Wireless carriers Verizon and AT&T say they will move forward with plans to switch to high-speed 5G service nationwide on Wednesday, except in airports and runways, due to concerns that high-tech radio signals may be on some planes. May interfere with navigational systems.
Emirates and other long-haul international airlines have canceled or rerouted flights in the US in response. Carriers using the Boeing 777, a long-range aircraft, were particularly concerned, with two Japanese airlines citing the aircraft's vulnerability to 5G signals as the reason behind the change in their schedules.
Because of those safety concerns, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued notices to airlines that would prevent some planes from landing at dozens of airports around the country during inclement weather conditions.
The move by telecom giants to limit 5G near airports could lead to "catastrophic" flight delays and cancellations for thousands of passengers if Verizon and AT&T go as planned after midnight on Tuesday, domestic airlines say. 5G service would have been implemented completely.
Nonetheless, Emirates announced that it was suspending flights to Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Miami, Newark, New Jersey, Orlando, Florida, San Francisco and Seattle. Flights to Los Angeles, New York and Washington will continue as scheduled.
The big wireless companies agreed to delay the roll out of 5G, or fifth-generation wireless service, twice earlier; in December and again in early January, to try to reach a settlement with the airline industry, the FAA and other stakeholders.
5G. push for
The wireless industry calls 5G a game changer. It offers strong connectivity and fast download speeds on cell phones and other wireless devices, making streaming, gaming and other uses better than ever.
Ted Rapaport, professor of electrical engineering at NYU and director of the NYU Wireless Research Center, says cell phone technology has gone through major upgrades every 10 years, starting with those big old brick phones in the 1980s, with the latest The upgrade was a huge marking. jump.
"The internet came in spades and 4G with smartphones around 2010," says Rapaport, who says 5G will get better faster.
“5G is much faster in terms of data rates, in terms of capacity, in terms of radio spectrum,” he says. "It basically brings a fiber optic cable wirelessly into every human's pocket, so 5G is really revolutionary."
Airlines worry it could disrupt a critical piece of equipment
Rapport says that wireless carriers need more and more radio spectrum to carry as many bits as possible in our smart phones. The Federal Communications Commission auctions radio spectrum to wireless carriers. A large portion of the "C" band of the radio spectrum was auctioned off in 2020 for about $80 billion. The segment of spectrum in the "C" band purchased by AT&T and Verizon tends to sit. Right next to the frequencies used by radio altimeters in aircraft.
Joe Deppett, head of the Air Line Pilots Association, said: "The radio altimeters on our aircraft not only determine the altitude above the ground, in actual, over the terrain, when we approach landing or we are taking off. " in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, saying that the altimeters "are tied to many other systems in our aircraft."
Altimeters are important for pilots when visibility is poor during bad weather. Pilots like DePete worry that strong 5G signals from cell phone towers located close to airport runways could interfere with radio altimeters.
"The issue is that some older aircraft and older aircraft equipment made 30 or 40 years ago don't have very good band pass filters. They don't have very good filters on their receivers," Rapaport says.
According to Rapaport, this is similar to the way CB-radio sometimes interfered with older TV sets before cable and digital signals.
"The underlying issue here is that radio signals may not be entirely confined to their specified frequency bands and may result in some energy being transmitted to neighboring bands," says Randall Berry, a professor of electrical engineering at Northwestern University. "In addition, radio receivers may not completely filter out signals transmitted in neighboring bands and will therefore receive some out-of-band interference. Both of these effects result in interference from neighboring bands."
Because of the potential for interference with such critical navigational equipment, the FAA has issued so-called air missions notices that would prevent some aircraft from landing at dozens of airports around the country, even at times when skies are clear. and visibility should not be poor.
The CEOs of 10 passenger and cargo airlines, including American, Delta, Southwest, United and FedEx, are urging federal officials, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, to establish a two-mile 5G-free buffer zone around the runway.
"Clearly, the country's commerce will stop" unless 5G service is restricted around major airports, the CEO said in a letter to government officials on Monday.
“Unless our major hubs are approved to fly, the vast majority of the travel and shipping public will inevitably be grounded,” the CEO said, adding that in a single day as of last Sunday “more than 1,100 flights and 100,000 Passengers will be subject to cancellation, diversion or delay," the letter from the CEO said.
Wireless carriers say 5G poses no risk
AT&T and Verizon say broadcasting from their 5G towers will not interfere with aircraft radio altimeters and other aviation electronics, and they say the technology is being used safely in more than 40 other countries.
But wireless providers nonetheless agreed on Tuesday to postpone the commissioning of 5G towers around some airports, although AT&T and Verizon did not immediately say how many, nor for how long, would this 5G implementation take. The delay will continue.
In a statement, AT&T said, "We have voluntarily agreed to temporarily suspend the commissioning of a limited number of towers around certain airport runways as we continue to work with the aviation industry and the FAA." so as to provide more information about our 5G deployment, as they have not used the two years they have to responsibly plan for this deployment. We are disappointed by the inability of the FAA to support our operations in nearly 40 countries. That is, to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge to do so in a timely manner."
But former FAA administrator Michael Huerta, who held the role from 2010-2018, points out that in other countries 5G towers near airports are either closed or operating at low power near airports, with transmitters toward the ground and Pointing away from the plane. And he urged everyone involved to take more time to thoroughly examine the security of 5G signals.
"What really needs to happen is very detailed technical analysis, airport airport, aircraft type, to determine how real the interference potential is."
In a statement, President Biden thanked AT&T and Verizon for reaching an agreement that "would avoid potentially catastrophic disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations and our economic recovery."
"This agreement protects flight safety and allows aviation operations to continue without significant disruption and will bring more high-speed Internet options to millions of Americans," Biden said.