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Cameras, microphones and algorithms: How inflight entertainment is getting personal

Astrova is a swanky new inflight entertainment screen from Panasonic Avionics.

(CNN) — Home entertainment today is defined by sleek, high definition flat screen televisions, voice controlled speakers, and cell phones that know us better than we know ourselves.

So when we board an airplane, decade-old, bulky inflight entertainment screens can feel like a hangover from another era.

Recent inflight entertainment concepts aim to revolutionize the current inflight experience, creating a personalized, high tech cabin of the future.

If big names like technology company Panasonic Avionics and aerospace corporation Airbus have their way, you’ll soon be able to enjoy personalized quirks like a tailor-made on board movie selection, interactive in-seat games and video chatting with flight crew at 30,000 feet.

Personalized cabins

Astrova is a swanky new inflight entertainment screen from Panasonic Avionics.

Panasonic Avionics

At the recent 2022 Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg, Germany, Panasonic Avionics unveiled Astrova, a next generation inflight entertainment (IFE) screen complete with microphone functionality for voice commands, and an optional built-in camera with a sliding privacy cover.

This manual on-off switch is Panasonic’s attempt at alleviating concerns around cameras on airplanes, which came to a head in 2019 when passengers discovered lenses in existing, Panasonic-designed seat back IFE screens.

Panasonic defended these cameras, explaining they were there to future-proof aircraft, in case airlines wanted to implement concepts such as seat-to-seat video conferencing further down the line.

Malware researcher Vitaly Kamluk, whose 2019 Twitter thread about a lens on a Singapore Airlines’ flight went viral, voiced concern that travelers were not made aware of the cameras’ existence, and that there was no manual slider switch, making the cameras potentially susceptible to hackers.
Airlines including Qantas, Emirates and Singapore Airlines released statements insisting these cameras were switched off, and that they had no plans to turn them on. A CNN Travel report also sparked US senators to speak out on the subject.
Panasonic Avionics’ David Bartlett, then the company’s chief technology officer and chief information security officer, told CNN Travel at the time that he saw the response as an “overreaction.”

“I believe it’s going to settle down, that the case to be made for positive benefits coming from cameras is stronger than any concern that they could possibly be used for nefarious purposes,” said Bartlett, who has since left the…

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