Evaluation for millimeter wave broadband wireless direct communication between airplane and ground

Demand has increased for better mobile phone and wireless local area network (LAN) access for passengers on-board aircraft. Meanwhile, based on the experience of Great East Japan Earthquake, it is essential for relief, restoration and reconstruction from the earthquake to grasp the situation after such damages by using aerial survey, and the broadband communication for transformation of those captured information from the airplanes is a key factor for rapid response. The millimeter wave band, such as the over-40 GHz band, is not used heavily in commercial applications and is expected to facilitate the broadband communication system. This paper provides a report of experiments and investigations of broadband communication systems for airplanes in which the millimeter wave band (40 GHz band) serves to facilitate broadband wireless communications between airplane and ground.