Flying internet

It can be a risky business for a passenger to make a phone call or surf the internet during a flight without the necessary technical equipment, because the radio signals from mobile devices can, under certain conditions, disturb the pilot’s radio communications or the avionics. Even the pilots do not have access to modern means of communication at present; they usually communicate with air traffic controllers using analogue radio or short text messages no larger than an SMS. This situation may soon change. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt –DLR) is heading a European research project called Networking the Sky, NEWSKY for short, whose aim is to connect aircraft, satellites and earth stations in a network based on internet technologies.

Engineers from Thales Alenia Space, QinetiQ, Frequentis, Triagnosys, the German air traffic control company DFS and University of Salzburg are collaborating to make this vision of a networked sky a reality. “We need new means of communication to reach the high safety standards required as the volume of air traffic increases and to reduce pollution by optimising flight routes,” says project director Dr. Frank Schreckenbach. Pilots must be able to rely on their communication with air traffic controllers and the reception of information such as weather or traffic data even in the most distant areas over oceans or the poles as well as in densely populated areas.

NEWSKY is a modular concept which builds on available technologies from the internet, mobile radio and cockpit communication and can simply integrate new technologies. It is essential that pilots automatically have data priority, so that an internet video does not block the reception of vital cockpit data. “In about ten years’ time, both passengers and pilots will have access to all the internet offers during the flight,” says Schreckenbach.