The in-flight internet, or AI, is a communication network installed on different types of aircraft. It eliminates the need for land-based infrastructure, allowing communication and information to flow even if ground-based facilities are inoperable. It has benefits in emergency situations and military strategies, as well as improving safety for commercial airlines. The technology has evolved over the years, with prototypes launched and tested, and efforts to create a worldwide aerial internet continue.
Also known simply as AI, the in-flight Internet is a communications network designed to include nodes or points of contact or interaction on different types of aircraft. First conceived in 1999, the idea of an air-based Internet communication and delivery system for use by aircraft passengers and crew members has undergone some revisions over the years, mainly because technology has continued to advance during the first decade of the 21st century. In addition to consumer applications, the inflight Internet is also perceived as a means of creating a communications and information network that could be used in emergency situations or as part of military strategies.
The idea behind the airborne internet is to eliminate the need for any type of communication infrastructure that is land-based. Instead, the equipment needed to create the network would be installed in aircraft of different types, essentially allowing communications and information to flow even if key ground-based facilities were rendered inoperable. At the same time, the airborne Internet would have the full capability to interact with terrestrial facilities when and as possible.
There are a number of benefits associated with using the internet in flight. It has to do with maintaining the flow of information and communication functions in the event of some kind of natural disaster. By eliminating the need to route signaling through any type of ground-based facility, it would be possible to maintain constant contact with the disaster-affected area, facilitating the coordination of rescue and rescue operations. Another has to do with improving safety for commercial airlines, as the infrastructure of this type of network would allow aircraft to monitor movements in the sky with a greater degree of efficiency than more traditional methods.
Airborne use of the Internet in warfare would make it easier to coordinate military campaigns even if ground communications were somehow disrupted. As a result, campaigns would have a greater degree of success, while also reducing the potential for loss of life. Even in peacetime, military use of the Internet in flight would mean greater coordination in drawing up flight plans and monitoring the progress of flights of interest from point of origin to point of destination.
Over the years, the concepts used to define how to configure an in-flight Internet have changed as technology has opened up more opportunities for configuring this type of network. In different typologies, prototypes for the network have been launched and tested, with varying degrees of success. Efforts to create a truly worldwide aerial Internet continue today and likely will continue until this important communication tool is fully operational.
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