Other Public Mobile Radio Systems Airline Telephone Network for Public Air–Ground Communication In 1993 ETSI RES 5 submitted a standard for the Terrestrial Flight Telephone System (TFTS), specifying the radio interface and the interfaces to public telecommunications networks. At the same time the European Airlines Electronic Committee (EAEC) specified the airline equipment and interfaces to cabin facilities. Commercial operations began in 1994. In July 1994, after inviting international tenders, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications granted a licence to DeTeMobil for the operation of TFTS. DeTeMobil was to supply radio coverage to all airspace up to an altitude of 4500 m | Mobile Radio Networks Networking and Protocols. Bernhard H. Walke Copyright 1999 John Wiley Sons Ltd ISBNs 0-471-97595-8 Hardback 0-470-84193-1 Electronic 4 Other Public Mobile Radio Systems Airline Telephone Network for Public Air-Ground Communication In 1993 ETSI RES 5 submitted a standard for the Terrestrial Flight Telephone System TFTS specifying the radio interface and the interfaces to public telecommunications networks. At the same time the European Airlines Electronic Committee EAEC specified the airline equipment and interfaces to cabin facilities. Commercial operations began in 1994. In July 1994 after inviting international tenders the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications granted a licence to DeTeMobil for the operation of TFTS. DeTeMobil was to supply radio coverage to all airspace up to an altitude of 4500 m. The service was available by 1996. Thirteen network operators in Europe have signed an MoU for the introduction of TFTS and an agreement on a cooperation with the major European airlines in order to resolve related commercial organizational technical and operational issues 1 2 . TFTS Cellular Network TFTS is a cellular system that uses direct radio links to ground stations GS that are connected to the fixed network to provide public communication services for air passengers see Figure . There are three types of ground stations differentiated by area covered cell and related transmitter power En-route ER GS for altitudes from 13 to km with cell radii up to 240 km Intermediate I GS for altitudes below km with cell radii up to 45 km Airport AP GS with cell radii of 5 km Handover between areas is part of the system. According to WARC 92 two 5 MHz wide bands have been specified for operation of the TFTS 1670-1675 MHz for uplink ground-to-air 302 4 Other Public Mobile Radio Systems h er max 43000 f 14 km Figure Coverage areas and ground stations Figure TFTS channel map 1800-1805 MHz for downlink The system offers .
