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Turn an aircraft into a very low-power base station and you can use
cellphones in flight, says Marconi Electronics of Middlesex (GB 2350972).
Cellphones are currently banned in civilian aircraft because they interfere with
aircraft electronics when they ramp up their power in a futile search for base
stations on the ground. Marconi wants to put tiny base station antennas all
round the cabin, so that cellphones need very little power to find them. These
then communicate with the ground networks by VHF radio or a satellite dish with
a rotatable antenna. But establishing that low power levels are safe for the
avionics will be the major challenge for the company.