This allows people to download and upload data much faster and enable multiple devices to access mobile internet simultaneously. To do this, it relies on the increased use of radio signals.
In the U.S., the radio frequencies used for 5G are part of the C-band spectrum. These frequencies are close to those used by aircraft radio altimeters, which measure the aircraft’s height above the ground and provide safety and navigation systems data. The concern is that interference from 5G transmissions could prevent these tools from working correctly and cause safety issues, especially when planes land.
What is 5G, and what will it mean to you? How serious is the risk to aircraft?
This is potentially very serious.
In late 2020, the RTCA, the U.S. organization that issues aviation technical manuals, issued a report warning of the possibility of “catastrophic failures leading to numerous casualties in the absence of appropriate mitigation measures.” More recently, the U.S. aviation regulator, the FAA, warned that interference from 5G could cause problems with several different systems aboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This can make it difficult for the aircraft to slow down during landing, causing it to veer off the runway.
How will the flight be protected?
Aircraft will not use radio altimeters in environments with serious interference risks. But it will limit the ability of some aircraft to land, for example, in conditions of poor visibility.
Airline for America, representing the top 10 carriers, warned that this could delay or cancel more than 1,000 flights in bad weather and mean that at times “the vast majority of travellers and shippers will, in fact, be on the way.” land”. He also suggested that most of the U.S. air fleet would be “deemed unusable” due to restrictions on their operations.
What other measures does the U.S. government have?
U.S. regulators have already taken some steps. The FAA has created temporary buffer zones around 50 airports where 5G providers limit their activities. But they are much smaller areas than France already uses, and American transmitters will operate at significantly higher power levels.
They also began to determine which altimeters can be safely used in areas where the 5G network is implemented and which are unreliable and need to be replaced. He also identified airports where GPS systems, rather than radio altimeters, could guide approaching aircraft. But airlines insist that this is not enough: they say that the 5G network should not be activated within two miles of the affected airports.
What have the 5G companies said now?
Verizon and AT&T have agreed to “temporarily” delay the 5G rollout in what AT&T said were “a limited number of towers around select airport runways.” Some 5G trees will not be enabled as negotiations continue to find a final solution. This should reduce the possibility of interference with onboard systems.
President Biden said in a statement that the delay will only affect about 10% of the trees involved in the 5G expansion. Companies have postponed 5G rollouts twice and accepted the temporary buffer zones mentioned above. AT&T and Verizon storefronts and mall entrances in northern Idaho. Both companies expressed dissatisfaction with the latest robbery.
AT&T said regulators have had two years to plan for the launch of the 5G service. They also noted that 5G has already been deployed in about 40 countries. Last month, the U.S. wireless communications organization CTIA accused the aviation industry of “panic” and warned that delaying the 5G rollout would cause real economic damage.
What is the situation in the U.K.?
British regulators and airlines don’t seem to be too concerned. In a safety notice issued in December, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said there were “no confirmed cases where 5G interference has caused aircraft systems to malfunction or cause unexpected behaviour.” He further emphasized that “different national mobile strategies may mean that some [countries] are more exposed to threats than others.” The U.K. regulator says it intends to work internationally to collect more data on the matter.