No cords, no boundaries
With more than 200 million cell phone subscribers in the United States alone, it's safe to say that the wireless world is rapidly encompassing the real world. Pilots have quickly learned to use this particular wireless technology to their own advantage, be it for mobile Internet access to file a flight plan on the way to the airport, check the weather radar while walking out to the airplane, or a quick call from the cockpit to close a VFR flight plan.
But other wireless technologies are sneaking into the general aviation cockpit as well. Bluetooth seems to be leading the way on that front. But some suggest that techniques like voice recognition, already built into the operating systems of some electronic flight bags, could be the next "wireless" technology to watch. Simple display functions like "zoom in" or "zoom out" might be accomplished by speaking a command rather than pushing a button. And for us couch potatoes, one manufacturer already offers a TV-like infrared wireless remote control for its panel-mount satellite radio.
While automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) and other datalink technologies now being implemented will affect your flying much sooner, if you want to talk about the mother of all airborne wireless applications, you've got to find out about a concept for the future known as the "airborne Internet."
In this model, each airplane becomes a network "node" just like your desktop personal computer is a part of your home or office peer-to-peer network. Although there would be numerous hurdles to overcome, airplanes would connect with the ground-based Internet via VHF or satellite and with other aircraft, creating a virtual Internet in the sky.
Proponents even envision that ATC could use the airborne Internet to send position and tracking information to all aircraft. Add automatic weather sensors on each airplane and at any given time you'd have thousands of real-time airborne weather reporting stations.— David W. Robb, Executive Editor
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