[54] AERONAUTICAL CELLULAR NETWORK
[75] Inventor: Hasse Kristian Sinivaara, Espoo, Finland
[73] Assignee: Nokia Telecomunications Oy, Espoo [21] Appl. No.: 09/077,477 [22] PCT Filed: Nov. 11, 1996 [86] PCT No.: PCT/EP96/04912
§ 371 Date: May 29, 1998
§ 102(e) Date: May 29, 1998 [87] PCT Pub. No.: W098/21838
PCT Pub. Date: May 22, 1998
[51] Int. CI.7 H04B 7/185; H04B 10/00;
H04B 10/24
[52] U.S. CI 455/431; 455/424; 455/463;
455/500; 455/20; 370/310; 359/152; 359/173
[58] Field of Search 455/431, 424,
455/500, 507, 48, 463, 20, 22, 5.1, 6.1, 63; 370/316, 310, 317, 338; 340/825.06;
359/152, 173
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,140,451 8/1992 Talat et al 359/114
5,438,610 8/1995 Bhagat et al 455/431
5,651,050 7/1997 Bhagat et al 455/431
5,805,683 9/1998 Berberich, !r. 455/431
5,880,867 3/1999 Ronald 359/152
5,884,166 3/1999 Ray et al 455/431
5,887,258 3/1999 Lemozit et al 455/431
5,920,826 7/1999 Metso et al 455/557
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
WO 96/02094 1/1996 WIPO .
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
"An Overview of Aeronautical Telecommunications In
Europe and World-Wide", Pettifor et al., BT Technology,
vol. 14, No. 3, Jul. 1996, pp. 64-73.
PCT International Search Report.
Primary Examiner—Lee Nguyen
Assistant Examiner—Simon Nguyen
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Perman & Green, LLP
[57] ABSTRACT
A cellular telephone system for use in an aircraft (12) comprises a plurality of user terminals distributed throughout the seating array, each group of terminals being connected through short cables to an optical/RF transducer (30) which is linked through an optical fibre array (50) to a further transducer (26) connected by short cables (27,28) to a Base Transceiver Station (22).
12 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets
