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FAA Agrees Not To Seek Any More 5G Delays From AT&T and Verizon (arstechnica.com) 19

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Federal Aviation Administration tentatively agreed not to seek any more 5G delays from AT&T and Verizon, potentially ending a battle over the aviation industry's unproven claim that 5G transmissions on C-Band frequencies will interfere with airplane altimeters. The commitment came Monday night, when AT&T and Verizon agreed to one more delay of two weeks, pushing their deployment off until January 19. They had previously agreed to a delay from December 5 until January 5. Terms of Monday's deal were described in an attachment to a letter (PDF) that Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg sent to the carriers. "In light of the foregoing, and subject to any unforeseen aviation safety issues, DOT and FAA will not seek or demand any further delays of C-Band deployment," the deal terms say.

Buttigieg thanked the AT&T and Verizon CEOs, writing, "Your voluntary agreement both to delay initial deployment by two weeks, and to subsequently adopt some additional mitigations, will give us additional time and space to reduce the impacts to commercial flights... We are confident that your voluntary steps will support the safe coexistence of 5G C-Band deployment and aviation activities." The deal incorporates voluntary commitments that AT&T and Verizon previously made, including "C-Band radio exclusion zones" around airports for six months. The aviation industry will give carriers "a list of no more than 50 priority airports" where the exclusion zones will apply.

AT&T and Verizon will provide data on base stations, operating characteristics, and planned deployment locations. They will also "continue to work in good faith with aviation stakeholders to support the technical assessment of individual altimeters and airport environments," the deal says. The FAA previously said it "will safely expedite the approvals of Alternate Means of Compliance (AMOCs) for operators with high-performing radio altimeters to operate at those airports," signaling that airlines may already be using altimeters that can co-exist with C-Band transmissions. AT&T and Verizon's C-Band spectrum licenses are for the frequencies from 3.7 GHz to 3.98 GHz, but the companies don't plan to deploy between 3.8 GHZ and 3.98 GHz until 2023. The radio altimeters used to determine airplane altitudes rely on spectrum from 4.2 GHz to 4.4 GHz.
"Assuming there are no further problems, AT&T and Verizon would be able to use their spectrum licenses without extra restrictions after July 5," the report says.

"At the end of the commitment period specified in the Voluntary Commitments (i.e. through July 5, 2022), Licensees intend to deploy 5G base stations in any manner consistent with their C-Band Licenses, all customary rules and regulations, and any additional airport-specific mitigation measures Licensees have committed to take based on their continued engagement with the FAA and the aviation industry," the agreement said.
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FAA Agrees Not To Seek Any More 5G Delays From AT&T and Verizon

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  • by mveloso ( 325617 ) on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @07:11PM (#62147115)

    So basically, after a pointless delay the deployment will go on as planned.

    What was the point of this whole mess? So people will forget how the FAA fucked up with the 737MAX?

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by grasshoppa ( 657393 )

      My bet would be your standard palm greasing; either the FAA or the aviation industry was trying to get their butt's scratched by the cell providers.

      Seems as though the FAA blinked, however.

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot@worf . n et> on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @08:00PM (#62147247)

      It's nothing actually new - the aviation industry was opposed to the spectrum auction that caused this since the beginning.

      https://www.aopa.org/news-and-... [aopa.org]

      It was known back then and the FCC went ahead anyways. The two week delay is probably to characterize the problems, and come up with workarounds.

      Of course, your favorite FCC commissioner was responsible for the auction, naturally.

  • I got my private pilot certificate some decades ago. My altitude instruments were my gauge and my eyes. Now there is GPS, which I understand is very good. So these are three very good references. I believe that the commercial planes also have radar altimeters. So they have one more reference.

    But they claim that there is a "radio altimeter" that may be adversely affected by 5G radio? Okay, present the evidence. What exactly is this altimeter and what frequency does it use? And how is 5G adversely affecting i

    • Commercial aircraft ground radar-based ILS, how does it work?
      It must be witchcraft or some liberal hoax.

    • What exactly is this altimeter and what frequency does it use? And how is 5G adversely affecting it? Details, please.

      https://skybrary.aero/articles/radio-altimeter-interference

      HTH. HAND.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      None of those are very accurate references. Pressure altitude driven altimeters are not very accurate, as QNH varies constantly, your eye is at best only roughly accurate below 2000ft, and GPS altitude is not allowed for any FAI altitude claims due to variations in accuracy, thats why commercial aircraft use radar altimeters particularly when landing in bad weather
      Had you read a post above, the details of the problem would be obvious, given you didnt bother, I quote the poster.
      The radio altimeter frequency

    • All these agencies have their agendas. The FAA has a point though that when you are selling bandwidth that close to the one used by the altimeters you have to show that it is safe. It is not for the FAA to prove that it is unsafe. The realistic concern is that the nearby frequencies can overload/blind the altimeter for their own frequency band, which will depend on the power of the signals, the proximity of the frequency range and the type of apparatus.
      You may say 'oh but there are more ways to detect altit

  • So, when we can see some lawsuits when flights start to crash?

  • by LordHighExecutioner ( 4245243 ) on Thursday January 06, 2022 @04:09AM (#62147971)
    5G signal will interfere with altimeters, and planes will crash against 5G antennas. Problem solved.
  • Since some on /. ask for citations, here is an interesting letter from Verizon to the FCC on this 5G frequency spectrum issue and the FAA.

    Before you scream, "It's just wireless industry posturing...", read all 7 pages of the letter.

    Read as many of the citations included in the letter as you can find on the Internet.

    I think it places the entire situation into a very clear picture that almost anyone can understand. I'm no radio engineer and it made sense to me.

    .

    https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/12310669211685/202 [fcc.gov]

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