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Re: a question about electronic devices on airplanes



Larry,
I fly to Brookhaven National Lab occasionally. One of my
collegues is travelling every week between there and here, so it is not
that I think it is not worthy of investigation. However, who would have
thought to test the plane's electronics in an environment with GameBoys
playing? Some engineer who probably has a kid with one (or more likely
has one himself) and thought about it. My first guess is that the CD
players and computers would have a greater effect but you are right in
that their shielding is better.


Sam Held


-----Original Message-----
From: L. R. Cartwright (Larry) [mailto:physics@SCNC.CPS.K12.MI.US]
Sent: Monday, November 23, 1998 4:38 PM
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: 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?