major international airlines Arrived to reschedule or cancel flights to the United States before a 5G The wireless rollout on Wednesday (January 19) has raised security concerns, despite wireless carriers saying they would delay parts of the deployment. Federal Aviation Administration (Some) warned that possible 5G interference could affect altitude readings on some jets, with the airlines citing the Boeing 777 among the models in the spotlight.
Despite an announcement by AT&T and Verizon that they would halt 5G rollouts near airports, many airlines still canceled flights or changed aircraft models. Air India canceled 8 flights.
Here is the background of the controversy:
The FAA warned that new 5G technology could interfere with equipment such as altimeters, which measure how far an airplane is traveling from the ground.
Altimeters operate in the 4.2-4.4 GHz range and the concern is that auction frequencies sit very close to this range.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said last month that the FAA’s 5G directive would ban the use of radio altimeters at nearly 40 of America’s largest airports.
American Airlines has warned that the directives could disrupt up to 4% of daily flights.
Kirby said that if left unresolved it could mean that “you essentially have a visual approach only” at major US airports in conditions of inclement weather, cloud cover or even heavy haze. could do.”
Are all aircraft affected
No, airlines announced plans to move away from Boeing 777 and Boeing 747-8 aircraft, including Emirates, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan Airlines and Lufthansa.
How can this be fixed
In the short term, AT&T and Verizon agreed to temporarily shut down some wireless towers near major airports to prevent a significant disruption to US flights.
In the long run, the FAA is required to allow the vast majority of US commercial airplane fleets to be cleared and low-visibility landings at the many airports where 5G C-band will be deployed. This means certifying the altimeters to operate near 5G base stations.
How does frequency matter to airlines?
The higher the frequency in the spectrum, the faster the service. So to get the full value out of 5G, operators want to operate on higher frequencies.
Some of the auctioned C band spectrum was used for satellite radio, but the transition to 5G meant there would be a lot of traffic.
What are telecom companies saying
Verizon and AT&T have argued that C-band 5G has been deployed in about 40 other countries without aviation interference issues.
They have agreed to buffer zones about 50 airports in the United States for six months to reduce the risk of interference, similar to those used in France.
Why this 5G issue isn’t outside the US
In 2019 the European Union set standards for mid-range 5G frequencies in the 3.4–3.8 GHz range, a lower frequency than the service being introduced in the United States. The bandwidth has been auctioned in Europe and is being used in many of the 27 member states without any problems so far.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which oversees 31 states, said on 17 December that the issue was specific to US airspace. “At this stage, no risk of unsafe intervention has been identified in Europe,” it said.
FAA officials have noted that the spectrum used by France (3.6–3.8 GHz) sits further away from the spectrum (4.2–4.4 GHz) used for altimeters in the United States and that of France for 5G. Power level is much lower than authorized at United. State.
Verizon has said it will not use spectrum that is close to the high band for several years.
In South Korea, the 5G mobile communication frequency is in the 3.42–3.7 GHz band and there have been no reports of interference with radio waves since the commercialization of 5G in April 2019.
Currently, 5G mobile communication wireless stations are operational near airports, but there have been no reports of problems.
The US wireless trade group CTIA said, “Wireless carriers in approximately 40 countries in Europe and Asia now use the C band for 5G, with no effect on radio altimeters that use the same internationally designated 4.2–4.4 GHz band.” work in.” A filing with the Federal Communications Commission.
(with inputs from agencies)
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