With the growth of in-flight Wifi on aircraft, the FAA has a posted a new draft policy statement that gives further guidance and acceptable practices on how to meet compliance with a specific federal regulations. the new policy comes at a time when even light commuter and utility aircraft are being equipped with inflight connectivity.
The FAA notes that safety issues related to the installation and use of the wireless RF system within the airplane include: potential interference with avionics systems; operation of personal electronic devices and a wireless RF system which is not fully built to airborne equipment standards; and vulnerability of airplane systems to intentional or spurious emission of RF energy.
Guidance released in 2010 by the FAA described an acceptable means for designing and demonstrating aircraft tolerance to potential electro magnetic interference from personal electronic devices. FAA advisory circular AC-20-164 identified RTCA document DO-307, which was borne out of a federal advisory committee.
The FAA’s new policy paper discusses compliance methods that should be applied to type certificate, amended type certificate, supplemental type certificate, and amended supplemental type certification programmes for Part 23 aircraft.
Link to original apex.aero blog posting:
http://blog.apex.aero/ife/faa-clarifies-guidance-installation-inflight-wireless-networks-demand-soars/
Link to FAA policy statement:Installation of Wireless Local Area Network using IEEE 802.11 Protocols
http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/draft_docs/policy/