Cellular system could trump terror, suggests ARINC boss

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| Crawley, West Sussex, UK | Far from being a vulnerability, onboard cellphone technology could prove to be an effective countermeasure against the methods used in the latest terrorist assault on air transport, according to ARINC’s John Belcher.

Commenting to APEXnews on October’s attempt to down cargo aircraft with cellphone-triggered bombs, the chief executive of the airline IT and communications company suggested that part of the onboard mobile system developed with service provider AeroMobile might be developed to defeat future attacks.

He was referring to the noise-floor lifter, designed to prevent passenger mobiles from making disruptive direct contact with cellular sites on the ground instead of working in a managed way through the onboard picocell and satellite air-ground link.

Although the phones built into the October devices were intended to act simply as passive timers, the incident has prompted media speculation that the potential use of cellular or WiFi links to remotely trigger bombs could lead to pressure to abandon the emerging passenger connectivity services. Homeland and Security Newswire typifies the reaction, saying “the long-awaited ability to use a cellphone or WiFi connection.''

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