Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: a question about electronic devices on airplanes



It's mainly a matter of having a RF-shielded enclosure to prevent
electromagnetic radiation from the electronic device making it's way into
the plane's systems. Computers have appropriate shielding, GameBoys
don't. It's hard to confine those scrappy little multi-Mhz photons and
keep the weight and price down at the same time.

The Federal Communications Commission is the regulating agency for EM
emissions; but when you take the things on an airplane, the Federal
Aviation Administration's more stringent and system-specific regulations
take precedence over FCC.

Sam, why do you think this problem is only worthy of the attention of
"some engineer somewhere with nothing better to do"? My daughter will be
arriving on a plane from DC tomorrow, and I can't think of anything better
anyone could do with their time than keeping that puppy from dropping out
of the sky prematurely.

Best wishes,

Larry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from Larry Cartwright
Physics, Physical Science, Internet Teacher
Charlotte High School, 378 State Street, Charlotte MI 48813
<physics@scnc.cps.k12.mi.us> or <science@scnc.cps.k12.mi.us>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Mon, 23 Nov 1998, Samuel Held wrote:

Suzanne,
My best guess is that the radiation from the GameBoy is more in
tune with the newer electronics and thus more apt to cause interference
in the important systems. These include the gyroscopes, communications,
satellite positioning, etc. Also, the refresh rate of the Gameboy's
screen must be different than the lasaer in a CD player or a laptop's
monitor. That is all I can think of to explain the exclusion of
GameBoys only. I am sure some engineer somewhere with nothing better to
do has looked into this problem. I couldn't tell you where to look
though. Sorry.

-----Original Message from Sue Willis-----

[snip]
So, what is it, if anything about a GameBoy that would cause it
to disrupt an airplane, whereas a laptop would not?