Context

The setting up of 5G airwave infrastructure has raised concerns about safe airline operations due to interference that these signals could cause.

Concerns around 5G interference with flight operations

• Likely interference of 5 G C-Band spectrums with aircraft radio altimeters. These altimeters as well as a part of the 5G telecom services operate in the mid-C-Band frequency range.
  • A radio altimeter is an instrument that provides direct height-above-terrain information to various aircraft systems. For all airborne vehicles, an aircraft, spacecraft, or even a missile- an altimeter is crucial to gauge the altitude and the distance covered
    
    
  • For aircraft operations, the use of altimeters in 5G C-Band ensures highly precise measurements of the plane’s altitude.
• The C-Band presents a sweet spot for rolling out 5G services, ensuring coverage as well as high bandwidth, resulting in faster internet speeds.
  • The concern is that the signal emitted by the 5G’s C-Band will interfere with the signals the altimeter receives about the plane’s altitude, which could impact operations during low-visibility landings or landings in bad weather.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) operational guidelines:

• Setting up 5G establishments a bit further away from airports.
• Lowering the power of 5G signals.
• Airline companies will be required to upgrade altimeters.

Has this been an issue globally?

• The deployment of 5G by AT&T and Verizon, in the US, has triggered concern among airlines as the telecom companies are very close to the frequencies used by on-board instruments such as radar altimeters, which operate in the 4.2-4.4 GHz range.
• US aviation authorities have reported about 85 cases of 5G waves impacting flight operations.
  • Air India had to cancel some of its flights to the US.
• This has resulted in a delay in the rollout of 5G services in the C-Band near airports.

Concerns from other industries:

• The guard band between the 5G telecom and broadcast services narrowing sharply.
• Broadcasters have cited multiple incidents of “disruptions” amid concerns over possible interference.
• There is a possibility of potential outages once full-scale 5G services are launched across the country.