Boeing has announced that it has developed a new way to test wireless signals in airplane cabins, using 20,000 pounds of potatoes to stand in for passengers.
The new process measures radio signal quality with "proprietary" technology including the use of the potatoes in the aircraft which give similar physical interactions with electronic signals as seated passengers. Once the test was conducted with the potatoes, human subjects were used in the test aircraft.
Boeing says the new method reduced the test time from two weeks to 10 hours.
The potatoes were donated to a local food bank.
