WiMAX's first commercial rollout could be at airports, updating manifests, flight plans and onboard entertainment each time a plane lands. Called GateSync, the WiMAX-based technology hardware will be manufactured by Thales Avionics, Inc. (Cedex, France, formerly Thomson CSF), and use wireless software from Proximetry, Inc. (San Diego, Calif.), and a beam-steerable phased-array antenna from Pinyon Technologies, Inc. (Reno, Nev.) Today, airlines use "sneaker-net" to update onboard manifests, flight plans and in-flight entertainment files: in other words, a person wearing sneakers (for speed) carries either a laptop or a stack of tapes to each plane after it lands and physically uploads the necessary information into airliners' computers. Now, by using WiMAX, airliners can automatically sync their onboard computers via GateSync software running on Thales Avionics ground-based computers.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206905234
