Ok readers, time to get your technical groove on because this week we deal with an old technology within a new application – Time Domain Reflectrometry (TDR). Firstly, the TDR technology is the science of sending pulses of electrical energy down lines to “see” the condition of the lines themselves by looking at the “reflected” energy pulses that are returned from conditions like line-breaks, shorted wires, and the characteristics of “stuff” that is electrically hung on the end of the lines themselves. In this game, returned pulse shape is everything, and... [Read more]

Our lead story is a reminder to all you IFE aficionados to sign-up for the WAEA Technical Committee Meeting & Single Focus Workshop (March 24 – 25, 2010) in Southern California. Day One features the WAEA Technology Committee’s Digital Content Management Working Group (DCMWG) Meeting, there will be three panels. The first will consider the proposed changes/additions made in the MPEG-4 settings covered by WAEA 0403. A panel of industry experts including hardware providers, content providers, and representatives from the post-production community will participate.... [Read more]

We all know, Inflight Entertainment is quickly becoming an experience that is supplemented on the ground (and many times in the air) by an assortment of devices, the most notable of which, is the iPhone. A lot of road warriors rely on smart phones for entertainment, telephony, and data. The telephony part is the focus of this Hot Topic and the seemingly lack of consistent voice connectivity is the problem we set out to solve. Enter 5BARz from CelLynx, the mobile/fixed, cell phone solution. Simply put, the 5BARz Road Warrior (product image)pumped-up any and every telephone... [Read more]

While multi-branding is not new to airliners (Alaska, Southwest, and others), we stumbled across this story on the net that is certainly one of the few to feature snack foods. The advertising agency that developed the concept, Luckie Strategic PR, told us that the aircraft branding and the Little Debbie Great American Getaway contest (on AirTran) were a natural. They even thought of giving away tiny Little Debbie cupcakes to passengers. The message here is: Be prepared for more logo/image dilution as airlines seek to generate more on the bottom line. For years, the airline... [Read more]

At 12:10 PST on Monday, Boeing launched the first flight of the newest Boeing derivative, forty one years to the date of the original 747-100 first flight. The program, although one year late, is expected to be complete this year and will continue delivering aircraft for at least the next 20 years. While passenger demand has slowed (32 pax sold and cargo sold), cargo potential is driving up sales. While the 250 foot long plane consumes 16% less fuel than earlier models, its size fits between the Airbus A380 and the Airbus A350-1000 in overall length and capability.... [Read more]

Earlier this week someone asked us if an 802.11N aircraft router was in existence. Yep, and VT Miltope has one newly developed, approved, and ready for service…it is called the nMAP. Contact Bob Guidetti if you need more information (rguidetti@miltope.com). Check out the PDF data sheet below. Airbus told us that they are going to raise prices this year by an average of 5.8% and it applies to all new aircraft sales beginning in 2010. This is the first price rise in two years. The price increases were calculated according to the Airbus standard escalation formula over... [Read more]

This IFExpress sure looks like an old fax newsletter we used to publish…however, we left out the “Rumors, Rumors, Rumors” bit, sorta. Sources have told us that Aircell, recently announced the completion of the private placement of equity securities totaling $176m to new and existing investors. The financing will be used to provide funding for capital investments for network expansion and operating needs we hear. A Senior research analyst with Piper Jaffray, Gene Munster, is forecasting 2010 sales of iPhone and iPod Touch devices to reach 36 million in new sales,... [Read more]

When we saw the Aircraft Cabin Systems 52” LCD display, the only thought that came to mind was a saying attributed to US President, Calvin Cooledge, when he was asked to fund an air force – “Why don’t we buy one airplane and let the pilots take turns flying it.” Along the same train of thought, we asked why more airlines don’t install one big screen and let passengers watch it as they do in their own homes (Ok, almost)? For one thing, there are few, if any, aircraft certified IFE HD video players and displays available. Another is the availability of qualified... [Read more]

Fresh back from their holiday vacations, we asked the IFE experts what they see ahead for 2010. Last week we sent out over 100 requests for predictions affecting inflight entertainment and connectivity. Many asked for anonymity and we gladly complied. So, here they are, warts and all: 1. All US major airlines will be installing or trialing international long-haul passenger e-mail and SMS by the end of 2010 – Dick Smith, Inmarsat. 2. Ford will license it’s new interface to an airline IFE company and Mulally will return to Aerospace in the next 3 years –... [Read more]

Here is a link to a great synopsis of Wi-Fi installations onboard commercial airlines. It is one of the best we have seen and we know some of you cannot let a week go by without indulging your inner techie! Your next edition of IFExpress will be in your in-box in January 2010. http://www.jaunted.com/special/wifi-status-update  Read More →

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplane #1 successfully lifted off from Paine Field in Everett, WA at 10:27 AM. The airplane will conduct an initial flight test and then land at Boeing Field in three to five hours. The Boeing Company has a web site with information and video at http://www.newairplane.com/ Here are links to additional stories from local media sources covering the first flight: Seattle Times: Boeing 787 Dreamliner takes off on first flight Seattle P-I: 787 takes maiden flight KIRO TV: 787 Takes To Air In First Flight KOMO TV: 787 takes to the skies  Read More →

No doubt you will encounter an electronic book on your next flight or at the airport. These devices have joined the ranks of portable, personal entertainment equipment and you will probably have to make the decision to get one for yourself or receive one as present in the future. Some of the links we provide at the end of this Hot Topic will get you more information than you want; however, take it from IFExpress, check them out carefully before you jump in and compare features for therein lies the difference between them. Priced approximately the same, our team has tried... [Read more]

We wanted to do a Hot Topic on the iPhone and travel related applications (“apps”) in this issue, however, the New York Times, Nat Geo, Travel Insider, and others beat us to it….see below: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/09/07/travel/0907-IPHONE_index.html http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/06/best-iphone-travel-apps-text/1 http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2009/03/13/five-reader-approved-travel-apps-for-the-iphone/ http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/the-best-iphone-apps-for-travelers/1 Undaunted, we asked an unnamed road warrior friend to give... [Read more]

First, we wish a belated Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who observe the holiday. To those of you who don’t, you are probably turkeys. Anyway, we hope you made it thru Black Friday and now that Cyber Monday and the shopping season is upon us, try to support our advertisers who, thru their generosity, bring this newsletter to you at no charge. Secondly, a link to review – Airliners.net Blog…read the complete thread. It seems CO has been directed by the FAA to replace the new LiveTV wiring in all their jets. From what we can gather (and the groups involved aren’t... [Read more]

This week we are devoting our Hot Topic to the social media phenomenon and why it is important for airlines (and your business). We asked an expert, Raymond Girard, President Spafax Interactive to talk a bit about a subject he knows as well as anybody in this business. You see, we met Raymond at the WAEA Conference last month and he blew us away with his knowledge and experience in helping airlines get more out of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. Spafax has developed a program to aid airlines in this area and we wanted you to know about it. Mr. Girard really... [Read more]

You read it right, this holiday season in the US (sorry Europe, Asia) Google from Silicon Valley is providing travelers at 47 US airports free Wi-Fi. The free service commenced November 10 and runs till January 15, 2010. At Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) and Burbank (BUR) airports, Google’s Andrew Pederson told us that the service will continue indefinitely. Google said, “… we like people online.” Rightfully so! This free offering from Google led to the ‘Virgin-Airlines-Free-Holiday-Inflight-Wi-Fi’ that was initiated about a month ago, helping drive the airborne leg.... [Read more]

One of the bigger surprises at this year’s WAEA Conference in Palm Springs was the alliance between digEcor and Shanghai Lefeel Media Technology Co., Ltd. The result of this collaboration is a series of new handheld product offerings: 7” and 10” touch screen entertainment units and new services to go along with them. Boasting up to 20 hours of battery life the players should see service introduction in 2010. The contractual partnership between digEcor and Lefeel also includes a curser-driven, new-player development project. A curser-based unit has been a concept that... [Read more]

To keep the WAEA flame alive we again cover people, products, and services you may have missed, we present another walk down the show floor. While Fred Faulk (eDigital Prez) smile is almost as big as the latest 8” eVU portable entertainment player. Now the eDigital folks are offering Early Window content as well as 20+ hours of battery life, the latest eVU offers a customizable GUI and a new touchscreen option. With 160 GB of hard disk storage one could think of the new eVU as a long haul entertainment solution…it looks like the plane will run out of gas before the... [Read more]

This is Part 1 of a series on the WAEA interviews about products and services we saw and inquired about at the WAEA Conference – September, 2009 in Palm Springs CA. Lumexis: Generation II of the Lumexis hardware is shown here. The server delivers hi-definition 720 p images (1024 x 600). Ideal for premium class, the hi-def signals can be sent to any size monitor. The second-generation server is capable of delivering video streams to 400 seats. However, and as an example, 5 servers would cover an A380, which would cover redundancy and back-up. All drives are now solid-state... [Read more]

At the latest WAEA meet, we saw a lot of smaller vendors who had excellent products and clever ideas, as well as, bigger players who had some good small ideas. This hot topic is dedicated to a few of them. Sorry we couldn’t get them all this issue but we will have more later. Player: KID Systeme, Product: Logolight – While we are still waiting for more data, the Airbus/KID Systeme little logo light is an idea whose time has come. You will note we refrained from using the term “bright idea”, however, we really liked this gadget because of it’s... [Read more]

Skip the cheesy byline, RAVE by IMS is the paradigm shifter we referred to last issue. Dubbed “Reliable Audio Video Entertainment,” RAVE is best described as a “seat centric” embedded IFE system that is focused on the seat display unit in front of each passenger—not the plethora of traditional distribution LRU’s through the aircraft or the head end servers interconnected by a miles of wires. The RAVE system is built from only two major LRUs compared to traditional IFE systems that require ten or more major LRUs to deliver the passenger entertainment. The RAVE... [Read more]

Whoda thought? This year’s WAEA had more new gadgets, services, and neat technology than we have seen in quite a while. Our expectations were tempered by the times and we expected that diminished IFE budgets would have a direct bearing on innovation by vendors – NOT! Naturally, we were asked by almost everyone we saw; “What is the coolest thing you guys saw at the conference?” How do we answer that one? The IFExpress team got our heads together and we were stymied. First we looked at “paradigm shifters” and built a list of five or so... [Read more]

With a new format, the World Airline Entertainment Association annual big show kicked-off the conference in Palm Springs. First day is now devoted for intro’s, updates, inflight entertainment discussion panels, and a full day of meetings that covered topics from airborne connectivity to passenger generated profits. Tomorrow begins the fun part – show schmoozing, booths, and individual product rollouts that promise to be very interesting in these tough economic times. To be sure, airline profit is a lost word, and almost every pitch here revolves around how to squeeze... [Read more]

The International Communications Group, Newport News, VA has just announced the FAA has granted Parts Manufacturing Authority supported by a Gulfstream Aerospace for their latest connectivity device for bizjets – NxtMail Server. Working in conjunction with ICG Iridium hardware today, NextMail is designed for data applications on Challenger and Gulfstream planes (just to mention 2) and delivers a low cost solution for onboard email and web surfing (with limitations) via Smartphones, laptops, iPhones, PDA’s, and Wi-Fi equipped Blackberrys. The unit has the capability... [Read more]

IFExpress got tipped off to a new and clever data solution for PDA and Smatphone usage on aircraft. We contacted the Plane Bill folks and project leader, and Massimo De Sanctis gave us the lowdown thusly, “I share with you the view that having a Wi-Fi network on board can pave the way for many new services and it possibly may cause many solution providers reconsider the today’s implementations of IFE and on board telephony.” Tall order, Massimo! He went on to say, “We have some very interesting new solutions, perhaps the most important one, is a system that... [Read more]