Cybernetics takes wireless internet to the skies

Dr Fun Hu, a senior lecturer in the Department of Cybernetics, Internet and Virtual Systems, has been awarded a grant of £245,000 under the EU Fifth Framework IST Programme, as a partner in the WirelessCabin project.

The 30-month project, worth over £2m, will be performed by nine organisations from four European countries.

Led by the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR), the consortium includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the satellite operator Inmarsat, and leading mobile communications companies Ericsson and Siemens.

The WirelessCabin project aims to provide airline passengers with direct access to business class quality Internet services via their own communication devices, including third-generation mobile phones, personal digital assistants and lap-top computers.

It is the first project of this kind to be carried out anywhere in the world. Passengers will be able to access different services through state-of-the-art wireless access technologies including UMTS for personal and data communications, a wireless Local Area Network (W-LAN) for Internet services and a Personal Area Network (PAN) using Bluetooth™.

Together, these technologies form a collectively mobile heterogeneous network. Communication with the outside world is achieved through a satellite, which is used for interconnection with terrestrial telecommunication networks. The project will culminate with a series of multimedia trials involving a specially adapted 350-seat A340 aircraft supplied by Airbus.

Fun said: "We have built up a very good reputation through hard work and total commitment in previous EU projects, paving the way for our participation in WirelessCabin. This is an extremely important step towards achieving international excellence within our research community. More significantly, the project will keep us at the forefront of mobile and wireless communications technologies. There is no doubt that this places us in an excellent position to further exploit our expertise in future research initiatives."

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