4 ms·

FAA Investigates If It's Safer to Leave Cellphones On

11 points by infodocket 5y ago

Causality1 5y ago
Whether or not phones could prevent GPS spoofing, dragging containers holding dozens of phones across the map at hundreds of miles an hour will put pointless strain on both the network towers and the batteries of the phones as they desperately try to connect over and over.
- Syonyk 5y ago
  Read the article, it's about general aviation, where you've got 1 or 2 phones in the plane, not commercial air traffic.
  - Causality1 5y ago
    Ah, thank you. The title is wildly misleading.
- phire 5y ago
  I can see the argument that old 1G and 2G networks would be put under strain by dozens of phones on fast planes. But as far as I'm aware, modern 4G and 5G networks should be able to handle it.
LeoPanthera 5y ago
For those who didn't read the article, this is nothing to do with passenger's phones. It's about using a cellular receiver in the cockpit as a sanity position check to detect if your GPS signal is being spoofed or not.
- gnabgib 5y ago
  Light aircraft can only carry up to 19, have unpressurized cabins[0], may have 0-multiple engines, weigh under 10 tons. This really has nothing to do with commercial air travel (except very small scale puddle jumpers).. just farmers crop dusting, acrobatic planes, gliders, hobbyist and those in training. We know cell towers can be spoofed, the argument for this is it helps with GPS spoofing.. technical details avoided. Looks like a paid ad for Mitre, I cannot see how it helps with any of the stated problems (if ground GPS spoofing is an issue, surely cell-tower spoofing/stingrays are too?) [0]: https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/small_airplanes/categories/ https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/small...
stathibus 5y ago
That's kind of a shameful way to spin this study for clicks. I would expect better from ieee.
redis_mlc 5y ago
The reasons for this are: 1) the FAA has turned off most of their legacy radionavigation transmitters to save money 2) there's been a lot more aviation news about GPS signal problems starting in 2020. So the FAA needs a band-aid, and fast.

11 points by infodocket 5y ago

Whether or not phones could prevent GPS spoofing, dragging containers holding dozens of phones across the map at hundreds of miles an hour will put pointless strain on both the network towers and the batteries of the phones as they desperately try to connect over and over.

Syonyk 5y ago
Read the article, it's about general aviation, where you've got 1 or 2 phones in the plane, not commercial air traffic.
- Causality1 5y ago
  Ah, thank you. The title is wildly misleading.
phire 5y ago
I can see the argument that old 1G and 2G networks would be put under strain by dozens of phones on fast planes. But as far as I'm aware, modern 4G and 5G networks should be able to handle it.

LeoPanthera 5y ago

For those who didn't read the article, this is nothing to do with passenger's phones. It's about using a cellular receiver in the cockpit as a sanity position check to detect if your GPS signal is being spoofed or not.

gnabgib 5y ago
Light aircraft can only carry up to 19, have unpressurized cabins[0], may have 0-multiple engines, weigh under 10 tons. This really has nothing to do with commercial air travel (except very small scale puddle jumpers).. just farmers crop dusting, acrobatic planes, gliders, hobbyist and those in training. We know cell towers can be spoofed, the argument for this is it helps with GPS spoofing.. technical details avoided. Looks like a paid ad for Mitre, I cannot see how it helps with any of the stated problems (if ground GPS spoofing is an issue, surely cell-tower spoofing/stingrays are too?) [0]: https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/small_airplanes/categories/ https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/small...

stathibus 5y ago

That's kind of a shameful way to spin this study for clicks. I would expect better from ieee.

redis_mlc 5y ago

The reasons for this are: 1) the FAA has turned off most of their legacy radionavigation transmitters to save money 2) there's been a lot more aviation news about GPS signal problems starting in 2020. So the FAA needs a band-aid, and fast.