Wireless Lans at risk from mobiles

Mobile phones, which were blamed for nearly causing a plane to crash last week, could cause wireless networks to go belly up, an analyst has warned.

Shortly after take-off, an Adria Airways Canadair regional jet was forced to return to the airport for an emergency landing because a passenger's phone caused interference with its electronic system and set off a fire alarm in the luggage compartment.

An Adria Airways spokeswoman said: "This was the first time this has occurred at Adria, but pilots tell us that interference incidents have happened before at other airlines."

Nigel Deighton, research director at Gartner, said that wireless local area networks (WLans) also suffer from mobile interference. While frequencies are far enough apart to make interference unlikely, malfunctioning phones could cause a problem if they send out abnormal signals.

"The nasty tones that you can sometimes hear at the beginning of a GSM call are only short and likely to be seen as noise spikes," Deighton said. "But WLans can suffer from the effects of a malfunctioning mobile phone."

"There is no doubt that electronic interference can cause problems, especially in Airbus planes that fly entirely by wire and have no mechanical connection," he added.

Sharon Saw, an analyst at Saw IT, warned that network managers who use wireless networks need to be aware of this problem and have policies for mobile phones being used nearby.

"Generally they should be switched off when a wireless network is in use," she said. "Although the chances of anything major going wrong are slim, it could be a costly mistake if it does."

An airline captain, who preferred not to be named, told Network News that he prefers flying in aeroplanes with mechanical connection. "These have a solid, simple cable that you can operate manually in case interference cripples your electronics," he said. "I'd be nervous to fly an Airbus, where electronics is all you have. We call them Scare-bus."

The Swiss Civil Aviation authority has said that it now suspects that a mobile phone may have caused the crash of a Saab 340 last year that killed 10 people. A spokesman said: "Studies have proved that radio waves from mobile phones while switched on can interfere with electronic and navigation systems."

First published in Network News

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