Wi-Fi Shown To Interfere With Aircraft Systems 300
lukehopewell1 writes "It's official: using Wi-Fi on a plane can interfere with a pilot's navigational equipment, according to airline equipment manufacturers Honeywell Avionics and Boeing today. Boeing confirmed to ZDNet Australia that the issue does exist, but said it has not delivered any planes suffering the fault. 'Blanking of the Phase 3 Display Units has been reported during airline EMI (electromagnetic interference) certification testing of wireless broadband systems on various Next-Generation 737 aeroplanes,' Boeing said."
Not something to be proud of (Score:5, Interesting)
I can make a Tesla coil out of $50 of junk surplus parts and destroy a roomful of the highest end electronic equipment in the world. Hell, a simple spark gap in the right place can cause a world of hurt.
RF energy doesn't give a fuck where you bought something.
You cannot fully shield a device that is specifically designed to receive external signals. In aerospace there's guys who do nothing but electromagnetic compatibility engineering, and not all the threats are external. Sometimes the third side lobe of your strike radar reflects off a rib in the fuselage and the seventh harmonic frequency takes out your very sensitive radar altimeter during initial power up tests.