At the heart of the 5G debate are radio altimeters.
A radio altimeter measures an aircraft’s altitude; how high the aircraft is from the
ground.
They also provide data for safety and navigation systems.
In early 2020, out of abundance of caution, the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA,
issued a safety alert about high-powered 5G towers interfering with the radio altimeters
installed on aircraft.
pilots were asked to pay attention to their gauges.
If radio altimeters were to stop working properly due to interference, and provide pilots and
systems with incorrect data, the result could be catastrophic during the landing phase of
a flight.
But is there any evidence for this?
Sort of, as the FAA has based the entire dispute on a theoretical modeling of multiple worst-case
scenarios with obsolete altimeters.
The Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, or RTCA, an American Organization which produces
technical guidance on aviation modernization issues, produced a report.
In its report, it warned that 5G poses a major risk to commercial aircraft under certain
conditions.
The report warned of the possibility of “catastrophic failures leading to multiple fatalities, in
the absence of appropriate mitigations”.
But critics say that no tests were done on the 5G networks or on actual equipment used
in modern aircraft when RTCA reached their conclusion.
They just used models!
Call me a simple man, but models can be quite … convincing!
As an interim solution, the FAA allowed airplanes with accurate, reliable altimeters to operate
around high-power 5G antennas.
However, airplanes with older altimeters will not be allowed to use radio altimeters close
to the 5G antennas.
This is an issue, because under low visibility conditions, aircraft cannot land safely without
the use of altimeters.
Effectively, this would ground the majority of the US fleet of commercial airplanes during
bad weather.
As of January 16, 2022, during low visibility conditions, only 45% of the commercial airplanes
in the US were certified to land at airports that have 5G towers.
Since AT&T and Verizon were scheduled to turn on their new 5G network on January 19th, 2022,
this would effectively cause a massive disruption in the US, since most aircraft would essentially
not be allowed to operate during poor weather conditions.
Even worse, because radio altimeters provide critical data to other safety and navigation
systems, rollout of 5G would ground many aircraft indefinitely.
For this reason, CEOs of many airlines in the US asked the government to prevent roll
out of 5G within 2 miles of airport runways.
But the puck didn’t stop there.
On January 19th, 2022, Emirates announced that due to , it will stop flights to some
US airports … and many other airlines soon followed suit.
So again, just to make it clear, the issue is not the actual 5G interference per se,
but an FAA regulation which prohibits operation of many aircraft under certain conditions,
like bad weather, when around 5G towers.
This regulation is in place by the FAA to make sure 5G is safe to operate near airports.
Wait, I don’t understand, I already have 5G on my phone, and I am actually inside an
airplane right now.
Correct, 5G is already deployed in most airports.
Now, I fly a lot, so during my travels, I’ve been able to help discover “5G spots”
… right in the airport … and those people have never been happier!
What?!
I helped people discover them … you know, those spots … that have 5G coverage in the
airport … 5G “spots”.
But not all 5G has been created equally!
Let me elaborate.
5G is a next generation mobile internet connection which was first launched in the US in April
of 2019.
The biggest benefits of 5G are increased download and upload speeds as well as low latency.
It is deemed to be disruptive to wireline technologies as it is more economical to deploy
compared to dsl, cable or even fiber.
5G has a theoretical maximum speed of 20 Gigabits per second, while 4G is only 1 gigabit per
second.
But here’s where it gets complicated.
Now you may think you have 5G, but in reality you have FAKE-G, meaning that your speed and
latency are virtually indistinguishable from 4G.
That’s because 5G can operate in three ranges of radio signals.
Low, mid, and high-band frequencies.
Each band of frequencies has advantages and disadvantages.
The low band frequencies, the frequencies that were used by analog tv broadcast stations,
provide superior geographical coverage.
One low band tower can cover hundreds of square miles with 5G service with speeds ranging
from 30 to 250 megabits.
Additionally, low band frequencies work well when trying to get a signal inside buildings.
The disadvantage is that the latency and speed are nowhere near the hyped-up 5G that is being
advertised.
In fact, for the end user, low band 5G is virtually indistinguishable from 4G.
The mid band frequencies range from 2 ghz to 6 ghz.
Many consider 5G in midband to be the minimum performance tier, as it is noticeably faster
than 4G.
Of course those who are marketing it, would stick a “5G” label on anything, like they
do on the low band 5G.
The midband 5G offers speeds up to 10 times faster than 4G, but similar latency as you
can see in the tests performed by the US Department of Defense.
The downside of mid band 5G is decreased coverage area when compared to low band 5G.
Each 5G tower can provide coverage up to several miles in radius.
AT&T and Verizon deployed their “mid-band” 5G network on January 19th, 2022 to 90 million
customers.
And it is this “mid-band” 5G network which is the source of the radio altimeter controversy.
Finally, high band 5G uses frequencies in a range of 24 to 47 ghz, also known as millimeter
waves.
High band 5G, also known as “true 5G” provides speeds up to 20 times faster than
4G, and has significantly lower latency.
Tests done by the US Department of Defense, showed that high band 5G is just slightly
faster than mid band 5G, but offers one third of the latency.
Additional tests where high band 5G was used in conjunction with mid band and multiple
inputs, produced about 2.5 times higher speeds than mid band or high band 5G alone.
The true 5G was marketed to be a true game changer, enabling things such as self-driving
cars communicating with each other and so on due to low latency.
But it is increasingly becoming obvious that true 5G is impractical due to its poor coverage
of just 0.7 miles from the tower and its inability to penetrate; something that 5G and I have
in common!
Most carriers scaled down their true 5G networks for this very reason.
Traditionally, whenever a new wireless technology is launched in the US, be it 3G, 4G, or 5G,
the Federal Communications Commision, or FCC, works hand in hand with the FAA and other
stakeholders.
A few years back, the FCC decided that mid-band 5G would use the “C-band” portion of the
frequency spectrum in the United States.
Auctions were held and rights to the wavelengths were sold to telecom companies.
For instance, Verizon paid $45.5 billion dollars for the rights, while it only cost a few billion
dollars to build the actual mid band network.
The C-Band in the United States is a label for frequencies in the range of 3.7 to 4.2
ghz.
This is just on the edge of frequencies used by airplane’s radio altimeters which use
4.2 to 4.4 ghz frequencies.
Radio altimeter frequencies are universally adopted around the world.
Aviation industry asked for a 100 mhz guard band to be put in place, but they got double
that, as mid band 5G networks in the US operate from 3.7 to 3.98 ghz.
Economists and spectrum experts have expressed that a 220 mhz guard band is excessive.
Interestingly, satellites use 4.0 to 4.2 ghz with a 20 megahertz guard band in place.
So how that doesn’t interfere with radio altimeters, is interesting.
Maybe ‘cause of low power?
But what about all the other countries that have deployed 5G connection without any harm
to aircraft operations?
It is estimated that nearly 40 countries around the world have built 5G networks, but as I
mentioned previously, it is only the mid band networks that can potentially interfere with
avionics.
Countries that have only low band 5G networks, such as Canada, wouldn’t experience any
interference with radio altimeters.
But then there are countries that have mid-band networks, without any issues, such as the
UK, France, and Japan, to name a few.
However, three things make American 5G deployment different from other countries.
#1 the US mid-band 5G networks operate at frequencies much closer to the one that radio
altimeters use.
For comparison, the UK uses the 3.4 to 3.8 ghz spectrum and Canada is planning to operate
5G networks below 3.7 ghz, which means lower probability of interference.
#2 American towers emit much more powerful signal strength than those in other countries.
European towers operate at lower power, which further reduces risks.
#3 American antennas point at a higher angle.
Despite these differences, it is worthwhile to take a look at how France handled this
situation.
When the concerns about 5G and radio altimeters first surfaced, France acted immediately by
setting a testing plan, performing tests and subsequently developing permanent mitigation
strategies near airports.
Within weeks, permanent mitigations measures had been put in place, which included a 96-second
flight time buffer zone around airports.
In these buffer zones, the 5G antennas are tilted downward to reduce potential interference
to airplanes that are landing.
Additionally, the placement of 5G towers is carefully selected with regards to runways.
Finally, the power level of the antennas was reduced.
Despite having to implement these mitigation measures, the 5G roll out in France remained
on schedule with no harm to the aircraft in the sky.
Voila!
Japan is an interesting case because their 5G frequency range goes from 3.6 to 4.2 ghz,
which is just outside of the radio altimeters 4.2-4.4 ghz range.
Additionally Japan has a much denser 5G network than the US will ever have.
Yet, they report no issues whatsoever … but they do have a lot of Godzilla attacks
Regulators, the aviation industry and telecom companies had years to deal with concerns
around 5G and altimeter interference.
What some countries like France figured out in weeks, is taking years to do in the United
States, with no clear end in sight.
Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, called the whole situation “one of the most delinquent,
utterly irresponsible” situations he’d ever seen, which makes me think Mr. Clark
must not have seen this “chicken sandwich” served by his own airline.
There’s the chicken btw!
As the FCC is nudging the FAA to conduct safety checks with “both care and speed”, the
FAA which had years to clear airplanes, is now doing it in a matter of days.
We are not saying the FFA is not doing a fine job.
But when you do things last minute, sometimes quality deteriorates.
On January 25th, 2022 the FAA issued an airworthiness directive that prohibits 747s and 777s from
landing at airports where 5G interference could occur.
The US wireless industry body, , accused the aviation industry of “scaremongering”
and warned that delaying the introduction of 5G would cause economic harm.
Telecom industry has already postponed its 5G roll-out twice.
Current delays are estimated to affect about 10% of the 5G towers, as the telecom industry
conceded to create 50 temporary “buffer zones” around airports.
There is no C-Band 5G transmission in these buffer zones, which provide airplanes with
20 seconds of signal-free time when they come in for landing.
This will buy the FAA six months to certify the remaining airplanes and make sure they
can safely land during low visibility conditions while using radio altimeters.
The FAA should never compromise safety, but this problem was their own making, reaching
a point where commercial aviation could have come to a complete halt.
Airlines in the US are arguably not too afraid of the new 5G roll-out, but more concerned
with how the FAA is addressing it.
By the way, we are very excited to have our first live Q&A session with you, our audience,
on Feb 1st, 2022 at 5 PM Easter time.
Join our discord server and sign up for the event.
Details in the video description.