The global aviation industry continues to voice concerns over the roll out of 5G networks in many countries including the United States due to the potential interference with aircraft instrument systems.
The fifth-generation wireless technology, widely known as 5G will offer mobile phone users superfast connections and is expected to hasten the digitisation of many industries.
5G promises to deliver ultrafast Internet speeds, extra bandwidth and increased connectivity. Hence, telecommunication companies around the world are racing to roll out the service.
They have spent billions of dollars on upgrading their networks to deploy the 5G technology, which brings much faster Internet services and greater connectivity.
“Next-generation 5G technologies will be the backbone of our economic future,” US Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel points out.
She noted the deployment can safely co-exist with aviation technologies in the United States, just as it does in other countries around the world.
But the aviation industry seems to be sceptical. Airlines and their global body IATA warn that the technology could interfere with sensitive equipment, notably altimeters, which use radio frequencies to measure how high an aircraft is flying and provide data to critical equipment including the autopilot. They are particularly crucial for landings in inclement weather.
5G networks in the US operate using frequencies in the same radio spectrum, known as the C-band. When deployed next to runways, the 5G signals could interfere with the key safety equipment that pilots rely on to take off and land in inclement weather, they argued.
“The aviation industry believes this is a safety problem. The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared less than half of the domestic commercial aircraft fleet to perform low-visibility landings at many airports where the 5G C-band will be deployed,” The Financial Times says.
The International Air Transport Association recently urged governments to work closely with the aviation industry to ensure that aviation and incumbent aviation safety systems can safely co-exist with new 5G services.
While IATA recognises the economic importance of making spectrum available to support next generation commercial wireless telecommunications, maintaining current levels of safety of passengers, flight crews, and aircraft must continue to be one of governments’ highest priorities.
Before deciding on any spectrum allocations or conducting spectrum auctions, the global body of airlines called for governments to ensure close coordination and mutual understandings between national spectrum and aviation safety regulators so that each frequency allocation/assignment is comprehensively studied and is proven not to adversely impact aviation safety and efficiency.
Robust testing in co-ordination with aviation subject matter experts is critically important in providing necessary information.
Airlines operating to and from and within the US continue to contend with the effects of the rollout of 5G, including a pending airworthiness directive from the Federal Aviation Administration requiring them to retrofit or upgrade radio altimeters at their own expense to enable the respective aircraft to continue to utilise CAT II and CAT III low-visibility approaches at many US airports where 5G C-Band service is currently or will be deployed in future.
The timely availability of upgraded altimeters is a concern, as are the cost of these investments and the lack of certainty regarding the future spectrum environment, IATA noted.
Furthermore, some 19 additional telecommunications companies are scheduled to deploy 5G networks by December 2023.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) both have recognised and reminded their member states and administrations of the importance of ensuring that existing aviation systems and services are free from harmful interference.
This will become even more critical as more and more spectrum is being allocated to new generation telecommunications services.
“We must not repeat the recent experience in the United States, where the rollout of C-band spectrum 5G services created enormous disruption to aviation, owing to the potential risk of interference with radio altimeters that are critical to aircraft landing and safety systems.
“In fact, many countries have successfully managed to facilitate the requirements of 5G service providers, while including necessary mitigations to preserve aviation safety and uninterrupted services. These include, for example, Brazil, Canada, France and Thailand,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general.
Walsh noted FAA’s unilateral decision to require airlines to replace or upgrade their existing radio altimeters, which are approved by both the FAA and the US Federal Communications Commission – by July 2023 is “deeply disappointing and unrealistic.”
The FAA has not even approved or certified all the safety solutions that it will require, nor have systems providers been able to say with certainty when the equipment will be available for much of the fleet.
“So how can there be any confidence in the timeline,” Walsh asks.
“Furthermore, FAA can provide no guarantee that airlines will not have to carry out further upgrades to radio altimeters as even more powerful 5G networks are deployed in the near future. Safety is our highest priority, but it cannot be achieved with this rushed approach. The FAA needs to continue working with all stakeholders collaboratively and transparently, including the FCC and the telecom sector, to define solutions and deadlines that reflect reality,” Walsh noted.
The airline industry is of the view the current 5G rollout plan, particularly by the US, will have a “devastating” impact on aviation. This, it said will “negatively” affect millions of passengers, thousands of flights, and much-needed goods and cargo travelling through some of the largest airports in the country annually.
Source: Civil Aviation Authority – Qatar