Investigation Of The Radiated Electromagnetic Interference Threat Posed By Wireless Devices Inside The Cabin Of A Passenger Aircraft

With the rapid development of internet and mobile communication service, the demand of wideband online and mobile communication service in the long-distance flight for passengers, especially those business travelers, is stronger. Moreover, competitive pressures among airlines are large and growing, and there will be enormous pressure to introduce wireless access business and new value-added service for airlines. However, those portable electronic devices (PEDs) and the added wireless equipments are the possible potential electromagnetic interference (EMI) source to airborne equipments, even threat the flight safety of airplanes. Compared with the radiated EMI problems caused by those conventional wireless communication systems, this problem is more complicated and hazardous. Consequently, the deep investigation on radiated electromagnetic interference threat posed by wireless devices inside the cabin of a passenger aircraft has strong engineering requirements and important theoretical value.The simulating and testing work in this paper are presented as follows:1 The coupling mechanism of the radiated EMI from the wireless communication equipments to the airborne electronic equipments in aircraft cabin is analyzed. The applicability of different kinds of commercial electromagnetic simulation software is discussed.2 The electromagnetic environment (EME) determined by the radiated emission of PEDs in cabin is researched. As the requirements of the radiated susceptibility test levels for avionics in the section 20 of RTCA/DO-160F, the safety limit of transmission power level for PEDs and added wireless access pointers is presented, based on the simulation of a typical airplane.3 The interference path loss (IPL) between radiated PEDs and aircraft antennas for communication and navigation systems is investigated. The simulation results agree well with the test data obtained by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it is verified that the modeling method in this paper is effective.4 The electromagnetic coupling between the radiated emission of PEDs and interconnect cables inside the cabin, such as single wire, twisted-pair and coaxial cables, are simulated and analyzed. Thereafter, the response of interference current at the port of wires on typical frequency is studied.5 The cabin EME in a airplane is tested. Compared the typical test data and simulated results, the effective of modeling method in this paper is further verified. This work can be applied to the safety assessment of mounting mobile communication and wireless wideband access point equipments on airplanes. It is very important to the airworthiness certificate of related systems on civil aircraft.