazed that there were consistently 5 bars everywhere…and nary a dropped call. We tested the unit with 5 different phones and 3 service providers with no difference. Suffice it to say, dropped calls will still occur because of network congestion, however, we did not experience one during our testing, affirming the value of the system and the relative improvement to the phone radio.

From a technology viewpoint, the antenna design in the base station is quite small and first rate. Employing a patented PIFA (Planar-Inverted-F-Antenna) design (the kind used in microstrip applications) is perfect for compact products like this. It covers the full US cellular and PCS bands and we found no difference in signal strength between carriers. Cellynx has patented an “active stability loop” to improve the isolation obtained between two co-located antennas, thereby allowing higher gain in a bi-directional amplifier (or repeater) system. You have probably heard the squeal from an audio system amplifier when a microphone gets to close to a speaker. This phenomenon is commonly called feedback. Similarly, there is an inherent problem with having receive and a transmit antennas close together with a signal booster in-between; if the antennas are too close to one another a feedback oscillation would occur unless the booster can be adjusted to prevent the feedback oscillation. The 5BARz Road Warrior self adjusts to prevent a feedback oscillation by turning down its gain – the ability to boost a signal. The base station is about the size of a couple packs of cigarettes and is placed on the dashboard. A small dipole antenna in the phone cradle couples the signal to your phone. And yes, you have to use a headset because the phone must be in the close proximity to the cradle to get the signal boost. Small price to pay for connectivity! Use it in your car or in your hotel room. If you have a need to stay connected, this is the only active way we have found to make our iPhone work. Heck, they ought to package one with each phone.

Where to buy 5BARz or at bargainjacks.com
5BARz Photos
5BARz Data Sheet
5BARz Quick Guide

This IFExpress sure looks like an old fax newsletter we used to publish…however, we left out the “Rumors, Rumors, Rumors” bit, sorta.

Sources have told us that Aircell, recently announced the completion of the private placement of equity securities totaling $176m to new and existing investors. The financing will be used to provide funding for capital investments for network expansion and operating needs we hear.

A Senior research analyst with Piper Jaffray, Gene Munster, is forecasting 2010 sales of iPhone and iPod Touch devices to reach 36 million in new sales, an increase over his estimate of 25.7 million for 2009, with the new tablet shipments for 2010 estimated to reach 10M. We expect the new device from Apple to be a table that can be configurable for the 0 – 20 set and 20 up crowd dependant upon what apps you select (buy). This translates to a bigger market share. Add that to the Kindle and Kindle-like devices and travelers will be toting more junk that ever aboard your favorite flight. And speaking of Kindle, when are we going to see that e-reader technology on IFE? For that matter, wouldn’t a Kindle, tether or semi-embedded be a light weight, low power, IFE product? If the TAS bans electronic gadgets, it may!

Re: Last weeks Hot Topic, we received a nice email from Nick Gray, Flight Display Systems; “Nick Gray from Flight Display Systems here. Saw your email on the 52 from ACS and just wanted to note that we have also delivered at least one 52″ HD monitor to a private VIP owner in the Middle East. Other news is our Blu-ray player 2nd generation will be released soon. It is already installed on many aircraft with happy VIP customers. Thanks – we all love reading your site and the emails. Nick.” Check out his website below…very nice.

A long-time reader wrote us: “If we all go back to horse and buggy, there would a lot less danger in travel for everyone, right? Between the TSA, the FAA, and people who demand perfect safety and security, we might as well close up shop. Even at my place of work now, and I suspect in others, there are people who say that the best way to get from here to there (as in participating in ARINC or WAEA meetings) is to drive if it’s local; take the train if it ‘domestic’; and fly only because ships take too long . . . . . what kind of endorsement is that of our industry?” He has a point.

Next, some housekeeping:

The usually excellent Inmarsat Aero Conference is set for April 20 – 23 in San Francisco this year. It looks like the focus is on Swift Broadband, but don’t forget the crab, cioppino, and the Coit Tower as well. See link below.

An industry source told us that Bill Peltola has popped up on the radar again, this time at Panasonic as Director, CGS Operations and Planning. No doubt, he will be heading to SoCal in the near future. If his email follows standard Panasonic protocol you should be able to contact him at bill.petola@panasonic.aero, or you can probably find him at the bar at the Inmarsat conference mentioned above!

Clark Snyder, S VP, Thales has retired. If we ever hear back from him about his whereabouts and contact information we will pass it along.

Inmarsat Conference 2010: http://www.regonline.co.uk/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=805097

Flight Display Systems: http://www.flightdisplay.com/