What are some of the electronic developments that will be crucial in the evolution of aircraft in the future?
Robertson: We’re exploring the viability of wireless communications between an airplane’s on-board computer systems (within the airplane), as well as wireless connections between an airplane and airports. We call the latter “Gatelink.” Transmitted information can range from essential data for the flight crew for a flight plan to on-board movies for entertainment. We envision Gatelink as a solution that will do away with having to move a great deal of physical media, which today is carted on and off of an airplane. Information exchange over Gatelink will occur right at the gate. Interference issues at the gate make it impractical to use existing HF and VHF links on an airplane to exchange a lot of data. Safety is an important issue here. We want to reduce, or even eliminate, radiation near people. That means no large RF fields in the vicinity of passengers and ground personnel. HF and VHF equipment also was designed for voice and telemetry, so it lacks the bandwidth needed to move large
