TC Minutes

WAEA Technical Committee Meeting
May 15, 1998
Renton, WA

I. Welcome and Opening Remarks

Rich Salter, WAEA TC Director, opened the meeting by reading the WAEA-TC mission statement. The committee was encouraged to keep focused on their mission to investigate emerging technologies. Rich noted that the anti-trust guidelines were in effect and made copies available to all members. The 44 attendees introduced themselves, and the meeting agenda which included TC announcements/business issues, working group reports, and liaison reports was reviewed. Earl Nicks and Jim Ward agreed to take notes for the meeting minutes.

New Name
Rich noted that several members had suggested that the committee’s name would be more descriptive of the new mission if it were changed to "Technology" from "Technical" Committee. He encouraged the attendees to give that their consideration, and if there was sufficient interest it would be agendized and then taken to the Board for consideration at a future meeting.

February Meeting Minutes
The draft minutes of the February 13, 1998 meeting had been posted on the website for review. There being no changes to the minutes, Earl Nicks moved that they be accepted and Barney Graves seconded the motion. The motion carried without opposition.

WAEA Board Meeting Review
Rich Salter then reviewed the items of interest to the TC from the WAEA Board meeting of April 22. He noted that there is an interest in webcasting or teleconferencing of the TC meetings (so that more people could attend "remotely.") He asked for volunteers who had Internet expertise to serve on the Internet-WG to investigate the webcasting possibilities. Although he was not in attendance, the group suggested that Bryan Rusenko, Crest National Digital Media Complex, would be a good candidate to help.

Rich also discussed the upcoming WAEA Annual Conference and Exhibition to be held in Durban, South Africa, October 13-16, 1998.

White Paper - HD
David Crossett reported that the white paper on hard disk technology was completed, and he would submit it next week.

AEEC Deliverables
Rich Salter reported that the four deliverables from the CEI to the TC had all seen recent progress. A full status report will be made to the WAEA Board at its July meeting. The deliverables for 1998 are:

• a supplement to Arinc 628, Part 2, seat-end interfaces (including in-seat power)
• a supplement to Arinc 628, Part 3, data exchanges between IFE and aircraft core systems
• Arinc 628, Part 4B, star wiring architecture for cabin data distribution
• Arinc 628, Part 5, in-seat wiring and installation practices.

Each of these deliverables are on-track to be ready for adoption consideration by the AEEC General Session this Fall. Earl Nicks made copies of the CEI committee’s May 12-14 meeting attendance list and homework assignments available to all TC attendees present.

II. Working Group Reports

Dubai Presentation
Rich Salter summarized the excellent attendance and presentations at the WAEA Educational Workshop in Dubai on April 23. He handed out copies of his presentation which included a status report on each of the TC working groups. He reported the results of a survey conducted during the Dubai presentation:

• Only 5 of 23 respondents had ever accessed the WAEA-TC pages on the web site.
• The technologies of most interest were DVD, Smart Cards, and Satellites, with Internet and Displays not far behind.
• In response to the question on the method for attending TC meetings "remotely," most favored Teleconferencing with Webcasting next and Video Conferencing last. A significant number said they could not spare any time to attend meetings, even remotely. They were content to monitor the web site to keep up with what’s going on.

DVD-WG
Al McGowan presented the 14 members of the DVD-WG, and explained the DVD-WG mission statement. He reviewed their progress in quantifying the benefits of DVD for inflight use. Benefits/improvements over other storage technologies include increased reliability, increased storage capacity, less space, and less weight for comparable storage capacity.

Al listed the applications for DVD in the cabin as: inseat personal video players, overhead and multichannel audio/video headend players, media loader for VOD, and as a source of data for cabin file servers. Lars Aden inquired if vibration would be a problem with DVD. Al responded that the vibration issue was already being satisfactorily addressed in the design of airborne DVD players.

Al further reported that the WG had completed the outline of procedures required by production studios to create the digital master files for DVD. These procedures will be cleaned-up and made available to the IFE community.

He explained that the WG had progressed to the point in their mission that the next step was to draft a new specification for DVD content. He requested that the TC approve the recommendation to enlist more members for the specification’s development. Much discussion ensued over the details that this spec would cover and how the WG would go about drafting it.

Wade Hanniball explained that the existing DMD-TC 0395 spec addressed only the file server issue of constant bit rate encoding. Variable bit rate encoding needs to be specified for DVD’s usage of MPEG2. He also explained that while some in the IFE industry may believe that consumer DVD disks can be used for screening movies on-board, that will not work. Each DVD disk contains a region code which prohibits it from being played outside the region it was purchased. An airline-specific regional code needs to be defined. This regional coding and MPEG encoding is not sufficient security for airline usage of first-run movies on DVD. Encryption of the content is needed (another issue to be defined in the new spec).

Since the new DVD spec would build on the data contained in the DMD-TC 0395 spec, the possibility of amending 0395 was discussed but rejected in favor of creating a completely new spec for DVD, and referencing 0395 where applicable. The new DVD spec would be designated DVD-TC 0598 (the number referring to the date the effort was initiated by the TC).

Rich Salter suggested that the DVD-WG create a table to kick-off the new DVD spec effort:

• List the issues/topics which need to be addressed in the new DVD spec
• List those areas of DMD-TC 0395 that can be referenced for each in the new DVD topic
• List the types of expertise that are needed to define each new DVD topic
• List the recommended companies that would have expert personnel in each area

Upon completion of the above, Rich will enlist the WAEA Board’s help in persuading those companies to send representatives to participate in the spec writing activity.

It was estimated that the DVD spec writing activity will require about one year of quarterly two-day meetings. All DVD-WG information will be posted on Crest National’s website at http://www.crestnational.com/dvd-wg. Rich Salter congratulated the DVD-WG on its progress, stating that this effort was an excellent example of the new mission of the TC to investigate emerging technologies and guide their implementation into IFE (i.e. to get ahead of the new product introduction cycle and establish standards for the inflight version of consumer technologies before they are introduced and incorporated into IFE systems).

SC-WG (Smart Cards)
Peter Lemme summarized the accomplishments of the Smart Card Working Group thus far:

• Telecon SC-WG meetings on June 8 and July 2
• Strawman document prepared by June 11
• Draft document available by July 1
• Industry meeting on or about September 24
• Final report available in October, 1998
• CEI working group formed in November, 1998

The specification would document the SC-WG’s proposed standards for smart cards installation and usage on aircraft, and the draft would be validated by a meeting of other industry groups (especially the telephony and financial communities) on September 24. The final document would be available in October. The SC-WG would then make recommendations to the AEEC CEI committee to specify the aircraft interfaces for smart card systems as an addition to Arinc Characteristic 628 to facilitate interoperability (most likely via the establishment of a CEI working group). The TC concurred with the SC-WG recommended milestones and timeline.

Danny Uliel further explained the model for operation on aircraft. Concern was raised that only one architecture of cabin distribution system was being modeled. Peter explained that the SC-WG was under-manned in that area. There are currently no IFE system suppliers on the SC-WG. He appealed for IFE system suppliers to join the SC-WG, as well as airlines and other affected parties such as those involved in transaction processing.

Satellite-WG
Rodger Soucy presented the status of the Satellite-WG by first noting that the group had changed its name to "Satellite" WG from "DBS" WG. The TC concurred with this name change. He then presented the mission statement of the Satellite-WG:

• Identify the following items associated with Satellite systems for the passenger environment.Upon approval by the TC, organize sub-groups to resolve the issues and write standards for these areas:
  • Possible applications (satellite TV, data loading, Internet, etc.)
  • Issues to be resolved (e.g. program content licensing issues, etc.)
  • Candidate areas for standardization development (e.g. satellite TV control panel, receiver-decoder unit interfaces, antenna provisions, etc.)
• Educational role: Develop a list of reference articles, web sites, books, etc. which explains the subject of satellite systems/capabilities/applications for the IFE community.
• Liaison role: Serve as the eyes and ears for the TC regarding satellite technology: Bring new developments to the TC and identify other satellite groups to the TC for possible liaison, etc.
• Report findings and results to WAEA-TC for further action.
• Provide inputs/recommendations to the AEEC CEI (Arinc 628) via strawman submittals.

The TC concurred with the mission statement. Rodger stated that the two areas that the Satellite-WG are making its initial focus are Standards for Satellite TV on aircraft and Licensing Issues.

Dave Kirkland will lead the effort on satellite TV standards. The candidate areas for standardization were listed as:

• Audio/Video interface to the IFE system
• Control interface
• Functional partitioning/architecture on the aircraft
• Antenna installation provisions (power, size, bandwidth, etc.)

Discussion ensued. Terry Wiseman inquired whether the WG would identify digital data protocols for transmitting data. Jeff Robinson suggested that the WG create a reference diagram showing the end-to-end system from ground to the aircraft and the distribution system on the aircraft, then identify which aspects/parts need investigation. Rodger Soucy indicated that the WG was just getting started, and these questions would be considered.

Rodger indicated Michael Childers had volunteered to head a sub-group to investigate the licensing issues with the content provider community. He indicated that the group needed both the service provider and the airline perspective too. Rich Salter requested Terry Wiseman help publicize the need for representatives from these areas via his AIRFAX newsletter.

Rich also indicated that he would be creating a page listing each WG’s membership and mission statements to be posted on the WAEA web site. He requested each WG Chairman to consult with his membership on whether they wanted their telephone and/or email addresses listed as well. He further assigned an action item to all working groups to create the list of expertise they needed and to recommend companies from which more members could be recruited.

Displays-WG
The Displays-WG, did not report. However, Rich Salter noted that Tom Credelle presented an excellent paper on FEDs at the recent IPEC conference in London. He requested those who would like a copy to contact him.

Internet Technologies-WG
The Internet-WG did not report; however, Michael Childers, LightStream Communications, sent a paper describing the Internet technologies. This paper was distributed, and Rich Salter requested that the members read and comment on it as a means of getting this WG started.

TG-WG (Transaction/Gaming)
The TG-WG did not report at this meeting. Rich Salter noted that some members had suggested combining the TG-WG and Internet-WG into a single WG since their focus was on many of the same (software) technologies. Mark Wheeler noted that there were many unique aspects to transaction processing software. He supported keeping the TG-WG as a separate WG. Rich and Mark will contact the other members of the TG-WG to get this group started.

III. Liaisons

Seat liaison
Barney Graves, the TC liaison to seat groups, introduced Bill Bovard of Boeing. Mr. Bovard gave a presentation on the recent three-day seat workshop held in Atlanta.

Bill Bovard’s presentation was entitled "TSO Workshop… toward simple and consistent approval for seats with installed electronics." He explained that the Atlanta workshop was sponsored by Boeing, Delta, and BA, and it was well attended by over 100 representatives of seat manufacturers, airlines, IFE suppliers, other electronics suppliers, airframers, and FAA.

The objectives of the workshop were:

• A simple, reliable, and consistent process for obtaining approval of seats with installed electronics.
• Compatibility with the electronic systems approval process.
• An approval process recognized by all ACOs (Aircraft Certification Offices).
• Low impact to Boeing processes.
• Low impact to airline retrofit and spares processes.

Bill explained the LA ACO has challenged current seat approval practices as inconsistent with the TSO. They want electronics fully included under the TSO or handled separately through the Type Certificate. An interim agreement shifts the electronics equipment approval to the Type Certificate, but the LA ACO position applies to two specific seat suppliers only. He indicated that there were several open issues:

• How to certify non-TSO’d equipment in the TSO’d seat
• FAA aircraft certification offices (ACOs) are inconsistent in their approval process
• Part numbering control and change management for important attributes in the seat and electronics need to be addressed.

He outlined the process for achieving the workshop objective, which was to bring the key parties together for the 3-day workshop to develop an industry white paper that can be given to the FAA. The FAA could then use the white paper as source material in developing or approving specific compliance guidance.

Bill reported that the workshop was successful in developing the white paper, and its recommendations were to:

• Modify uniform FAA guidance material to allow both option A and B to be used as methods of compliance.
• Modify uniform FAA guidance material to allow electronic component installation provisions on a TSO article to be specified by either part number of TSO-significant attributes.
• Modify uniform FAA guidance material to stipulate that design approval and quality control of the components of the TSO article shall be only for those attributes significant to the TSO approval (i.e. airplane level attributes should not be controlled under the TSO process).
• Supplement the existing performance standards of the seat assembly TSO with the significant attributes identified in para. 4.4.1 by means of uniform FAA guidance material.
• Develop industry standards to further define the attributes listed in para. 4.4.2.
• Clarify uniform FAA guidance for obtaining PMA approval when the TSO article includes electronic parts that are components of the TSO approved article (as in option A).

The TC requested that Barney Graves arrange to have the white paper posted on the website so that the IFE community could read it. They thanked Bill Bovard for his excellent presentation.

Other liaisons
Rich Salter announced that Peter Chilsen of ECS had agreed to be the TC liaison to the Airlines International Electronics Meeting (AIEM). He noted that the post of TC liaison to IATA was still open and requested that interested members contact him. He announced that the other liaisons were:

• E. Nicks, for Radio Technical Commission on Aeronautics (RTCA)
• D. Crossett, for Airlines Maintenance Conference (AMC)

He also requested that the liaisons to the other aviation groups and conferences prepare a description of their group/conference and list its committees/activities for presentation at the next TC meeting.

IV. Next meeting date/location

The date and location for the next WAEA TC meeting was discussed, and it was noted that the next AEEC CEI meeting would be July 28-30, 1998, in Stockholm, Sweden. Lars Aden, SAS, was making the facility arrangements. The pros and cons of meeting in Stockholm versus the West Coast US were discussed. Due to the estimated number of people who would attend the TC meeting in Stockholm following the 3-day CEI meeting versus the number who would make a trip to the West Coast for a single day meeting during July-August, it was decided to hold the next TC meeting in Stockholm on July 31, 1998 (with the Thursday afternoon (July 30) used for working group meetings).

V. Adjournment

There being no further business, the TC meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m.

Wireless Technologies demonstration
After the meeting was formally adjourned, the room was made available for new product/technology demonstrations. Patrick Potega , Lifestyle Technologies and Dennis Aves, IBM, demonstrated their air infrared wireless technology for in-cabin data networking. Patrick explained that the Infrared data capabilities and protocols have advanced to the point of being able to handle laptops at multiple seat locations communicating with a head-end server via Ir links. Patrick and Dennis demonstrated this capability with a notebook PC communicating with a server while moving the laptop and while full sunlight was illuminating the room. They invited anyone with input on potential applications or methods for marketing this wireless distribution system to contact them.