Professional Pilot, October 2016

ignator 80211 appears as it does somewhere on all compliant wireless devices thats all it means it achieves standards set by that particular IEEE subcommittee The 80211 nomenclature is always accompanied by a letter ie 80211g and that merely denotes a subsequent iteration of the standard Versions that do not receive widespread acceptance or that are not universally adopted slowly fade from the lexicon At present routers exists that support devices that operate in accordance with 80211b 80211g and 80211n guidelines Equipment functioning in the b and g category transmits in the 24 GHz band and tops out at rates of 11Mbps and 54Mbps respectively The n protocol has the distinct advantage in that it can operate on 2 bands simultaneously 24 and 5 GHz called dual band in industry parlance Its much more common than b and g and allows for rates up to 600Mbps A router operating in the n realm also can take advantage of a technology called MIMO or multiple input multiple output MIMO is most advantageous when many people are vying for bandwidth within the same space at the same time like the cabin of a business aircraft Without MIMO a Wi Fi router would interact with each user sequentially rather than all at once As a result the speed of the connection slows down from the perspective of each user MIMO uses additional antennas to provide data to everyone simultaneously 96 PROFESSIONAL PILOT October 2016 Choosing an airborne Wi Fi router Purchasing any product always seems to be a tradeoff between logistics desires and budget Every router on the market is manufactured with Ethernet ports for hardwiring devices In the current environment however Wi Fi capability is the number 1 must have Buyers should keep in mind that when evaluating a router the method of data delivery to the device is an important part of the equation Unlike a ground based system there are only 2 ways to get a signal to and from the aircraft satellite and cellular lets exclude VHF and HF radio waves for the purpose of this discussion Despite the best intentions antenna profile space constraints and the impact on useful load may limit options In August of this year Gogo announced an initiative that would allow 3rd party routers to operate on their Gogo Biz network The move provides an opportunity for operators to purchase equipment best suited to their needs and tailored to their mission rather than upsizing to features they will rarely use The most advanced routers support both cellular and satellite communications and have the ability to seamlessly switch between sources when conditions dictate including changing satellite bands as a function of geography or availability The SDR router from Satcom Direct exhibits excellent characteristics Gogo 4G Biz system uses a lightweight LRU to provide a full range of cabin features such as Wi Fi cabin management and entertainment It also provides free Internet on the ground in 120 countries via a terrestrial modem including the ability to transition to 3G service when the aircraft is on the ground It leverages dual band technology 24 and 5 GHZ to maximize bandwidth in the Wi Fi spectrum The eRouter from Rockwell Collins also ranks high on the scale of desirable features It operates wirelessly in the 24GHz band and switches seamlessly to the GSM 3 4G network when not in the air All routers have some ancillary benefits that are nice to have But in the end the main concern should be an uninterrupted stream of voice and wireless data on demand and at a high rate of speed Shannon Forrest is a current line pilot CRM facilitator and aviation safety consultant He has over 10000 hours and holds a degree in behavioral psychology