British Airways Plc is now testing the hardware for its new interactive video system with customers on its Boeing 747-400 aircraft (CI No 2,478). The B/E Multimedia Digital Distribution System from BE Aerospace Inc of Wellington, Florida is in 400 seats in all classes. At this stage the only difference passengers will notice is displays in the seat backs. The interactive software content will follow early next year. Passengers have a 6 screen in the seat-back and a multipurpose handheld device, the size of a cellular telephone. This device has been designed by the two companies and will function as a telephone hand-set, games controller, channel selector and credit card swipe reader. The Multimedia Digital Distribution System has a different architecture and data distribution process from other competing systems, said Marco Lanza, executive vice-president of BE Aerospace. The processing power and distribution system is located at one centralised point on the plane rather than at each seat. The central system consists of 100-plus each of a Nintendo games system, 33MHz 80486-based computer and an MPEG-1 based video-on-demand decompression system from Optibase Inc. The main server uses a Sparc-based processor and is responsible for the on-screen selection menus. Having a central server creates more flexibility in terms of managing obsolescence, because there isn’t a computer at each seat that needs to be upgraded, BE Aerospace said. The Multimedia Digital Distribution System uses a switch similar to an office telephone switching system. While there may be a terminal at each seat, not all passengers are going to demand the same service at the same time, so less hardware is necessary than if the hardware is located at each seat. The only information going back to the individual seats is the selection function. This means there is built-in redundancy. If one games system were to malfunction, the Multimedia Digital Distribution System can automatically switch to the next so the occupant won’t notice any glitch, the company said. The Multimedia Digital Distribution System has an ISDN distribution system inside the aircraft, which is then distributed to either satellite or to the ground via radio so that passengers can make international phone calls.
