Wireless Internet access has now been completely integrated into our lives, including on high-altitude planes. Recently, China Eastern Airlines announced that it has obtained an air Internet access license issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and 21 aircraft will be available for passengers to access the Internet during flight. The air WiFi built by these aircraft will not be the "air LAN" we see now, but a "real" wireless network that can access the Internet. Don't be anxious, do you know the following?
First, let’s talk about the current situation of WiFi in the air at home and abroad.
When it comes to the experience of using in-board WiFi to surf the Internet during flight, I believe that most netizens are complaining. Not long ago, there was no WiFi deployment on the plane. People who were used to browsing Weibo, WeChat Moments, and watching news on mobile devices were scratching their heads during the flight, and they were all unhappy. Wanting to surf the Internet on the plane has become the demand of many passengers.
Last year, some domestic airlines have begun to build air wireless networks. From the perspective of experience and effect, some airlines led by Air China currently provide wireless Internet access services in the cabin, but can only access the aircraft's intranet. The entertainment system inside the aircraft will store some video and web resources for passengers to enjoy during the flight. Domestic flights make it clear: you must not turn on your smartphone for Internet access even during high altitude flights, and you can only use a tablet or laptop to connect to WiFi in flight mode.
In contrast, the US air wireless Internet service was launched earlier. Many airlines in the United States have transformed their flights with WiFi, allowing passengers to enjoy the Internet during flights through different technical means. However, a certain fee is required to surf the Internet on the plane, which is usually charged by the hour. The fees vary from major airlines. Some airlines implement free Internet access in the first class.
Now, wireless Internet access in the cabin has finally entered our lives. Airline Airlines, Air China, China Southern Airlines and other airlines are all transforming aircraft WiFi Internet equipment. Among them, China Eastern Airlines and China Telecom teamed up to use Ku-band satellites to transmit signals to connect the aircraft to the Internet. This makes people think of how to achieve it when using WiFi to surf the Internet while flying?
In order to meet the increasing demand for "air Internet access", currently generally adopts two aviation Internet access methods at home and abroad. One is based on satellite communication system Internet access, and the other is based on ATG (Air To Ground) ground base station system Internet access.
This time, the 21 aircraft that China Eastern Airlines approved to provide "air Internet access" are all connected to the network using the Ku-band satellite communication system of Asia-Pacific No. 6. So let’s learn how to use satellite communication systems to realize Wi-Fi networking on the aircraft?
You may be familiar with home-grade satellite broadband access. In some remote areas that cannot be covered by wired networks abroad, residents will use this method to connect to the Internet. At this time, people will generally set up satellite antennas (often called "big pots") on the roof to send and receive signals. In the aviation field, the application of satellite communication systems is similar to home-grade satellite broadband access, except that the satellite reception antenna will be installed on the top of the aircraft, and the communication satellite transponder will be installed in the cabin, and multiple wireless access points will be deployed.
In current aeronautical satellite communication systems, the most common satellite communication using the Ku band and Ka band is deployed. Among them, Ku-band satellite communication technology has been deployed and used since 2004, and has many advantages in transmission bandwidth, speed and equipment cost. It has become a relatively mainstream aerospace communication technology method in the world and is also used in information and communication of the International Space Station. Recently, it has become an Internet access technology approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of my country for use on civil aircraft.
Now, the theoretical downlink rate of known Ku-band satellite communication technology can reach up to 70Mbps, but due to various factors such as loss during signal transmission, the actual downlink rate between satellites and aircraft is only around 30~40Mbps.At the same time, the network speed experience will actually be affected by different factors such as the ground network speed, differences in website connections, the number of aircraft on the coverage route, and the number of people online in the aircraft.
. Another emerging Ka frequency band satellite communication technology has the characteristics of wide coverage, high frequency band, large bandwidth, and fast speed compared with Ku band technology, but the technology is still in the exploration stage. At the same time, there are no civilian-grade Ka frequency band satellites available for use in China, which is also a major shortcoming at present.
ATG ground base station system, as the name suggests, is a communication method by deploying ground base stations on the ground path of the flight route, using these ground base stations to cover communication signals at high altitudes, and then transmit information with the aircraft.
The advantage of using ATG ground base station system to access the Internet is that within the signal coverage, this ground-to-air broadband communication method has low cost, large network bandwidth, and large number of people. A single terminal using the latest ATG-4 technology system to access the Internet can obtain a measured downlink rate of up to 9.8Mbps.
However, there are many restrictions on the deployment of the ATG system, especially the aircraft's routes. Not only should the flight altitude not be too high (too high cannot receive signals transmitted by the ground base station), but it will also be limited by the distribution of the ground base stations, such as the inability to trans-ocean and transnational deployment. Therefore, there are obviously many disadvantages to the Internet access of satellite communication systems. So what kind of experience will there be in actual application "surfing the Internet in the air"?
According to statistics, nearly 30 airlines around the world have provided wireless Internet access services on planes. As China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Air China have recently obtained the qualifications for air Wi-Fi networking, my country has finally ushered in a peak period of development in this field.
Previously, although some domestic flights opened air Wi-Fi services, they were only at the stage of "wireless LAN" in the air, that is, the entertainment interactive network platform on the plane. Passengers can only connect to the airline's customized page and cannot achieve true wireless Internet access.
For example, the cabin entertainment platform "Yuntu" currently opened in Shenzhen Airlines flights can allow passengers to watch and push news, listen to music, play games through the system, and even randomly chat with passengers on the same flight. However, given the safety of flight, the phone still needs to be turned off throughout the entire process. Only after the flight is stable can you use a tablet or laptop to connect to the "wireless LAN".
It should be noted that passengers do not seem to be keen on this kind of "wireless LAN" on board. After I personally connected to the "online game", I found that there was no one in the game hall and the passengers' participation was obviously not high.
However, according to industry insiders, major domestic airlines often choose to build such "wireless LANs" as springboards. Once the time is ripe, they can quickly switch to real wireless Internet access services. According to insiders of Shenzhen Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines' wireless Internet access is also on the way and is expected to launch a truly aerial Wi-Fi networking service in October this year.
In the past two years, with the active follow-up of major domestic airlines for wireless Internet access, air-to-ground networking tests have also been launched. In some previous tests by Air China, it achieved the highest wireless downlink of 9.3Mbps and the uplink of 1.52Mbps transmission performance. A test flight of HNA also achieved an uplink bandwidth of more than 12M, and the signal was stable.
However, for the Ku-band aviation airborne communication service currently approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Yang Haixin, the technical director of Neusoft who is implementing the aviation informationization project, pointed out that given the limited bandwidth of satellite communications, how to further optimize the architecture and related applications of air Wi-Fi is still an important issue that needs to be solved urgently. Because the more people use over-the-air Wi-Fi, the lower the wireless bandwidth it will obtain, which will further test the carrying capacity of the entire communication system.Taking China Eastern Airlines as an example, assuming that only 30-40 people use over-the-air Wi-Fi on a Wi-Fi flight that can accommodate 180 people, then the bandwidth allocated to each person may also try to watch online videos. If most passengers or all employees in the cabin access the Internet wirelessly, the wireless bandwidth obtained will become even more difficult, and the networking experience will be greatly reduced.
Therefore, the air Wi-Fi networking service, which has just started domestic routes, is mainly aimed at providing business travelers with news browsing, emails, Weibo and other communication channels. If you want to popularize high-bandwidth applications such as online videos on aircraft, you may need to undergo greater upgrades and optimizations.
Finally, you can access the Internet wirelessly when flying high altitude. Although this is a happy thing, there are still many problems with the entire plane surfing the Internet. First of all, is a security issue for aircraft flight, and the wireless network is at risk of being invaded. Not long ago, a US cybersecurity expert boarded the plane and hacked the plane's security system through WiFi, claiming that he could unknowingly turn off the engine and keep the lights in the cabin on. When riding a plane, the most important thing is safety. Can opening WiFi for passengers ensure safety and safety are not threatened?
Second, it is currently expensive to install WiFi on ordinary passenger planes, and the modification cycle is long. How to recover the deployment cost is a headache for airlines. Many people are accustomed to free WiFi access, which is more resistant to the way to charge for Internet access. According to a civil aviation survey, 69% and 61% of passengers and industry insiders are reluctant to pay for on-flight wireless services. Free WiFi will bring passengers an unpleasant Internet experience for air WiFi with limited bandwidth. Without fees, airlines will not be able to make profits and may even recover costs.
In response to the above problems, passengers can actually rest assured. At present, the wireless network system on the aircraft has undergone strict testing and certification, and has obtained certification and approval from domestic and foreign civil aviation authorities, and various protective measures have been taken to ensure safety. In addition, the system is physically independent of other systems on the aircraft, so the use of wireless networks on the aircraft will not affect the flight safety of the aircraft. Regarding charging issues, it is very likely to use the combination of "direct payment" and "free but need to read advertisements". After all, the airline's costs need to be recovered, and maintaining the normal operation of on-board WiFi also requires capital investment.
In fact, wireless Internet access on the plane is an inevitable development trend in the future. Many airlines are also developing in this regard, but due to the high cost of transformation, they are gradually renovating their own aircraft. Whether using ATG, KU or other technologies, flights that can access the Internet wirelessly will only become more and more common. In addition, airlines will use different technologies to provide Internet services for domestic and international flights. When traveling outside, WiFi has become people's first need. The continuous advancement of technology has allowed people to be connected to the Internet at all times. Air WiFi is undoubtedly a major function that benefits passengers, and its implementation makes passengers more comfortable to travel by plane.
