Articles | Volume 14
https://doi.org/10.5194/ars-14-129-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/ars-14-129-2016
28 Sep 2016
 | 28 Sep 2016

Emission analysis of large number of various passenger electronic devices in aircraft

Jens Schüür, Lukas Oppermann, Achim Enders, Rafael R. Nunes, and Carl-Henrik Oertel

Abstract. The ever increasing use of PEDs (passenger or portable electronic devices) has put pressure on the aircraft industry as well as operators and administrations to reevaluate established restrictions in PED-use on airplanes in the last years. Any electronic device could cause electromagnetic interference to the electronics of the airplane, especially interference at receiving antennas of sensitive wireless navigation and communication (NAV/COM) systems.

This paper presents a measurement campaign in an Airbus A320. 69 test passengers were asked to actively use a combination of about 150 electronic devices including many attached cables, preferentially with a high data load on their buses, to provoke maximal emissions. These emissions were analysed within the cabin as well as at the inputs of aircraft receiving antennas outside of the fuselage.

The emissions of the electronic devices as well as the background noise are time-variant, so just comparing only one reference and one transmission measurement is not sufficient. Repeated measurements of both cases lead to a more reliable first analysis. Additional measurements of the absolute received power at the antennas of the airplane allow a good estimation of the real interference potential to aircraft NAV/COM systems. Although there were many measured emissions within the cabin, there were no disturbance signals detectable at the aircraft antennas.

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Short summary
The ever increasing use of PEDs (passenger or portable electronic devices) has put pressure on the aircraft industry and operators to reevaluate established restrictions in PED-use on airplanes in the last years. This paper presents a measurement campaign in an Airbus A320. Although there were many measured emissions from 150 different PED (including many attached cables; operated by 69 test passengers) detected within the cabin, no disturbance signals were detectable at the aircraft antennas.