Telecom service suppliers have been suggested to take numerous measures, together with establishing security and buffer zones, whereas putting 5G towers in the neighborhood of airports to minimise interference of 5G companies in plane operations, the federal government mentioned on Monday.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation V Okay Singh instructed the Rajya Sabha that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has not performed any examine on the potential impact of 5G alerts on protected civil plane operations.
“However, DGCA has, reviewed the studies/action undertaken by various countries during the launch of 5G on the potential interference of 5G C-band signals on radio altimeters installed on the aircraft and risk involved in air travel.
“The assessment has proven that there could also be a probability of interference in the functioning of Radio Altimeter put in on plane due to C-band 5G alerts which can have an effect on very important plane methods and might lead to unsafe plane operations,” he said in a written reply.
Based on the technical inputs received from the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), he said that while there is a guard band available in the frequency band allocated to 5G transmissions for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) in India, there may be a possibility of interference with aircraft radio altimeters which may affect safe aircraft operations.
In order to minimise the interference, the Telecom Service Providers (TSP) have been advised to take various measures while placing 5G towers in the vicinity of airports.
They have been advised to establish safety and buffer zones in the vicinity of airports, restricting power levels of C-Band 5G transmissions around the airports, and ensure the tilt of 5G base stations to an extent such that the 5G emissions do not interfere with radio altimeters.
