Major US passenger and cargo airlines have said the new 5G service set to begin on Wednesday could render a significant number of aircrafts unusable, causing chaos for US flights and potentially stranding tens of thousands of Americans overseas.
However the debate is not limited to Airlines only. Activists oppose 5g usage due to its serious harm on environment, birds and balance of whole biodiversity.
Senior executives of major U.S. passenger and cargo airlines have warned of a “catastrophic” flight crisis this week as AT&T and Verizon are using new 5G services.
They said the new C band 5G service, which will start on Wednesday, could make a lot of flights inoperable, causing chaos in US flights and possibly leaving tens of thousands of Americans overseas.
Here is the source of the argument:
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
The United States sold mid-range 5G bandwidth to mobile companies in early 2021 at 3.7-3.98 GHz in a spectrum known as the C band, at around $ 80 billion.
WHY IS THAT A PROBLEM?
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned that the new 5G technology could disrupt tools such as altimeters, measuring the distance traveled by an aircraft. The altimeters operate at 4.2-4.4 GHz and it is worrying that the auction frequencies stay too close to this range.
In addition to the altitude, altimeters readings are also used to assist automatic stabilization and to assist in detecting dangerous waves called wind shear.
United Airlines chief executive Scott Kirby said last month that FAA 5G regulations would ban the use of altimeters at about 40 major US airports.
American airlines have warned that these regulations could affect up to 4% of daily flights.
Kirby said that if left unchecked it could mean that at major American airports in bad weather, cloud cover or even heavy smoke “you can only do visual routes.”
WHAT DIFFERENCES DO FREQUENCY MAKE?
The higher the frequency in the spectrum, the faster the service. So to get the full value on 5G, operators want to work at higher frequencies.
Some of the sold C band spectrum has been used for satellite radio but switching to 5G means more traffic.
WHAT ARE TELEPHONE COMPANIES?
Verizon and AT&T have argued that the C band 5G has been used in about 40 other countries without any problems with air traffic control.
They have agreed to suspend locations near 50 airports in the United States, similar to those used in France, for six months to reduce the risk of disruption.
WHY IS IT NOT A PROBLEM IN OTHER STORIES?
The European Union in 2019 set 5G medium bandwidth standards of 3.4-3.8 GHz, which is a lower frequency than the service to be launched in the United States. Bandwidth has been sold in Europe and is used in most 27 bloc member states to date without issue.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which oversees 31 provinces, said on December 17 that the matter was specific to US Airspace. “At present, no risk of unsafe disruption has been identified in Europe,” the newspaper said.
FAA officials have noted that the spectrum used by France (3.6-3.8 GHz) is far from the spectrum (4.2-4.4 GHz) used for altimeters in the United States and France’s 5G power level is much lower than that. authorized in the United States. Countries.
Verizon has said it will not use a spectrum near the top band for several years.
In South Korea, the 5G mobile network frequency is 3.42-3.7 GHz band and there has been no report of radio wave disruption since 5G sales in April 2019.
Currently, portable 5G wireless communication channels operate near aircraft, but there have been no reports of problems.
“Wireless carriers in almost 40 countries across Europe and Asia now use the 5G C band, with the exception of reported effects on the same band-wide radio bandits worldwide selected at 4.2-4.4 GHz,” said CTIA, a group of traders US wireless, said to apply to the Federal Communications Commission.