April 2011 Archives

United Airlines' Boeing 757-200 testbed (N593UA), which is fitted with leather seats, 110V power and Row 44's satellite-based in-flight connectivity system, serves as a sort of symbol of what the carrier could do to improve the passenger experience (and allows United to test Row 44 against Aircell's Gogo, which is installed on a dozen of its 757s) .

But photos of the aircraft with the Row 44 radome hump are scarce. My eagle-eyed colleague Jon Ostrower captured a snap of N593UA this morning at Chicago O'Hare. Sweeeeet!

It's no secret that travel distribution in the United States is getting all shook up, as airlines fight to become less dependent on global distribution systems (GDSs), and seek to make more meaningful connections with their customers. American Airlines got the ball rolling when it started scrapping with Orbitz and the online travel agent's part-owner, GDS Travelport. And US Airways is now carrying the torch, with its own lawsuit against GDS Sabre.

But in the midst of all the chaos, one message is clear - airlines want to offer a highly-targeted product offering to passengers, essentially allowing each passenger to tailor the experience to suit their own needs. So they want to know their passenger, but not lock their passenger into an experience he or she doesn't want. The ties that unbind.

Many are forging customer relationships though social media (obviously). But some are getting quite clever. American, for example, is using social media to assist its most valuable customers by opening a Twitter and FaceBook page to support AAdvantage members. Delta Air Lines lets customers book travel on FaceBook. And passengers flying on Gogo-equipped Delta aircraft can change their connecting flight - for free - via Delta.com. No need to pay for Internet. But how do the stakeholders feel about this brave new world, where truly tech-savvy travelers have a growing voice?

During SITA's recent Innovation in Airline Distribution 2011 conference, sponsored by Airline Business, a gaggle of industry experts weighed in on the subjects of social media, travel distribution and meeting customer expectations.

Former Airline Business features editor, Victoria Moores, who now serves as general manager, communications for the Association of European Airlines, shared with me her verbatim notes from that event.  And now I'd like to share them with you.

Note that, while not everyone is on the same page, most agree that adaptation is key, as the passenger experience evolves.

STA Travel chief executive Peter Liney:

"Dealing with 'Generation Y' is our key challenge. We are focusing in on this group of people, on being able to totally understand them. If we do, we will adapt and prosper. If we don't, we will die and we will deserve to die."

American Airlines director of distribution strategy Cory Garner:

"The most important thing is to start from the perspective of the customer and let the business and marketing processes find the technology."
 
"It's not just putting products on the shelf anymore. Instead there are 20 or 30 services, giving thousands of options to present to customer, and we can't present them all at once."

"How do we structure the technology? It's all about what we know about the customer, what kind services like, what kind of services they don't. They only have so much time and we only have so much real estate, so we have to be really smart about how we do that. We need to take into account who the customer is and their relationship to the airline."

"Direct connect is all about participating in a different way, instead of pushing out prices, we process customer inputs."

"We need a way to respond to customer needs, responding to them as individuals."

"There is lot of research on social media which shows that when you introduce a financial exchange it changes the rules and the way you interact."

Aer Lingus director of distribution Ronan Fitzpatrick:

"There is no 'one size fits all'. How do I get my product to my customers? I don't think we are going to get to pure customisation in the blink of an eye."

"There is a lot of difficulty in the market out there. Innovation is something we are in the middle of, but these are difficult times and that is recognised by all parties. Cost is a difficult factor and comparison shopping is key to the mix. We can't have a situation where costs are going in one direction and revenues going in another."

"We are a little bit fearful about opening up the floodgates from a social media perspective, because we want it to be social and not a push channel. We want it to be a channel which we manage as well as we manage our direct channels."

Datalex chief executive Cormac Whelan:

"Other companies don't know when customer will walk into shop; an airline knows that in two hours' time a traveller will begin their journey."

Sabre Airline Solutions vice-president Europe, sales and account management Alessandro Ciancimino:

"Inferring customer preferences in a meaningful way is not that easy."

Cathay Pacific chief information officer Edward Nicol:

"The amount of metal in a Porsche or a family saloon is about the same, it is just question of creating value."

Sabre Airline Solutions senior consulting partner Jim Barlow:

"A more important question than 'how do your customers buy your flights?' is 'what are they really looking for?'. What is it about that airline which makes them choose that flight, above and beyond what you would expect? Whose processes are we really modelling anyway? Is it the booker, the passenger? There isn't really one model, there are lots of different models."

Amadeus IT Group director innovation Francois Labunthe:

"Today it is all about cross-selling and up-selling, but a better sell should be at the heart of the shopping and booking experience."

WestJet executive vice-president strategy and planning Dr Hugh Dunleavy:
 

"Consumer choice and how you present that information to the customer is critical - how you make sure have a value proposition which is attractive to the market place. And the competitive environment is changing so rapidly that by the time you come to a leisure customer's next booking, any historical information you have about them has changed."

"This year we tripled our team focussed on social media; it went from one to three."

Travel Technology Research director Mike Moore:

"The whole world is not necessarily a friend of Facebook, let alone friends on Facebook."

Frontier Airlines vice-president, customer experience and technology Jan Fogelberg:

"Facebook is a social network. I am kind of on the fence about whether we want to impose shopping on that."

Lufthansa head of e-commerce and mobile Marcus Casey:

"I have a touch of social fatigue. Everyone thinks you can create commerce through Facebook, but I have not seen a good use of selling tickets through social websites yet. I would like to see more focus on selling on our website than through Facebook. The question is: is it more of a marketing tool or can it be a commerce tool as well."
 
"Where there are events [like volcanic ash and snowfall] we have seen a definite spike in mobile usage. This is not a surprise because the customer is at the airport."

"Mobile bookings are higher yield too because they tend to be more last minute."
 
"Mobile and e-commerce are doing well in Russia. That was quite a surprise."

Virgin America manager distribution Cheryl Reynolds:
 

"With new routes, pictures and instant feedback - I think this [Twitter] is definitely a great channel. I think what people don't understand is it cuts through the e-mails. I can read Twitter and catch up on what happened overnight.

SITA chief technology officer Jim Peters:

"Smart phones are a great way to deliver targeted, relevant content."

"Emerging markets are going to leapfrog the desktop [and go straight to mobile]."

Google industry manager travel Nathan Bucholz:

"It surprises me when companies are hesitant to get onto the mobile thing; it's like being hesitant to get on the internet thing. If you have your head in the sand, next thing you know there's a storm blowing up and you don't know about it."

Japanese firm Koito Industries isn't wasting any time in separating its non-aviation businesses from its embattled aircraft seat unit, which has created an industry mess of epic proportions (even though few folks want to talk about it on record).

The rubber stamp-loving company's board of directors has already passed a resolution to implement a plan under which a wholly-owned subsidiary will be established to cover transportation equipment-related businesses (excluding aircraft seats), electrical equipment-related businesses and housing and environment-related businesses.

These will be "split" from Koito's aircraft seat business though an "absorption-type de-merger", says Koito in a press statement. A de-merger, eh? How convenient.

Shareholders will get a chance to vote on the scheme on 29 June. If they agree, the de-merger will commence on 1 August.

Notably, Koito says it is also exploring the possibility of splitting its aviation seat business in the future, allowing the company to transition into a pure holding company. However, a decision regarding whether to split the aviation seat business has not yet been taken.

So what's the purpose of the de-merger?

After fabricating test data on some 150,000 aircraft seats in the world fleet, using its own aforementioned rubber stamp to indicate that the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) had okayed its seats, Koito has found itself in a financial bind, as it endeavors to rectify some of its wrongdoing and maintain a reserve for liability to airlines.

In short, the company's business results have "rapidly deteriorated", admits Koito, which recorded a net loss of approximately 11.2 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2010 and approximately 16.8 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2011 (each on an unconsolidated basis). The company says that its net assets have dropped to approximately 6.9 billion yen as of the end of March 2011.

Koito believes that, if the current business structure is left intact, its non-aviation businesses will suffer "significant adverse effects due to the impairment of the company's credit standing and as a result it will be increasingly difficult for the company to continue its businesses as a going concern".  

And don't think Koito isn't beneath begging for sympathy. Noting that it has "played a role in the development of various social infrastructure, such as railroads, electrical systems, and other transportation systems", Koito says it "will be unable to continue to fulfill its responsibilities in making such social contributions" if its businesses go belly up.

Hmmmm, if Koito splits up the business, and insulates its other non-seat units, what will that mean for airlines seeking damages for adhering to proposed airworthiness directives, and suffering aircraft delays? Will they knock on the JCAB's door, I wonder.

Photographer Joe Walker sent the following photographic gem to me today. It's a pic of the Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 making its first flight (snapped returning to Paine Field). She's a beauty, but I must lament the lack of a Ku-band antenna. I know there are reasons why this bird isn't fitted with the in-flight high-speed Internet it so deserves (some that make sense, others that don't), but still. The Lufthansa 747-8 looks naked without its hump. #nufsaid

Rockwell Collins will tell you that it never really left the world of in-seat audio/video on demand (AVOD). And, quite technically, Rockwell Collins is right. The company's eTES and dTES in-flight entertainment systems are in operation on myriad aircraft in the world fleet, and the firm has continued to support these solutions for its customers.

But Rockwell Collins' decision in the middle of the last decade not to develop embedded IFE for the Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 programmes effectively diminished the firm's role as a major IFE contender, leaving Panasonic and Thales as the primo players on the field. And in the world of PR, perception is everything.

Fast-forward to today, and Rockwell Collins is planning a sort of comeback, at least in the world of in-seat IFE for single-aisle aircraft. The company will formally unveil a new client-centric (read seat-centric) IFE system for single-aisle aircraft this fall at the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) expo in Seattle, after deciding a plan of action last year following market studies.

This roving reporter managed to catch a glimpse of the new Rockwell Collins system at the recent Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany. And here is what I can tell you.

Rockwell Collins sees its new, as-yet-unnamed seat-centric system as a continued maturation of its single-aisle product line, which today features the drop-down PAVES and digital dPAVES systems and now also boasts high-def quality. In essence, the company has opted to leverage the head-end to bring in an in-seat capability in order to offer a scalable solution to airlines.

All traditional entertainment content (videos, games, audio selections) is fully contained in each individual smart display, while live feeds such as moving map functionality or digital camera imagery, is handled by Rockwell Collins' traditional server. Content is background loaded through the head-end throughout the month. And it can be loaded in various ways - i.e. short content through USB, larger content through memory card approaches and large content through laptop applications, etc.

Unlike Panasonic and Thales, which have each based their next-generation IFE systems on the Android operating system, Rockwell Collins has selected an alternative OS that it sees as more reliable (hint, it's used in high-end automobiles). The seat-centric solution will be able to support connected apps. And the company envisions passengers being able to personalize their own content. It is also looking at different ways to enhance the personal device experience for passengers (i.e. providing content that is resident to the seat to various devices).

So how much will the system weigh and cost? Weight is expected to come in at south of 4lbs per seat all-in and Rockwell is targeting a 50%-70% reduction in costs from traditional single-aisle IFE.
 
As of a few weeks ago, Rockwell had not yet secured a customer for its new IFE system, but the company is working with a number of potential customers. In addition to providing the cabin management system for the Comac C919, Rockwell has garnered what is understood to be one of two selectable positions to provide IFE for the new narrowbody (Thales grabbed the other one, while Panasonic has been picked for in-flight connectivity).

Rockwell has also opened up dialog with, and is receiving a favorable response from, Airbus and Boeing regarding linefit offerabilty on their single-aisle aircraft. It is also talking to Bombardier for the CSeries and Embraer (for whatever Embraer ultimately decides in the air transport category) as well as pursuing retrofit opportunities.

So will Rockwell make the leap from single-aisle to twin-aisles with its new product? Not as yet. The firm is laser-focused on the single-aisle market, and views its new seat-centric solution as the natural step in the evolution of that product. However, it is studying the feasibility of enabling the system for existing customers of eTES and dTES.

Rockwell is going through the brand naming process right now. And is in the midst of a seat integration project with B/E Aerospace's Pinnacle seat (the result of which was on display at #AIX11 at the B/E stand). So we have yet another reason to look forward to APEX in September!

Check out the my colleague Will Horton's story on how "iPad as IFE" fan Jetstar is retrofitting with the B/E Aerospace Pinnacle seat and using the B/E iPad bracket (seen below). The fabulous nuggets one finds at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg. :-)

GuestLogix has teamed with Pokeware to offer airlines a way to generate new revenues by integrating video content and contextual advertising. Essentially, if you see something you like in a piece of video content, you can poke it to learn more about the product, and if you still like it you can buy it.

Key quote from Pokeware founder and CEO Maryse Thomas:

"Airline passengers can select anything of interest in the videos they watch, for example, information about an exotic location, jewelry, fashion, cosmetics, homewares or even music playing in the background of a particular video - the search and purchase possibilities are only limited by what is contained in the video.".

Read GuestLogix's entire statement here, but do check out this Bloomberg interview with Thomas, who discusses how Pokeware works. I'm sure there is plenty of work to be done yet (I wonder how content service providers, studios and in-flight entertainment manufacturers will react. I know the latter have been developing not dissimilar solutions, with Panasonic's neXperience (formerly known as FlightPath) coming immediately to mind).

 

Intelligent Avionics' claim that they can bring a super reliable, super lightweight PC to every seat recently prompted an industry observer to ask that I hold their feet to the fire for specifics, in essence turning RWG into a bit of a boxing ring. And you know I'm game for that.

Check out the following video taken by yours truly at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg and then read on for AURA vice-president Asia Pacific (and former Boeing Australia president) David Withers' response to our industry observer's questions.

 

Dear RWG (or is that now Ring Girl),
 
We are more than happy to rise to the challenge and climb into the ring - and not at all surprised to hear that our competitors are keen to learn more about AURA.

Whilst I'm not going to give away our intellectual property, I'm very happy to expand on our solution, particularly in the customers key areas of cost, weight and reliability.

Let's start with these crucial weight savings. You'll understand that we'll save the actual weight, power and cost numbers for our customers, but everyone can do the maths to quickly grasp why a system without servers, significantly reduced distribution hardware, and slimmed down in-seat weight is seen as advantageous by airlines. Aircraft flight manuals provide fuel burns figures for different weights so fuel savings are easily calculated, but remember that many airlines operate many sectors at max weights and will choose to increase their payload rather than take the fuel saving.  Either way, an investment in AURA can payback in a very short period of time.

As a guide the entire AURA system weight for a typical 300 seat economy deployment would is around 1.5kg per pax place - that's for everything - a full function IFE system including screens, mounts, cables, controllers, avionics, everything!

We are as driven about reliability as saving weight. For years now, avionics engineers have been building mission-critical systems with availability figures well in excess of the 99.999% we propose as standard. They are able to do so through the intelligent application of systems engineering disciplines. 

Recent changes in technology enable us to apply these disciplines to our architecture in a cost and weight effective manner to ensure that our reliability/maintainability and availability promises can be fulfilled. Of course components do fail over time, so AURA is designed to ensure the IFE experience isn't lost when they do. We achieve this through content storage at the seat, careful component and supplier selection, redundancy of system hardware, and easy inflight hot-swap of screen units.  Where the passenger experience, the sexy stuff, sells seats for airlines, it's ensuring the system doesn't fail which brings them back next time.

You are right that media loading is a major issue for airlines.  AURA offers a powerful yet simple content-management system using a single very large hot swap hard-drive at the cabin interface head-end, and large solid-state storage (0.5TB and up) in the seat.  It takes crew about a minute to exchange a secure content drive and start the process to seamlessly push the bulk content load to every seat. An aircraft-wide parallel load takes about 3mins/GB - and this can happen on turn around or in the background during flight. Daily or interim updates such as news or UI changes are easily managed via USB inputs or wireless groundlink.  AURA is highly secure and gained its first approval for early window content within six weeks of submitting technical papers to Hollywood.

Our other passion is to deliver a fantastic passenger experience. AURA provides the tools for airlines to completely customise their IFE system - first-run Hollywood content, gesture user interface, new apps, business productivity and travel tools, inflight shopping, meal and bar ordering, social networking and connectivity, and compatibility with carry-on smart devices. We are working closely with DELL and MICROSOFT to bring the reality of a PC-in-the-seat to air travellers very soon.

Will this satiate our observer, and will other industry players respond with their own stats?


 

UPDATED a second time to insert OnAir's role (and let's still call it an opinion piece):

Achieving linefit offerability for in-flight connectivity is tricky business, fraught with all sorts of challenges that would make your head spin. Thales is currently working towards achieving offerability for its Ka-band connectivity solution on the Airbus A350, and the company says it has secured an undisclosed customer for the offering, as well as for its Android-based AVANT in-flight entertainment (IFE) system. So kudos to Thales.

BUT, I'm now hearing that Qatar, while having selected Thales' AVANT IFE for its A350s (and 787s), is opting for Airbus' ALNA connectivity platform (with OnAir handling the GSM/Wi-Fi) instead of Thales' own GSM/Wi-Fi solution on the Airbus widebodies (contrary to my prior report that Thales had scored both!)

Initial A350 deliveries to Qatar will offer ALNA via Inmarsat SwiftBroadband until Ka is available (and that will occur when Inmarsat Global Xpress is available).

So, why this decision on the part of Qatar? Without the benefit of an interview with Al Baker (I must tap my colleague Max Kingsley-Jones for assistance there) I suppose there could be any number of reasons, but I'd imagine an Airbus-provided solution for an Airbus aircraft is going to be less expensive, don't you?

Airbus hasn't been totally blatant about its march towards becoming a major in-flight connectivity player (alright, it is in a JV with SITA for OnAir) but the airframer's role as a connectivity force to be reckoned with is becoming more defined as it flogs ALNA/OnAir (SBB initially, Ka later for mobile AND Wi-Fi) as an alternative to what is on offer from the IFE providers, Thales and Panasonic. Will this ultimately snatch the connectivity deals out of the hands of Thales and Panasonic, effectively relegating them to IFE providers on the A350?

Not so fast. Singapore Airlines will launch Panasonic's Android-based eX3 IFE system on its Airbus A350s and the firm's Ku-band eXConnect Internet solution. And, as mentioned above, Thales has secured an undisclosed customer for IFE and Ka on the A350. The two deals show that IFE manufacturers are still scoring connectivity business despite Airbus' ALNA proposition.

But, one wonders, is the time quickly approaching when airlines forgo IFE altogether and simply offer superfast Ka connectivity to passengers? And if so, doesn't Airbus seem to be, oh how shall I describe it, well positioned? I wonder if we'll see litigation in this particular sector yet.

"Governments don't lead the industry. The industry leads government. And if you don't believe that, then boy this is really the wrong industry to be in because they are way behind us. Did you drink the Kool-Aid this morning with Randy [Babbitt]? The government is going to tell us how much money we're going to save with this new system that they are going to make us pay for. What the? We need to start passing out Kool-Aid at all these things. The SMS Kool-Aid. The NextGen Kool-Aid," Aeronautical Repair Stations Association executive director Sarah Macleod said in reference to how FAA administrator Randy Babbitt and regulators have a penchant for telling the aviation industry how much money it will save with NextGen and SMS through investment.

Irrespective of how you feel on the matter, I'm sure you'll agree that it would be a refreshing change if everyone was this frank. I'll have what she's having :-)

Former Boeing Australia president David Withers' guest blog the other day about the "seat-centric" AURA in-flight entertainment system has prompted an industry observer to message me with the following: "This guy's claims are huge. He should be called to answer the tough questions to back up his claims."

So you want me to use RWG as a boxing ring? Alright, but with one caveat. I get to play the ring girl (don't worry, I'll break out the tanning cream so you're not blinded by the white).

David (or perhaps another Intelligent Avionics exec) would you be a sport and answer the following? Let's assume we're talking about an install on an Airbus A330 widebody for questions number 1 and 6.

1. What does your typical system weigh, all-in including monitors, wiring, installation hardware, power supplies, etc.?

2. How, specifically, do you address media loading? This is a big cost of ownership issue that you have not addressed thus far.

3. You state, "we've added intelligent redundancy to the power and data." That's very interesting; how have you done this?

4. Describe your relationship with Dell; will they design and manufacture? provide reference design? do they cover warranty?

5. In providing a 99.999% guaranty, that's essentially saying that your system will never fail, which even you admit is not likely; what, if anything, are you excluding? for example, do you exclude in-flight replacement of monitors?

6. Please explain your formulary for your predicted savings of $200k-600K per year in fuel.

Cheers!

I know you might think I'm being a little bit naughty today, posting a second guest blog in a row on RWG, but I simply can't help myself on this one. After all, how often does the former president of Boeing Australia agree to write a blog for you about in-flight entertainment (IFE) AND maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), the latter topic being the focus of the Aviation Week MRO Americas show in Miami, of which I'm attending right now? Well precisely.

David Withers, who began his aviation career as a Boeing 737 and Airbus A300 engineer with Qantas Airways, is now vice president Asia Pacific for Intelligent Avionics, whose mission is to bring new "seat-centric" in-flight entertainment to aircraft by way of Dell computers and the Windows operating system (kind of like the home office above, only in an aircraft seat.)

Read on for David's perspective on how seat-centric IFE may make a carrier's maintenance life easier. Obviously, his views are his own, and any detractors are as always welcome to respond in kind. :-)

Guest blog by David Withers:

The rise of "seat-centric" inflight entertainment (IFE) systems is likely to benefit airline maintenance and engineering teams worldwide. Seat-centric systems are a significant technological advance compared to existing technology. The old solution, which accounts for about 90% of installed IFE systems (mostly on widebody fleets), relies on heavy, failure-prone servers built around ancient components - some of them still rely on Intel 386 processors, a chipset in its prime in the late 1980s!  

Seat-centric IFE systems, by contrast, put the intelligence and storage in every seat unit.  Our AURATM system, for example, is essentially a Dell PC in the seatback, with an Intel Atom processor running Windows 7, 512 GB of storage (upgradeable to 1 TB), and a touchscreen in sizes from 7" to 15" (or any larger, commercially available size; units 15" and larger include a 5" touchscreen controller adjacent to the passenger).  Instead of a server installation that weighs up to 1000 kilograms, there's a 3.5 kg. interface to the aircraft's avionics and cabin systems. Each seat unit and ancillary hardware weigh less and the system consumes far less power compared to older systems, reducing burden on electrical systems and air-conditioning packs. We estimate in a typical wide body installation, AURA would yield annual fuel savings of US$200,000 to $600,000 per aircraft, and prevent 1,850 to 5,550 metric tons of CO2  from entering the atmosphere.  A further benefit of a light weight seat-centric system is that narrow body aircraft can now offer the same IFE experience as their bigger brothers.

Seat-centric IFE systems like AURA were designed from a blank piece of paper, with significant input from aircraft interiors and avionics engineers, who provided advice in several key areas. Beyond the wise counsel to jettison the boat-anchor servers, they recommended several ways to make retrofit or line-fit installation easier and quicker.  And they insisted that the seat unit be easily upgradeable, to eliminate the need for costly recertification and prevent the classic problem of "obsolescence prior to installation".

But just (and I use the word loosely) moving the content and system intelligence to the seat isn't the whole story, because aircraft components, particularly those in the hands of passengers, will eventually fail.  So the AURA seat unit can be hot-swapped in flight, and we've added intelligent redundancy to the power and data.  Together these technologies allow us to guarantee a 99.999% IFE availability, at least two orders of magnitude better than what is fitted today. That's real availability, not dispatch reliability!

All this means seat-centric systems will require far less maintenance, in fact no maintenance at all when away from home base.  And with our 5 year exchange warranty there is no annual maintenance cost.  That is surely good news for MRO leaders who continue to be pressed to do more with fewer financial and human resources.

Isn't it fantastic when you find yourself seated on an aircraft next to a person who knows something about your industry? That's how I felt on a recent Delta Air Lines flight from Newark to Atlanta (my first stop before heading to visit AeroMobile in London and later #AIX11 in Hamburg).

My seatmate, engineer Tim Cailloux, works as a supervisor at Panasonic (the parent). In addition to chatting about in-flight entertainment (naturally) and in-flight Wi-Fi (he's a regular Aircell Gogo user), we touched on the controversy surrounding LightSquared's plans to deploy 40,000 high-power transmitters beginning this year, and what that means for GPS interference.

Since this topic falls squarely outside my regular scope, I asked Tim to write a guest blog to break things down for the average Joe (or Mary) and he graciously obliged.

Guest blog:

Lightsquared, a company that's been around in one form or another for several years, is creating a new 4G wireless network in a novel way.  They are using radio frequencies allocated for satellite use to build out a ground-based wireless network that is augmented by satellite coverage.  Lightsquared has come under fire from the aviation community for creating the potential for interference with GPS receivers.  But, before I talk about Lightsquared, I'm going to talk about XM Radio.

I love XM radio.  Their XM-WX in-flight weather data revolutionized aeronautical decision making.  And I, along with 20 million others, have satellite radio in my car.  XM primarily transmits its radio stations using satellites.  But XM doesn't limit itself to satellites because tall buildings prevent the small antenna on your car from seeing the satellite.  To fill in the shadows caused by buildings, XM installed ground-based transmitters.  The radio in your car receives both signals and automatically switches between the two of them, depending on which one is stronger.  XM has done for years what Lightsquared is attempting.

So, back to Lightsquared.  The difference between XM and Lightsquared, and the cause for all the recent commotion, is that Lightsquared's frequencies are directly adjacent to the frequencies used by GPS.  Garmin, and several other companies that rely heavily on GPS, have performed tests that show there's the potential for a GPS receiver to lose the signal if it gets near a Lightsquared ground transmitter.  That's because the strength of the signal from the ground stations is so much stronger than the signals from satellites.

The real problem here is that, 15 years ago, nobody at the FCC envisioned that someone would use this spectrum to create a nationwide 4G network.  At the time, we didn't even know we were dealing with 1G.  (Think Michael Douglass's phone in Wall Street.)  Usage of the spectrum was supposed to be harmonized.  Adjacent licensees were supposed to be doing about the same stuff with approximately the same transmitter power.
 
That's not the case here.  Lightsquared's "out of character" use of the spectrum is in the worst possible place, located right next to GPS.  I'm sure Lightsquared would be much happier if their spectrum was almost anywhere else.

Lightsquared has a June deadline to work with the GPS industry to figure out how they can operate their ground stations without impacting GPS.  Lightsquared has pledged $20M to fund the necessary studies to develop appropriate countermeasures to interference.  The opposition insists that the FCC prohibit any operation of the network until interference is prevented.  Ultimately, I don't think there will be interference when the system goes live; GPS is a core component of the FAA's NextGen air traffic control system and is central to our lives in many ways.
 
When I got first got XM, I grumbled about losing signal in cities.  But I still gladly spent $10 per month for service.  I don't know that I would have the same patience for Lightsquared if they caused my GPS to stop working.  I really hate getting lost.  At least I can listen to XM while waiting for my GPS to finish recalculating.

Despite great efforts to push my body to the limit at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (#AIX11) in Hamburg, including engaging in some dancing queen moments on my final day (I trust that videotape will be burned), I've returned largely intact.

This is due to the fact that I was able to nab some sleep on Air France's new Affairs seat on the Paris-Newark leg (you regular blog readers know how hard it is for me to sleep on a plane...even with the aid of legal drugs and alcohol, ahem).

While at #AIX11 I accumulated a boatload - and I mean a boatload - of news, which will be rolled out on the blog and the Flightglobal IFEC/interiors channel in the coming days and weeks (I'm attending the MRO show in Miami next week so I'm sure there will be even more IFEC/interiors joy to report from there). Wet your whistle with a look at our fantabulous #AIX11 show dailies here first though.

But do check out this little gem - an exclusive look at how Siemens/Altran intend to bring wireless IFE to an aircraft near you. The slides below will show you the way. On an aside, I tried Panasonic Avionics' already-developed wireless IFE at #AIX11 and it worked like a charm.

AeroMobile is poised to have a watershed year, as airlines across the globe fit their fleets with the company's in-flight mobile connectivity solution. I sat down with AeroMobile CEO Pal Bjordal at the company's headquarters outside of London. Bjordal tell us what 2011 holds for AeroMobile, and what passengers can expect to do with their cell phones while in flight.