U.S. FAA clears 45% of commercial plane fleet after 5G deployed
As a small time hardware maker who spends an inordinate amount of my limited resources trying to meet FCC rules, I find this infuriating.<p>Whenever I complain about how outdated and ineffective the FCC is, the literal pushback I get is &quot;but what about airplanes and satellites&quot;. To which I say, touche&#x27;, we should all do our part to make sure we have safe airports and open channels for satellites and astronomy.<p>Reading through a Link posted by @supernova87a (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rtca.org&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2020&#x2F;12&#x2F;Slides-5G-Interference-Risk-to-Radar-Altimeters.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rtca.org&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2020&#x2F;12&#x2F;Slides-5G-In...</a>) I have two take-aways:<p>1. The spectrum involved is valued in excess of $4.6bb<p>2. Most 5G deployments will create in excess of 100x (20dBm) the allowable interference for radar altimeters<p>From the report, page 18 (SC-239 study results):<p><i>HUGE AMOUNT OF SCENARIOS INVOLVED</i><p><i>Every base station configuration produces harmful interference both from 5G fundamental emissions in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band and 5G spurious emissions* in the
4.2–4.4 GHz band, across virtually all operational scenarios and relative geometries between the aircraft and base station.</i><p><i>5G user equipment (mobile phones) that may be operating onboard aircraft were also found to exceed the safe interference limits for Usage Categories 2 and 3.</i><p>I find it increasingly difficult not to be cynical about the role of the FCC with respect to public safety issues with a lapse like this.<p>If I shipped a product into the US that had a radar altimeter interference profile like this, I&#x27;d be fined and sued into the ground a hundred times over, and I&#x27;d accept that fine and outrage because I personally couldn&#x27;t live with being responsible for any planes literally falling out of the sky because they thought the ground was in the wrong place on account of my product&#x27;s interference.<p>But apparently, with enough lobbyists and money, it&#x27;s an acceptable risk. It&#x27;s hard for me to take the rest of the FCC&#x27;s rules seriously, when they act as just another rent-collecting agency at the beck and call of lobbyists whose sole mandate is to create market barriers against small startups and imported goods, with little regard to actual safety, science, or modern technology...<p><i>edit - formatting</i>