The military is scrambling to understand the aviation crash risk from a new 5G sale

[rangerrebew]

The military is scrambling to understand the aviation crash risk from a new 5G sale
By: Valerie Insinna and Aaron Mehta
December 21
 

WASHINGTON — As part of a broader move to boost the 5G industry in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission on Dec. 8 began auctioning a portion of C-band electromagnetic spectrum, a move the committee’s chairman, Ajit Pai, celebrated as “a big day for American consumers and U.S. leadership in 5G.”

But, in the weeks leading up to the auction, more than a dozen commercial aviation groups warned the sale could, as one study put it, lead to “catastrophic failures” with the potential for “multiple fatalities.”

At the core of the concerns are radar altimeters, a critical piece of aviation technology used by military, commercial and civil aircraft of all types — including helicopters and unmanned aerial systems — to measure the distance between an aircraft and the ground.

https://www.defensenews.com/2020/12/21/the-military-is-scrambling-to-understand-the-aviation-crash-risk-from-a-new-5g-sale/

[PeteS in CA]

5G is just a symbol. The military has for decades been the lab rat used to develop the technology to use ever higher-frequency parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. The shtick is that the military is assigned a segment of the spectrum that is not commercially usable. The military pays for and uses the new technology that makes that segment usable. Then the FCC takes that segment and "sells" it for commercial use while assigning the military an even higher frequency unusable segment of the spectrum for the military to ... rinse and repeat.

[Elderberry]

RTCA Announces New White Paper on 5G Interference Impact on Radar Altimeter Operations

https://www.rtca.org/news/rtca-announces-new-white-paper-on-5g-interference-impact-on-radar-altimeter-operations/

Washington, DC, October 8, 2020 – RTCA, Inc. announces the publication of the paper, Assessment of C-Band Mobile Telecommunications Interference Impact on Low Range Radar Altimeter Operations. This white paper was developed in response to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Report and Order, Expanding Flexible Use of the 3.7 to 4.2 Ghz Band released on March 3, 2020.

“We are pleased to submit this technical information to the FCC that provides a quantitative evaluation of radar altimeter performance during interference from expected 5G emissions used by the mobile wireless industry.” said Terry McVenes, President and CEO of RTCA. “A thorough understanding of the risks associated with this interference and the impact on aviation safety will be vital in bringing both aviation and spectrum regulators together to ensure that safety-critical aviation systems will continue to be protected for the purposes of public safety.”

Radar altimeters are deployed on thousands of civil and military aircraft in the United States and worldwide and support several critical safety-of-life aircraft functions by providing a direct measurement of the clearance height of the aircraft over the terrain or other obstacles.
This paper is now available here.