Testing signals in flight is always too difficult a task when human has to sit for hours or weeks. Sitting for hours without movement weeks was an impossible task resulting to find potatoes. The sacks of potatoes were made to check the signals of the wifi. The sacks were put on the seats inside the plane which made it easy for the working engineers to look for the weak wifi signal.
The testing method was started in the early years of 2012, in US Boeing flights. The sacks of potatoes helped in the behaving similar to the humans. So, instead of settling on the humans or passengers, the potatoes are effective.
While flying the maximum heights the signal distribution is not equal throughout the plane. It is when the potato sacks are placed in different corners to understand the frequency of the Wifi signals. The use is high with the need for the internet for laptops and mobile phones. Moving or flying through different airspaces, there are high chances of fluctuations.
The differences or fluctuations are higher compared to the lands. At different seats the signals vary, some have the lowest while some seats may not have one. Using the potatoes enables the reduction of the fluctuations and distribution of the frequencies.
Why potatoes for testing the wifi signal?
It may be strange to find the utility of the sack of potatoes that are replaced to check the signals. The potatoes have the properties of water content and the ions in them help in the process. It behaves similarly to the human body. The sacks that hold potatoes can absorb, at the same time reflects the signals.
The reflecting process of the potatoes that provides the features of people are suitable to improve the Wifi signal. Disconnection of the wifi after crossing the height of 35,000 feet was miserable for the passengers. It is the reason there was a need for improvising internet signals.
Potato sacks were kept in the sacks for many weeks until the testing was completed. The proper wide spread of the signals via the radioactive frequency is common in air crafts. Potatoes are considered the best because of their dielectric property. Apart from potatoes, there are few vegetables and fruits that have dielectric properties.
Is it still used for aircraft?
The aircraft require signal testing often, for the strong and equal distribution the sacks are the best solution. Apart from cooking potato meals, it has a major need in the airplane industry.
As the Boeing company mentions that the sacks of potatoes are the copy of human bodies. It acts as the perfect replacement for the passengers. As a motionless and better absorbent frequency, it is useful for data collection and repairing or developing better aircraft wifi signals.
It has enabled to strengthen of Wifi signals to recover from the issues when the flight covers greater heights. Above all, it enables maintaining and meeting the safety measures while testing the signals inside the cabin along with the electrical systems.
