4 ms·

Boeing uses potatoes to test wi-fi (2012)

28 points by m-hodges 1y ago

milner_t 1y ago
Potatoes and frozen chickens are used in various standardized qualification tests for airplanes.
- privatelypublic 1y ago
  Thought it was thawed chickens.
walterbell 1y ago
> Frederic Rosseneu of the European Potato Trade Association Europatat said the organisation was "looking forward to other experiments in which spuds can help to make our lives more convenient". Potato submarines!
Scoundreller 1y ago
[2012]
arghwhat 1y ago
The tricky part isn't getting signal strength in the cabin, it's managing a cabin full of devices trying to talk using a technology that only allows one radio to talk at any given time. You need many very low power base stations at spaced out channels to make this work. Nowadays WiFi 7 provides some nice anti-congestion and channel optimization features as well, but back then, one slow device was all it took to render wifi useless.
- tkcranny 1y ago
  Should be nice when airlines upgrade to that in the 2040s or so.
  - arghwhat 1y ago
    At that point you probably have direct satellite-to-phone 7g connectivity...
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
gmuslera 1y ago
They need to be careful of not ending in another place in the long Earth.
deathanatos 1y ago
The last time I sat in a plane "with power and WiFi", the seat outlet crashed¹ when I plugged into it. The time prior to that, the outlet had been so abused that the plug just fell out of the socket. The time prior to that, the plane did not have the advertised features. Perhaps the signal strength is great, but the actual problems I as a passenger experience seem to be a bit divorced from the potatoes here. ¹"You can crash an outlet?" I'm an SRE. I can do anything. Plug plug into outlet, green light turns off. Wait like 5s, light turns back on. 1s later, green light turns off. Loop. It's a crashloop, essentially. No power provided.
- zoky 1y ago
  You most likely tried to draw too much current. The USB outlets on planes are usually limited to quite a low amperage—just barely enough to charge a single phone. I once tried to plug a Steam Deck into one, not expecting it to charge the battery but at least keeping it from discharging too quickly, and the outlet ended up shutting off completely for the rest of the flight. Even the planes with 110 outlets are heavily current limited. I tried to plug in a USB charger and use it to charge a phone and tablet at the same time, and the outlet just shut off until I disconnected one of the devices.
  - deathanatos 1y ago
    > The USB outlets I should have clarified that this was an A/C outlet, I guess. > Even the planes with 110 outlets are heavily current limited. I tried to plug in a USB charger and use it to charge a phone and tablet at the same time, and the outlet just shut off until I disconnected one of the devices. Perhaps, but if the outlet can't supply the current for typical/reasonable uses one might use an outlet for on a plane, and just shuts down, is there an outlet? Particularly if you never tell me the limits of the outlet. Ideally … that'd be up-front, but I sort of understand that to most people this is a minor part of the flight, so I'd probably settle for "written on the outlet". It'd just be cool to know if I'm going to be bored to tears once I'm tired of reading.
    - zoky 1y ago

28 points by m-hodges 1y ago

milner_t 1y ago

Potatoes and frozen chickens are used in various standardized qualification tests for airplanes.

privatelypublic 1y ago
Thought it was thawed chickens.

walterbell 1y ago

> Frederic Rosseneu of the European Potato Trade Association Europatat said the organisation was "looking forward to other experiments in which spuds can help to make our lives more convenient". Potato submarines!

Scoundreller 1y ago

[2012]

arghwhat 1y ago

The tricky part isn't getting signal strength in the cabin, it's managing a cabin full of devices trying to talk using a technology that only allows one radio to talk at any given time. You need many very low power base stations at spaced out channels to make this work. Nowadays WiFi 7 provides some nice anti-congestion and channel optimization features as well, but back then, one slow device was all it took to render wifi useless.

tkcranny 1y ago
Should be nice when airlines upgrade to that in the 2040s or so.
- arghwhat 1y ago
  At that point you probably have direct satellite-to-phone 7g connectivity...

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

gmuslera 1y ago

They need to be careful of not ending in another place in the long Earth.

deathanatos 1y ago

The last time I sat in a plane "with power and WiFi", the seat outlet crashed¹ when I plugged into it. The time prior to that, the outlet had been so abused that the plug just fell out of the socket. The time prior to that, the plane did not have the advertised features. Perhaps the signal strength is great, but the actual problems I as a passenger experience seem to be a bit divorced from the potatoes here. ¹"You can crash an outlet?" I'm an SRE. I can do anything. Plug plug into outlet, green light turns off. Wait like 5s, light turns back on. 1s later, green light turns off. Loop. It's a crashloop, essentially. No power provided.

zoky 1y ago
You most likely tried to draw too much current. The USB outlets on planes are usually limited to quite a low amperage—just barely enough to charge a single phone. I once tried to plug a Steam Deck into one, not expecting it to charge the battery but at least keeping it from discharging too quickly, and the outlet ended up shutting off completely for the rest of the flight. Even the planes with 110 outlets are heavily current limited. I tried to plug in a USB charger and use it to charge a phone and tablet at the same time, and the outlet just shut off until I disconnected one of the devices.
- deathanatos 1y ago
  > The USB outlets I should have clarified that this was an A/C outlet, I guess. > Even the planes with 110 outlets are heavily current limited. I tried to plug in a USB charger and use it to charge a phone and tablet at the same time, and the outlet just shut off until I disconnected one of the devices. Perhaps, but if the outlet can't supply the current for typical/reasonable uses one might use an outlet for on a plane, and just shuts down, is there an outlet? Particularly if you never tell me the limits of the outlet. Ideally … that'd be up-front, but I sort of understand that to most people this is a minor part of the flight, so I'd probably settle for "written on the outlet". It'd just be cool to know if I'm going to be bored to tears once I'm tired of reading.
  - zoky 1y ago