Fly-by-WireLESS Plane takes to the sky

[jesse]

Engineers in Portugal have built and flown a plane with no wires or mechanical connections between the major systems, only a wireless network. From the article: "Tests flights carried out in Portugal have shown that the system works well. Cristina Santos, at Minho University in Portugal, who developed the plane, says the aim is primarily to reduce weight and power requirements. 'Also, if you do not have the cables then the system is much more flexible to changes,' she says."



So Yeah.. Uhm.. No thanks.

 

[ScottM]

Engineers in Portugal have built and flown a plane with no wires or mechanical connections between the major systems, only a wireless network. From the article: "Tests flights carried out in Portugal have shown that the system works well. Cristina Santos, at Minho University in Portugal, who developed the plane, says the aim is primarily to reduce weight and power requirements. 'Also, if you do not have the cables then the system is much more flexible to changes,' she says."



So Yeah.. Uhm.. No thanks.

About freakin' time I was working on the RF link for this in 1988. Can't say I would be comfortable with it but I know that we are not too far a way from this for land vehicles. I would not be surprised to start to see a public proof of concept for land vehicles with wireless controls in a year.

 

[gkainz]

What's the big deal? I've been using wireless controls on my tv for years!

 

[poadeleted3]

Just another RC airplane... one you get to ride along in

 

[wsuffa]

Let me just turn on my GSM phone in seat 2A....

 

[tonycondon]

well it would cut out a lot of weight. wires are heavy. especially lots of them.

 

[Nav8tor]

well it would cut out a lot of weight. wires are heavy. especially lots of them.

It would also make room for other systems and cut the risk of chaffing of hydraulic lines. Plus, airframe structures could be simplified because they would need fewer cutouts to pass wires through.

 

[fgcason]

Is it jamproof from, say, hair dryer motors?


I'll continue to stick with my heavy obsolete steel cables thankyouverymuch.

 

[gismo]

well it would cut out a lot of weight. wires are heavy. especially lots of them.

I doubt that this will save any real weight. First of all, wires are still needed to carry power and those wires are where the weight really is. Newer bussed serial communication links between systems has already eliminated much of the high volume wiring between systems. In addition, the wireless links themselves have weight and take up space, and there's no way you could expect a bluetooth signal to make it from an engine on a 747 to the cockpit reliably without repeaters and or signal conduits (wires).

Then there's the EMI/jamming issue. Unless the RF connections are shielded somehow (more wires) there's just no way to protect such a link from deliberate jamming despite the claims that "Bluetooth is already fairly resistant to disruption as it is designed to guarantee a certain minimum data stream will always get through." Yeah right, my bluetooth devices interfere with each other to the extent that link reliability is compromised if there are two transmitters near a receiver.

IMO this is a lousy solution searching for a problem.

 

[Earthroamer]

Engineers in Portugal have built and flown a plane with no wires or mechanical connections between the major systems, only a wireless network. From the article: "Tests flights carried out in Portugal have shown that the system works well. Cristina Santos, at Minho University in Portugal, who developed the plane, says the aim is primarily to reduce weight and power requirements. 'Also, if you do not have the cables then the system is much more flexible to changes,' she says."



So Yeah.. Uhm.. No thanks.

Yeah and you would think two independent computers in the front of a Learjet 45 would work well for all the systems. They dont. I am with you...no thanks.