FAA Investigates If It's Safer to Leave Cellphones On - IEEE Spectrum
( September 2, 2021; IEEE Spectrum )
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been quietly funding tests with live cellphones in light aircraft cockpits as a possible counter-measure to GPS spoofing attacks, Spectrum has learned.
The series of tests, which occurred this summer in the skies over Virginia, used commercial smartphones connecting to standard 4G and 5G wireless networks operated by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, according to documents filed with the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC).
The Mitre Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation Systems Development has developed an application that pings off of cellphone towers and reports on whether the GPS data is consistent with the location derived from 4G and 5G cellphone signals. The article also notes that although they are not yet a serious threat, GPS spoofing attacks are relatively easy to implement and more common than previously known.
Read the rest from IEEE Spectrum: Exclusive: FAA Investigates If It's Safer to Leave Cellphones On
Check the #penny4thoughts tag to find other active conversations.
In the event of an emergency, all communication in the aircraft control room is done with the help of wireless signals. Mobile networks can cause Interference in this signal. However, approved GSM phones are safe for use in airplanes.
I guess if this research holds, airplane mode on mobile devices could become a thing of the past, perhaps. But isn't it dangerous to have phones on during stormy weather with lightening strikes here and there?
Good question. I don't know if there's a relationship between cell phones and lightning strikes. However, the article and a couple commenters (@sagor5828 and @mdfahim) noted that cell phones can interfere with flight instruments. The article also mentioned that the risk of those problems is believed to be low.
Keeping phone turn on can interfere with aircraft systems, that's why phone should be turned off on a flight. But it was the perfect solution that only pilots can keep their phone turn on. Thanks for the information.
I hope the application will help to solve the problem. But they need some more study on it before taking the decision.
You write it so well, i heard about spectrum but this information i didnt hear about that, thanks for sharing.
It is another big achievement in networking system. I hope it will work good.
it is a good thing for everyone for the networking system. I dont know the live cellphones in light aircraft cockpits test is going on. Good day.
I don't know if it will be good or not. But we should make a proper step whether it is good or bad. Anyway you have focused on a crucial issue.
Technology and its new applications according to the need in this world are incalculable.
It leaves me wondering what I read in your post, the GPS is supposed to be private, it's your location, I understand it as a good way to camouflage yourself so to speak.