Boeing Uses 20,000 Lbs. of Potatoes To Check Aircraft Wireless Network Signals 104
coondoggie writes "Boeing calls it Project SPUDS — or rather, Synthetic Personnel Using Dielectric Substitution — that is, using sacks of potatoes perched on aircraft seats to test the effectiveness of wireless signals in an airliner cabin. Boeing said it was researching an advanced way to test wireless signals in airplanes and needed a way to effectively simulate 200-300 people sitting in seats throughout the aircraft."
Tatters, precious? (Score:1)
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Well, Gollum's clothing was certainly tattered.
So (Score:5, Funny)
So did they do this test in their labs, or at a Five Guys?
Re:So (Score:4, Funny)
Five Guys usually makes me test my lab.
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Dick's is the place whee the SWASS hang out.
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Are you sure it's not: "Dick's is the place where the cool hang out. The rich like to play and the SWASS flaunt clout?"
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I stand corrected.
coincidence (Score:5, Funny)
Re:coincidence (Score:5, Funny)
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If Boeing covered the sacks in lard and flew them to Florida, half of 'em would be married within a week and the rest would be cops.
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I was thinking, "Why couldn't they have used cows or hippos?" but then I realized, potatoes don't whine about not being able to fit into a seat because they're too fat.
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Are they using couch potatoes or in this case coach potatoes!?
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I think you may be on to something there. Not that Boeing really gets much choice in what their customers do after the product is sold, anymore than a movie studio can keep me from improving their DVD's by smearing them with feces.
Let's look at ways airlines treat customers like potatoes:
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Execpt that passengers are typically self-loading cargo, thus saving the airline from having to pay people to load cargo as they would with sacks of potatoes.
Re:coincidence (Score:4, Informative)
Extra large sacks of potatoes (Score:1)
In all seriousness, 80 pounds of potatoes has similar WIFI restricting capabilities as maybe 140 pounds of person? What other food analogs are used in place of people for tech experiments?
Re:Extra large sacks of potatoes (Score:5, Informative)
The weight is not important. Sacks of potatoes can form a mostly human shape, and I suppose have a more or less similar water concentration? (emphasis on more or less)
Re:Extra large sacks of potatoes (Score:4, Funny)
Imagine a spherical potato....
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Re:Extra large sacks of potatoes (Score:5, Informative)
Legless (Score:5, Funny)
Sacks of potatoes can form a mostly human shape
Only if you ignore the legs...which would also explain how they estimate the legroom to provide in economy seats.
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So you're saying that Bob Oblong [google.com] is the ideal passenger?
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What other food analogs are used in place of people for tech experiments?
I would have suggested scuba diving wetsuits filled with lard. Sacks of potatoes were probably cheaper.
Man, what a bitch of a long boarding time.
I hope they used the 50-ohm potatoes (Score:5, Funny)
cause if they used the 75-ohm ones, their Starch Wave Ratio may be too high.
oh, and they have to be properly grounded. potatoes have experience in this area, so that's not usually a problem.
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Well, I know that if I eat too many potatoes, I find that the input impedance ends up significantly lower than the output impedance and I get lots of damaging signal reflection at the output of the feedline...
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No kidding. If they mismatch impedances, the eye's on those potatoes will close.
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75 ohm is fine for video. What is the primary use? Audio is often 32 ohms for headphones, 8 ohms for speakers, 50 ohm for radio, and 75 for video. Eithernet is typicaly 110 ohm, so 75 ohm is in the ballpark. 50 ohms may be a better match if you can find 50 ohm spuds.
Can you say psudo science? I knew you could.
Wow. (Score:2)
All eyes... (Score:1)
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Sweet! I yam liking your jokes already.
I suppose if you cut them and fry them (Score:1)
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Classes (Score:1)
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When did we start calling radio "wireless"?
About the same time we started calling antennae "aerials". For reference: It was around the time when we stopped calling the mathematicians who solved equations for the engineers upstairs "computers".
Not the problem? (Score:1)
When the plane is connecting to low bandwidth cellular networks for internet access, how much does it really matter if there is good wifi signal throughout the plane or not.
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Try measuring your wifi signal strength using a smartphone meter app. I did that in my apartment, and it seems there are standing wave patterns. I would imagine the signal gets reflected off cables, radiators, chairs, LCD screens, tables and whatever else.
"I took a spud, out to a see an EMI test... (Score:4, Funny)
...and didn't have to pay
to
get
it
IN!"
(oldie but goodie?)
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net search on 'I took a fish head out to see a movie' and that should give a hint as to the GOML ref I was making.
Dummer than a... (Score:1)
Why couldn't they... (Score:2)
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Even for tests, they're probably not yet allowed to have those 200-300 people in seats, using wifi, while the plane is aloft.
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my hat off to them: I've managed to teach my sack of spuds to use open access wifi, but wpa2 is just too hard...
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When did this take place? The BOS-SFO flights on Virgin often have half or more of the guests using WiFi, and those A320s hold 146 passengers. They've had in-flight WiFi since the fleet launched, as far as I know. Certainly since 2009 since I first flew with them.
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Why couldn't they "effectively simulate 200-300 people sitting in seats throughout the aircraft" by actually having 200-300 people sitting in seats throughout the aircraft?
Because it's cheaper than using actual people (from the video in the article, they first tested that the potatoes were similar enough to people in a lab). They were able to do some particularly long-running tests and collect a huge amount of data.
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You could never get 200 people to sit in airline seats for several hours, unless they were flying somewhere. This would violate the Geneva Convention Against Torture.
Re:Why couldn't they... (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's see...WiFi screws up airplane, 300 people dead, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use sacks of potatoes or something like that instead of people?"
There's just no pleasing you.
Re:Why couldn't they... (Score:4, Insightful)
Let's see...WiFi screws up airplane, 300 people dead, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use sacks of potatoes or something like that instead of people?"
There's just no pleasing you.
WiFi screws up airplane, 300 potato sacks lost, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use people who can't stop texting for a few minutes instead of sacks of potatoes?"
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Let's see...WiFi screws up airplane, 300 people dead, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use sacks of potatoes or something like that instead of people?"
There's just no pleasing you.
WiFi screws up airplane, 300 potato sacks lost, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use people who can't stop texting for a few minutes instead of sacks of potatoes?"
Wifi screws up airplane, 300 mad texters lost, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use celebutantes?"
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Let's see...WiFi screws up airplane, 300 people dead, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use sacks of potatoes or something like that instead of people?"
There's just no pleasing you.
WiFi screws up airplane, 300 potato sacks lost, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use people who can't stop texting for a few minutes instead of sacks of potatoes?"
Wifi screws up airplane, 300 mad texters lost, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use celebutantes?"
Wifi screws up airplane, 300 celebutantes lost, and your first question would be, "How do you know it wasn't the paparazzi on the wings?"
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Let's see...WiFi screws up airplane, 300 people dead, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use sacks of potatoes or something like that instead of people?"
There's just no pleasing you.
WiFi screws up airplane, 300 potato sacks lost, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use people who can't stop texting for a few minutes instead of sacks of potatoes?"
Wifi screws up airplane, 300 mad texters lost, and your first question would be, "Why the hell didn't they use celebutantes?"
I'm having a mental image of Lindsey Lohan wrecking a Porsche into an airplane...
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Spuds don't demand union wages and benefits
But to test what sort of people? (Score:1)
That might be enough potatoes to account for average sized people, but what about a plane load of fat Americans? They'd have to use 50,000 lb
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That might be enough potatoes to account for average sized people, but what about a plane load of fat Americans? They'd have to use 50,000 lb
There's an aircraft that seats 50,000 fat Americans? Wow!
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Free WiFi
Spuds?!? (Score:2)
Where's it flying too, White Hart Lane?
Harry Chapin (Score:4, Funny)
It was just after dark when the plane started down
The airspace that leads into Scranton, Pennsylvania
Carrying Twenty Thousand Pounds
Of potatoes.
Carrying twenty thousand pounds
(hit it Big John)
Oooooof Potatoooooes
And if the potatoes get fried... (Score:5, Funny)
...you know the wifi signal was too strong
Potatoes? (Score:1)
Do they not watch Mythbusters? If nothing else, Mythbusters has taught me that pigs are awesome human body analogues. ...at least better than sacks of potatoes. That being said, potatoes would be easier to strap into the seats than a bunch of living (or dead) pigs. better smelling too.
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Now the mythbusters are usually testing other things than dielectric strength. I an certain a spud doesn't have similar ballistic properties to a human.
They use chickens too... (Score:4, Interesting)
...at least back when Boeing had a presence in Wichita, KS in the 80's. They shot dead chickens out of a specially-built canon to simulate windshield strikes. My understanding is that jet engine manufacturers still use chicken canons to fire birds into running jet engines.
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Just remember to use fresh, not frozen chickens!
Potatoes? How about Bananas? (Score:1)
Potatoes? That isn't anything compared to the THIRTY thousand pounds of mashed bananas!
Anybody? Aaaaaanybody?
Take your daughter to work day? (Score:2)
Tater wasting (Score:1)
Improvement (Score:1)
Chill out, Paddy McButthurt! (Score:2)
You're freaking out a bit early, don't you think? There's not a single Irish joke in the comments yet.
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Must be redhead, with all that anger.
Re:Irish joke (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, fries are made from potatoes.
Not if you go to mcdonalds.