You may soon be able to call people up, send office emails, check Facebook as well as watch instant videos while air-borne, according to a proposal approved by the Telecom Commission allowing air travellers in India to access in-flight mobile and internet services.
Passengers, used to being told by the crew to switch of all electronic devices, have been wondering how the system would work. PTI answers some frequently asked questions.
In-flight connectivity systems primarily use two kinds of technology. In the first, an onboard antenna picks up signals from the nearest tower on the ground. The connection will remain seamless up to a certain altitude unless the plane passes over an area without ground towers.
In the second scenario, satellites beam signals directly to antennas installed on the airline. This is more effective when the airline is passing over a water body compared with ATG (air-to-ground)-based networks which use satellites to beam the signal first to a transmitter on the ground and then to the antennas on the airline.
The data is transmitted to a personal electronic device such as a smartphone or a laptop through an onboard router, which is connected to the plane's antenna.
The antenna transmits the signals, through satellites, to a ground station, which redirects the traffic to a billing server that calculates the data consumption.
In case the internet services through onboard WiFi are permitted to be used only in flight/airplane mode, the plane's antenna will link to terrestrial Internet services provided by telecom service providers.
When the aircraft has climbed to 3,000 metres, normally five minutes after take-off, the antenna will switch to satellite-based services. This will ensure continuity in the Internet services to passengers and prevent cross-interference between terrestrial and satellite networks.
The airlines may depend on the services of either foreign satellites or ISRO's indigenous GPS-aided geo-augmented navigation system for the purpose.
GAGAN was jointly developed by ISRO and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) with a view to assisting aircraft in accurate landing. The GAGAN signal is being broadcast through two Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites - GSAT8 and GSAT10.
06/05/18 PTI/Economic Times
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Passengers, used to being told by the crew to switch of all electronic devices, have been wondering how the system would work. PTI answers some frequently asked questions.
In-flight connectivity systems primarily use two kinds of technology. In the first, an onboard antenna picks up signals from the nearest tower on the ground. The connection will remain seamless up to a certain altitude unless the plane passes over an area without ground towers.
In the second scenario, satellites beam signals directly to antennas installed on the airline. This is more effective when the airline is passing over a water body compared with ATG (air-to-ground)-based networks which use satellites to beam the signal first to a transmitter on the ground and then to the antennas on the airline.
The data is transmitted to a personal electronic device such as a smartphone or a laptop through an onboard router, which is connected to the plane's antenna.
The antenna transmits the signals, through satellites, to a ground station, which redirects the traffic to a billing server that calculates the data consumption.
In case the internet services through onboard WiFi are permitted to be used only in flight/airplane mode, the plane's antenna will link to terrestrial Internet services provided by telecom service providers.
When the aircraft has climbed to 3,000 metres, normally five minutes after take-off, the antenna will switch to satellite-based services. This will ensure continuity in the Internet services to passengers and prevent cross-interference between terrestrial and satellite networks.
The airlines may depend on the services of either foreign satellites or ISRO's indigenous GPS-aided geo-augmented navigation system for the purpose.
GAGAN was jointly developed by ISRO and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) with a view to assisting aircraft in accurate landing. The GAGAN signal is being broadcast through two Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites - GSAT8 and GSAT10.
06/05/18 PTI/Economic Times
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