Air passenger telecom test

Air passenger telecom test

JAKARTA (JP): British Telecommunications and Racal/Honeywell
have announced the completion of the world's first interactive
passenger services transmission over satellite.

In a statement made available yesterday, British
Telecommunications reported that a selection of passenger orders
were exchanged over satellite between an in-cabin simulator at
Racal/Honeywell and British Telecommunications' airline
interactive services processing center in Portsmouth, Britain.

The test used the Skyphone satellite network, which was
developed by British Telecommunications, Singapore Telecom and
Norwegian Telecom, and British Telecommunications' ground earth
station. The technology will lead to the seamless communications
between software, on-board avionics, the satellite and the
processing center on the ground.

A number of international airlines including Singapore
Airlines, British Airways and Lufthansa are scheduled for the
installation program later this year.(icn)