Broadband takes to the skies

[Sepp Hasslberger]

This is a recent item on BBC news, describing how airplanes will be connected linking up to satellite broadband, allowing passengers access to the internet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7822430.stm

So my wife asked an interesting question: What about using the airplanes as a network forming relay to give internet connectivity to those on the ground?

Although not a stable connection when looking at one plane at a time, there are thousands of airplanes up there each day, and they could very well form an ad hoc network, bridging the gap between the satellites (and thus the internet at large) and the users on the ground.

Even an intermittent connection (where not enough airliners pass to make it stable) should be better than none, especially when you know the schedule ...