5G Wireless Networks Worry Airlines. An N.J. Engineering Professor Explains Why.
On Wednesday, the switch was flipped to turn on 5G wireless networks that promised customers faster, better service and downloads, everywhere, except around 50 major airports.
Concerns about how 5G wireless networks would affect aircraft altimeters, the meter that measures altitude above the ground, caused several airlines including Emirates and Air India to cancel flights to the U.S. and to Newark Liberty International airport Wednesday. Other airlines switched to different types of aircraft that aren’t affected by 5G, the Associated Press reported.
Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration have concerns that 5G could interfere with altimeters, especially when pilots rely on them to land in poor visibility and asked for a delay of the roll out. Verizon and AT&T wireless agreed to a two-mile voluntary buffer zone around airport runways where 5G would not be used.
But the wireless industry also pushed back on airline and FAA concerns, citing European countries that operate 5G networks without a reported aviation problem.
Stevens Institute of Technology Professor and program director Kevin Ryan teaches 5G and Internet at the graduate school level and agreed to explain the issues.
Q: What is the issue with 5G?
A: “The issue is the movement of 5G into higher (radio) frequencies, resulting in unwanted interference and disruption of the aircraft’s altimeters.”
Q: What is the effect of 5G on aircraft instruments?
A: “5G is now moving to higher and higher frequencies of operation because they permit service providers to have more spectrum or bandwidth. The end result is the result we all like, we get more bits per seconds. As they move (frequencies), they are encountering more neighbors that they never had before and one of them are the altimeter frequencies used in some aircraft.”
Q: What would it make the altimeter do?
A: “The concern is we can’t trust the altimeter (reading), I use the example of the car radio. The station you’re listening to gets a little weak as you drive into another area and you actually start hearing another station. So the original signal becomes unrecognizable. That’s what can happen. You cant trust the readings on the altimeter. The (wireless) service providers say that’s not going to happen, that’s the debate. They said they’ve already tested this.”
Q: How can this be prevented or mitigated?
A: “There’s a couple of solutions. One is to set up buffer zones around airport where you have no 5G. You’d have a 5G free zone around the airport. The second one is do testing and verify the frequencies are in band and not bleeding into neighbors frequency, the neighbor being the altimeter.”
Q: The wireless industry says 5G has been operating in European counties for a while without incidents. The FAA uses France as an example, it has a bigger buffer zone, antennas tilted downward and 5G operates at lower power. Is the European model a solution?
A: “A buffer zone has been voluntarily agreed to by the two largest providers, that is one possible solution. Spectrum and power are the two key variables. If you operate at lower power, you may have dead zones, which customers don’t like. If you operate at lower power, you might need more base stations to fill in the gap and provide the coverage.”
Q: Is there a way to resolve this?
A: “As an engineer, I want the engineers to solve it. Let them see why there are differences. It’s good old fashioned radio frequency testing. We know the frequencies the altimeters operate at. Let do a little modeling, turn up base stations and see if we’re able to pick up signals in the bands of the altimeters. You want to get the technical experts together and say “how did you do your data and why are they different?” Most companies have wonderful RF engineers. If they haven’t already done this, let’s run tests, publish the results and we’ll find out the truth.”
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Larry Higgs may be reached at [email protected] .
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