Characterization and consideration of topological impact of wireless propagation in a commercial aircraft environment [wireless corner]

Wireless systems are gaining a relevant role for multiple communication tasks within commercial aircraft. In this work, wireless propagation in an indoor commercial airplane cabin is analyzed. The impacts of indoor elements, such as passenger seats, luggage compartments, and a dual deck structure, are considered with the aid of an in-house implemented three-dimensional ray-launching code. Multipath propagation plays a relevant role, given by the time-domain characteristics obtained by spatially dependent power delay profiles and delay spread. The use of deterministic techniques in order to consider the inherent complexity of the airplane's cabin can aid in wireless system planning, in order to increase overall system capacity whilst reducing power consumption.