Engineering 5G Technologies

[Bogeyman]

Turkey has become a country now guiding the 5G technology

Metin Balcı, General Manager of ULAK Communication Inc., told Anadolu Agency (AA) that their ecosystems are growing day by day as ULAK. Emphasizing that his products compete with world giants in the field and live systems, Balcı stated that the technological gains in 4G, 5G and beyond have attracted attention at the global level and their cooperation is increasing day by day.

Balcı pointed out that considering the diversity of the work done and the technological depth required, it is far beyond what can be accomplished by a single company or a single group, and ULAK Communications works with its shareholders ASELSAN and HAVELSAN, mainly NETAŞ, ARGELA, TURKSAT, KAREL, PIWorks, PAVOTEK and He explained that more than 100 organizations, including many companies that are members of HTK, are doing it with the ecosystem they have created with universities and non-governmental organizations, and they take care to enrich this ecosystem with each passing day.

Stating that technological gains have been achieved in communication infrastructures with the projects carried out by the Presidency Defense Industry Presidency in coordination with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure since 2013, Balcı said that these achievements were produced by the coordination and studies of ULAK Communications established under the leadership of the Defense Industry Presidency, and the world in the field under ULAK noted that they have become products competing with their giants.

Balci, ULAK coordinated with the intensifying communication studies is that the result of significant progress, highlighting Turkey's employee base station can produce on the field, and said that this process has become one of the 5-6 countries can continue.

Reminding that ULAK MAYA Network Management and Analysis Systems and ULAK MAYA Data Center solutions, which use software-defined virtualization technology with the latest technology developed, are operational in the field, Balcı stated that they have entered all kinds of tests with world giants in their fields.

Balci, Turkey's informatics they served the most important elements in the nationalization process of network infrastructure, attention, putting an end to foreign manufacturers addiction, stressing that they are completely your own software as ULAK of my system and ecosystem they have developed ready.

Metin Balcı stated that the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Industry and Technology, the Presidency Defense Industry Presidency and the Digital Transformation Office, the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, TÜBİTAK, and the ongoing coordination, guidance and support of the state's relevant institutions, stated that they carried out the process quickly.

"Everyone should show the necessary effort for domestic and national solutions"

Stating that they actively take part in the Cyber Security Cluster and Communication Technologies Cluster activities in this process, they share all their knowledge and experience with the awareness that they will be stronger together, and they strive to add value to every environment they are in, Balcı said, "Technology is changing very quickly. Let us call it war, in this period where we have to be economically and technologically strong, everyone should show the necessary effort and devotion to open the way for domestic and national solutions. " found the assessment.

Emphasizing that in the studies carried out for 5G and beyond, the result of the R&D projects initiated in 2015 is the technological gain and experience created by the 5G ready-made systems currently working in the field, Balcı gave the following information:

"The point reached by ULAK in increasing the confidence in the feasibility of domestic and national systems in broadband communication technologies in the coming period towards 5G and beyond has become a very important reference. As a result of the direction of the senior officials of our related institutions for 5G and beyond, we also continue within the scope of the Domestic National 5G (UUYM5G) Project. We continue to work together with all our stakeholders for the healthy progress of the project with a pioneering and sharing understanding by adding our experience and know-how we gained in the field. "

"Our work has been met with interest abroad, too"

Balcı pointed out that their work on 4G, 5G and beyond broadband communication technologies has received great interest abroad, and said, "In this context, we have been involved in the invitations of organizations such as Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and Open Networking Foundation (ONF). We have the opportunity to work with operators. We continue our preparations to enter T-Mobile / USA's comprehensive tests. We continue the technological cooperation process that we started with Intel after a very difficult process. said.

Emphasizing that they test their products in many different global organizations, demonstrate their ability to work on a global scale, and increase their visibility, Balcı said that these efforts will pave the way for being more effective in foreign markets where they will concentrate in the future.

71 ilde yerli baz istasyonu ULAK'tan 'Alo' deniliyor

ULAK Haberleşme AŞ Genel Müdürü Balcı, eylül başı itibarıyla Türkiye'nin 71 ilinde 1300 baz istasyonuyla 3 operatöre de hizmet verdiklerini belirterek, "1,5 milyondan fazla vatandaşımızın yerli ve milli teknolojilerle iletişimini sağlıyoruz." dedi. - Anadolu Ajansı

www.aa.com.tr

 

[Bogeyman]

CTech will produce and test radio link

In parallel with the developments in communication technologies, radio link systems and software, which are increasingly important, have been localized by CTech and made available to operators.

Cable underground network installations for data transfers (analog audio) have a history of nearly 100 years. The development in cable technology has reached a level where very high data transmission rates are achieved with fiber cabling, and light-speed large-capacity data transmission has been made possible with fiber cables.

The difficulty and cost of building infrastructure for fiber cabling increase the importance of airborne wireless data transmission day by day. The need to use radio link networks that can provide wireless data transfer over the air in countries with difficult geographic areas, rugged and having problems in meeting excavation costs comes to the fore.

It is of great importance to provide high-capacity transmission lines to base stations in Small Cell installations, especially M2M (Machine to Machine) applications that will be used frequently in networks in 5G technologies.

5-year period of 2021-2025 radio link in the world market size is expected to be $ 17 billion, while for Turkey this figure corresponds to approximately 200 million dollars.

Safe solution to domestic product needs

Turkey, in 2018, 7, 13 and 80 GHz frequency requirement in domestic production brought. Working with a local equipment provider company also offers the operators more flexible services and the advantages of faster development and solution provision according to their needs.

CTech, a subsidiary of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), develops local solutions by taking into account all these needs with its experience in communication, cyber security and modeling-simulation technologies.

CTech, which started developing and producing radiolink at high frequencies, also referred to as millimeter waves, 5 years ago, established a high-tech facility where radiolink production and tests at 60 and 80 GHz frequencies will be performed. The company has also developed the NMS (Network Management System) software, which is necessary for the control of radio links, locally.

CTECH, the scope of an agreement with one of Turkey's leading operators to perform more than 5 thousand units producing radio link. The installation of the first delivered radio links in Erzurum has already been completed, and performance follow-up studies continue.

It is very important for national security that critical communication and control equipment works with management systems (NMS) that cannot be considered for security. While the platform on which the CTech NMS software is designed is designed as a base, it enables the development of possible related packages for the control of UAVs and many other needs.

60 thousand radio link needs in Turkey

While the transmission capacity requirement per base station for today is 2 Gbps, it will soon reach 10 Gbps and 20 Gbps in 2025. In 6G, 1000 Gbps transmission capacities will be on the agenda in 2030. It is essential for national security that data transfer, which will become more and more critical, is carried out over secure channels with all the details known. By the end of 2025 is expected to be established in Turkey about 60 thousand radio link.

CTECH, projected to be started in Turkey in 2022 is an important infrastructure element in 5G installation system continues to work for the radio link and indigenous management systems. Reducing foreign dependency in economic terms, minimizing national security concerns in telecommunications and becoming an international player in the telecommunications sector are among CTech's primary goals.

In 5G, very high data transmission speeds can only be achieved with one of the two infrastructure methods such as fiber or radio link. For this reason, where fiber laying will be costly in terms of time and economy, the use of radio link operating at frequencies of 80 GHz and above, which provides data transmission opportunities close to fiber speeds, will be preferred. Radio link equipment can be sold directly to the customer or marketed together with radio equipment such as base station, NodeB, eNodeB.

Ready for duty in critical infrastructures

Local radio link systems can be used by telecom operators, internet service providers, and television broadcasters. Domestic radio link systems, which will also meet the needs of defense industry products and security units, will enable critical infrastructures such as gas, oil, energy, water and banking to operate in a fast, uninterrupted and safe manner.

CTech aims to take the first place in the domestic market with the radio link solutions it has developed and to have a share in the international market. The company aims to increase the use of the product and ensure that it takes place in new markets with special developments (new frequencies, new features and similar).

CTech radyolink üretimi ve testleri yapacak

Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayii iştiraki CTech, radyolink üretimi ve testlerinin yapılacağı yüksek teknolojiye dayalı tesis kurdu, radyolinklerin kontrol edilebilmeleri için gerekli yazılımı da yerli olarak geliştirdi

www.dunya.com

 

[Luwian]

ULAK is provider of 5G releted tech. right, but who is user?

where are we with that what comes after implementing and rolling out 5G?

 

[Bogeyman]

Ensuring a trusted 5G ecosystem of vendors and technology

Ensuring a trusted 5G ecosystem of vendors and technology

www.aspi.org.au

 

[Bogeyman]

With the radio link developed within the scope of the End-to-End Domestic and National 5G Communication Network Project and demonstrated with the participation of Minister Varank, a 4K resolution image from a distance of 12 kilometers was successfully transferred.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1319971907391946752

 

[Bogeyman]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1336686159636946945

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1339211126836441092

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1337727707929604097

Internet connection was made on the phone with 5G technology for the first time in Turkey.

 

[Bogeyman]

Significant contribution from Turkey to 6G studies
30.07.2020

6g Flagship ecosystem, founded under the leadership of Finland's Academy of Finland, one of the world's leading countries in wireless communication and especially cellular systems, and containing many important universities and industry partners, has already begun research on 6G technologies that we will use in the 2030s. March 2020 September 6g Flagship consortium, which published the world's first 6g White Paper on 6g studies, organized 6g summit in March 2019, professor from Kadir Has University Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Dr. Erdal Panayici, Assoc. Dr. Serhat Erküçük and Dr. Öğr. Member Yalcin Shadi participated with 6G papers on communication with visible light and communication between machines.

6g Flagship established within the framework of many important universities and technology companies in the world, including researchers 6g Expert groups accepted for their successful work Prof. Dr. Erdal Fair has answered our questions about his work:

Can you summarize this study for us?

The information generated by humans increases about 1,000 times every decade, and this rate of increase continues unchanged since the last 50 years. But in recent years, especially in the field of communication, it is understood that this will increase by accelerating as inanimate objects, which we call “things”, also start to produce information and communicate with each other. In order for such a large amount of information produced to be securely stored, processed and transmitted from one place to another, a new G (Generation, i.e. generation) communication technology must emerge every 10 years, 1000 times more capable than the previous generation. In this way, we have reached 5G this year, starting from 1G in the 1980s and gradually every ten years. With 5G technology in the next ten years, up to this time that we have difficulty in achieving superior performance, Virtual and extended reality (virtual and augmented reality), communication between machines and tools, that can make its own decisions with artificial intelligence and machine learning intelligent systems, Big Data applications such as markets and will add new dimensions to ease our daily life.

However, I assess that the new capabilities of 6G technology, which will be implemented from the beginning of the 2030s, will be a science fiction character, and I believe that intensive scientific research and development on 6G, which has already started all over the world, will achieve this goal in 10 years. The most important difference between 5G and 6G, I think, is that 5G technology is largely based on gradually developed technologies starting from 1G to 4G, while 6G will need to create a number of original and new technologies that we have never encountered before. Let me try to explain this with a couple of examples. First, with 5G, we have now reached the final limits of the frequencies of electromagnetic waves that we use to transport information. Therefore, as an alternative and auxiliary to this, the foundations of a new wireless communication technology are laid in 6g, which is at least 1000 times more capable than it in terms of speed and information carrying capacity. How interesting that the foundations of this new technology, called communication with visible light, which allows information to be transmitted by light, were laid by Alexander Graham Bell, who again invented the phone in 1876. Alexander Graham Bell, with this new invention after the phone, managed to transmit information completely by sunlight. He said that this invention, which he called Photophone, was more important than the invention of the phone, and even went further and tried to name his newborn daughter Photophone (his wife, Mabel, gracefully rejected this suggestion). It seems certain that communication with visible light in 6G will be a part of our life, just like our mobile phones today.

A new opportunity that 6G will provide to our lives is the design of a number of new communication networks that allow all living/inanimate beings in the world to communicate with each other, and “intelligence”will also be used intensively. As a result, classic communication network structures based on the cell (cell) that we use from 1G to 5G will go down in history.

Finally, I would like to give a few striking examples of applications where 5G is insufficient to meet performance requirements and will be provided with the quality expected by 6G systems:

Holographic teleportation is based entirely on the transmission of the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste in 3-D space with a delay of much less than 1 millisecond (one thousandth of 1 second).
High-performance precision agriculture
Real-time remote healthcare
Smart environments and infrastructures
Autonomous vehicles and Cyber-Physical Systems
The Internet Of Space Objects.


You have been selected among the 350 scientists in the world who will participate in this study. How did this selection process happen? What work has brought you this success?

While 5G technology has started to be used all over the world, 6g work has gained speed. Cellular wireless communication systems and in particular to one of the world's leading countries Finland “Finland Academy” established under the leadership of the institution, and important ecosystem comprising many universities and industrial partners named 6G Flagship already started to work on the research of the technologies we use 6g toward 2030's. Associate professor with me from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of Kadir Has University. Dr. Serhat Erküçük and Dr. Öğr. March 2020 September 6g summit of the group, whose member Yalcin Shadi published the world's first “6g White paper”in September 2019, we were accepted to present our 6g papers. At the beginning of 2020, we were included in 6G Expert Groups, which included 350 researchers from many important universities and technology companies in the world, especially with our successful work in the field of communication with visible light and communication between machines. In addition, we made significant contributions to the preparation process of the “white Papers”, which were prepared focused on 12 thematic research areas within the framework of 6g and published last month. With these studies, as the first scientists to contribute academically to the 6G vision of the world from Turkey, we have the opportunity to successfully represent our country and our university.



Can you briefly summarize your work on communication with visible light and communication between machines?

In communication with visible light, information is transmitted by light emitted by low-cost and energy-efficient LEDs, which we now begin to use very widely for lighting purposes in our daily lives. On the receiving side, elements that convert light into electrical signals, such as photosensitive photodiodes, are used. Despite the Wi-Fi technology used in classic wireless communication, wireless communication technology with visible light is called Li-Fi (Light Fidelity). Li-Fi's namesake father is a professor at the University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom). Harald Haas and our research group at Kadir Has University are in close research cooperation with him and his research group on communication with visible light. Li-Fi that you have the width of the band very high frequency, the larger the transmission of information capacity, high immunity against electromagnetic interference, spatial coverage of the frequency spectrum covered and safe environments at a high rate feature specific regulation not regulated because there is a wide range of applications, a very important technical and operational advantages. For these reasons, visible light communication technology will be implemented in 6g as an option or complement to radio-based wireless communication systems.

Especially for multi-user visible light communication and broadband networks, the physical layer security (physical layer security) to provide data encoding, modulation, and advanced signal processing techniques by taking advantage of the new, original and with my expertise in designing innovative algorithms on these issues in our country, TÜBITAK projects, from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom at international level, Prof. Harald Haas ' research group is led by Prof. Vincent poor's Research Group and professor at South West Jiaotong University in the people's Republic of China I conduct joint scientific research with Pingzhi fan's research group. I also work as a researcher representing Kadir Has University in the European cooperation in Science and Technology Project, which has just started in the field of wireless optical communication.

On the other hand, Dr. Öğr. Member Yalcin Shadi and Assoc. Dr. Serhat Erküçük, on the other hand, is a researcher at 6g Flagship with his work in the field of communication between machines (M2M). M2M communication enables new applications aimed at increasing innovation and efficiency by exchanging information without human intervention of communication-enabled devices. Before that, in the cellular technologies that we used up to 4G, M2M services were given secondary support. In the process of developing 5G technologies, primary and natural support for M2M services without compromising the quality of communication was of high importance. In providing this support, solving complex problems such as spectrum scarcity, different quality of service and the ability to support applications with traffic requirements on the same band was a priority. Although 5G studies have solved these problems to a certain extent, the new challenges we will face towards 6g require a paradigm shift in solving the problems. In particular, the number of machine-type devices in the square meter towards the 2030s


6g works and what will this transition gain us? What contribution will it make to our lives? What kind of road map will come after this stage?

6G will allow people and inanimate objects (things) to communicate with each other all over the world by connecting completely wirelessly. In addition, it is expected to adapt to fast-growing smart devices and services with original and new solutions related to 6g. Key technological breakthroughs to achieve connectivity goals in 6g include:



(i) a communication network with a much wider frequency band, higher data rate, lower latency and higher quality of Service

(ii) intelligent communication environment enabling wireless propagation environment with full AI support

(iii) large-scale network automation

(iv) space Internet of things with the help of cube satellite (Cube Sats) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

(v) communication in back scattering environment for energy saving

(vi) cell free communications.

In the roadmap for 6G, I assess that in the first stage until 2025, problems and possible solutions related to the above-mentioned developments will be discussed at the level of scientific practice, and then a development timeline will be created that outlines the worldwide efforts to implement 6g.



Is there anything else you'd like to add?

From the date I received my PhD in the United States in 1970 to the present I've been in research and development work on communication technologies and developments in this technology with the excitement of the incredible and back without I tried to follow. With the knowledge and experience I have gained, I have carried out many national and international projects, trained many students, received national and international prestigious awards, and in addition to my academic life, I have contributed to the technological development of my country in these issues by working in important research and development centers. In summary, based on all my knowledge and experience, I am absolutely convinced that the developments I have tried to summarize above for 6G will be fully realized by the 2030s and will be a new part of our lives.

6G Çalışmalarına Türkiye’den Önemli Katkı

6G Çalışmalarına Türkiye’den Önemli Katkı

www.khas.edu.tr

 

[Bogeyman]

Don't miss 6g studies in Turkey, folks

@Anmdt @Cabatli_53 @Test7 @Combat-Master @Kartal1 @Saithan @Zafer

 

[Zafer]

Don't miss 6g studies in Turkey, folks

@Anmdt @Cabatli_53 @Test7 @Combat-Master @Kartal1 @Saithan @Zafer

6G, geez

Author talks about 1000 times faster with the help of LiFi.
Light communications was being worked for quite some time and probably it is ripe enough to integrate into a communications networks. We might see blinking lights or light streaks like we see in night-time traffic pictures with the cars' light look like they are lines. If we had the superpowers of vision splitting seconds into a billionth that is.

This is good news for communication freaks but I told my banker that I won't use mobile baking.
I doubt the range of light communications with LEDs will be much as they do scatter.

However if it can bring the speedy response times that is desirable with Urban Air mobility navigation of flying cars it maybe worth it. But still Lidars emitting light and comms emitting light it can be a mess of light show if due care is not taken.

Good thing our people are not just watching others do it but have a stake in the developments.

 

[Bogeyman]

ASELSAN's 5G investments

The ULAK project on domestic production was launched on February 15, 2013 by the UAB (Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure) and SSB (Defense Industry Presidency) and the consortium of ASELSAN, NETAŞ, ARGELA.

Founded by SSTEK on 20.04.2017, 51% of Ulak Communications A.Ş. is owned by ASELSAN, 25% by HAVELSAN; Inherited from SSTEK. MESSENGER; It works with many companies that are members of NETAŞ, ARGELA, TÜRKSAT, KAREL and HTK, especially its shareholders.

The number of sites where domestic ULAK 4.5G base stations are active reached 1762 as of January 18, 2022. More than 2.5 million people receive service from ULAK. The fact that the core network and base stations are domestic is very important for both public safety and civil security.

The remote radio units within the scope of ULAK Base Station are designed by the main contractor of the project, ASELSAN. The processes required for the propagation of high frequency signals are carried out in the RRU unit, which is called the Remote Radio Unit.

RRUs are designed with 2x2 and 4x4 antenna options according to the number of receivers and senders. It can support 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz channel bandwidths defined in the standards. It has been developed to provide a maximum of 4x40W RF output power.

All different types of RRUs operating in 450 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz frequency bands have been designed by ASELSAN engineers for different frequency band needs.

A feasibility study was conducted by ASELSAN for the localization of 4.5G antennas in 2016, and then development studies were started. The developed antenna should have four channels (1x690-960 MHz, 3x1710-2690 MHz) and electronic beam oriented.

In the following phase, the design of an eight-channel (2x690-960 MHz, 2x1710-2170 MHz, 2x2490-2690 MHz, 2x1710-2690 MHz) electronic beam tuned antenna was started. Field tests of the developed antenna continue.

ASELSAN; ULAK also carries out base station development activities in 5G, with the experience gained during the LTE-Advanced (4.5G) base station development process.

ASELSAN aims to be one of the largest technology bases in the field of 5G in our country, just like in military communication and defense technologies.

ASELSAN; In line with these goals, it works to bring the outputs of the work of tens of thousands of engineers on the latest communication technologies to our country by actively participating in the global standardization processes that shape the development of 5G technologies.

ASELSAN; In September 2016, it applied to the TÜBİTAK priority areas call with the "5G Platform" project, won the right to support and actively participated in the 5G development studies within 3GPP.

While it was initially aimed to develop only for core physical layer algorithms, at the end of the project, a reusable library was developed in which the entire 5G physical layer is modeled, going far beyond the goals.

In addition, the library includes original and patented algorithms developed by ASELSAN and algorithms developed together with Bilkent University for 6G. ASELSAN uses this library in all waveform design activities.

ASELSAN 5G base station developments are carried out in accordance with the regulations in ORAN specifications as well as its compliance with 3GPP standards. In this way, it will be possible to enter operator networks with different manufacturers.

ASELSAN 5G base station developments are carried out in accordance with the regulations in ORAN specifications as well as its compliance with 3GPP standards. In this way, it will be possible to enter operator networks with different manufacturers.

The base station antennas developed by ASELSAN have a completely national and domestic design. With the knowledge and experience gained within the scope of 4.5G antenna technology, studies are carried out to develop 5G antennas below 6 GHz.

ASELSAN; It continues its efforts to develop a passive phased array antenna that will operate in the 3.5 GHz band in a structure that supports multi-channel 4.5G and 5G TDD (8T8R MIMO) operation.

The phased array antenna development capability of ASELSAN has been used in the development of an antenna sub array that will form the building block of a Massive MIMO phased array antenna.

The Integrated Circuit Design Team established within ASELSAN HBT-ETM has started nationalization projects that will domestically develop RF microchips for new generation communication devices and many critical and difficult to supply RFIC products used in ASELSAN's systems.

In this context, it is aimed to use a high performance LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) RFIC product developed through R&D studies, to be used instead of a critical LNA RFIC that is found in many radio families still produced by HBT and is difficult to obtain.

RFIC and RF ASIC microchips with multi-functional transmitter/receiver features developed by ETM for use in new generation military radio device designs within the ASELSAN HBT sector continue in both Silicon CMOS and GaAs pHEMT technologies.

The microchip that will perform RF transceiver (TRx) functions, designed to be used in new generation military radio projects under development within ASELSAN HBT, will be developed using CMOS RF SOI technology in SiP form.

The mm-Wave RF microchip with 4x4 Dual Polarized TRx beam routing capacity, designed within ASELSAN HBT, has been developed for use in Massive MIMO phased array integrated antenna structures.

RF amplifier integrated circuit developed by ASELSAN HBT-ETM in GaAs pHEMT technology

RF integrated circuit with 5x5 mm transmitter/receiver function developed by ASELSAN HBT-ETM in silicon CMOS technology

RF integrated circuit with 10x10 mm transmitter/receiver function developed by ASELSAN HBT-ETM in GaAs pHEMT technology

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1484454798284005380

Thanks to Eray Ekrem BODUR for enlightening us.

@Cabatli_53 @Anmdt @Combat-Master @Kartal1 @T-123456 @MisterLike @Nilgiri @CAN_TR @Oryx @Zafer @Yasar @Fuzuli NL @Stuka @Stimpy75 @Test7

 

[Bogeyman]

How 5G’s Rollout Rattled Hundreds of Pilots

In January this year, at least three flights above Tennessee simultaneously experienced altimeter errors that made it “impossible to maintain assigned altitude,” according to one of the pilots. One jet lost its autopilot completely, and reportedly had fire trucks waiting for it on landing.

In February, a passenger plane on approach to the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans experienced erratic low-altitude warnings as it flew below 1,000 feet. “This sort of erroneous warning indications would be extremely distracting in a more challenging environment such as low visibility, icing conditions, etc,” the pilot wrote later.

In March, a commercial jet landing on autopilot at Los Angeles International Airport suddenly went into an aggressive descent just 100 feet above the ground. “I took control of the aircraft and raised the nose and landed,” its pilot reported. “It was a very alarming pushover by the autopilot. In [other] conditions, it could have caused a crash.”

All three incidents—and many more this year—were linked by pilots to problems with the aircrafts’ radio (radar) altimeters, which pilots rely on during takeoff and landing, and to help avoid crashing into mountains. These altimeters also feed into critical autopilot, auto-throttle, and instrument landing systems. According to an IEEE Spectrum analysis of reports made to NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), complaints of malfunctioning and failing altimeters soared after the rollout earlier this year of high-speed 5G wireless networks, which use similar frequencies.

ASRS is a public database maintained by NASA to encourage U.S.-based air and ground crew, and air traffic controllers, to anonymously share safety incidents and concerns. Between January and May, there were 93 reports of faulty or failing radar altimeters, where a normal year might see only a handful. January alone saw almost twice as many complaints of malfunctioning altimeters as the previous five years combined. In most, including the Tennessee and Los Angeles incidents above, the reporter referred to 5G interference.






The U.S. Federal Communications Commission initially played down concerns that the new cell towers and devices might interfere with commercial jet radar altimeters, which operate a few hundred megahertz higher in the radio spectrum. In early 2020, the agency wrote: “The technical rules on power and emission limits we set for the 3.7 [gigahertz] service and the spectral separation of 220 megahertz offers significant protection of services in the 4.2–4.4 GHz band.”

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration was not so certain. It commissioned an empirical study by RTCA, a nonprofit that studies aviation electronics, to assess the operational risks of 5G interference. That report concluded that C-band 5G systems would cause harmful interference to radar altimeters on all types of civil aircraft, and that “this risk is widespread and has the potential for broad impacts to aviation operations in the United States, including the possibility of catastrophic failures leading to multiple fatalities.”

It found the risk would originate from intentional and spurious signals from terrestrial cell towers, as well as 5G cellphones inadvertently operated onboard aircraft, exacerbated by altimeter receivers with poor spectral selectivity. In what now seems a prescient observation, the RTCA report said: “[The] possibility of harmful interference…is particularly dangerous given that up to the present time, radar altimeter failures…have been extremely uncommon.”

Nevertheless, the spectrum auction went ahead, with wireless providers led by Verizon and AT&T paying over US $80 billion for the frequencies. 5G services were due to go live in 46 markets around the United States on 5 January this year. But as the deployment neared, the FAA issued an airworthiness directive that would have vastly restricted air travel into those areas.

Ultimately, wireless carriers agreed to delay the 5G rollout for two weeks, and the FAA banned certain aircraft—those with susceptible or untested altimeters—from low-visibility landings at airports with 5G wireless networks. The networks also agreed to set up “buffer zones” around 50 airports that would reduce 5G C-band signal levels by at least 10 times within a mile of takeoff and landing runways. The mitigations would remain in place for six months, while the FAA attempted to clear more aircraft for operation.

On 19 January, the 5G systems were switched on.

Almost immediately, complaints began rolling into NASA. On their first flight to San Francisco after 5G was switched on, one pilot was horrified when their plane’s speed brakes unexpectedly activated before touchdown. “With over 18,000 hours as Captain of Boeing airliners…I’ve never had the auto speedbrakes deploy uncommanded before ground contact,” they wrote. “While I operate in the 5G environment, I have no intention on being the first to make a 5G landing.”






“I was predisposed to think the implementation would be a non-event and was surprised to experience actual interference events,” reported another pilot, who suspected a malfunctioning altimeter had caused their plane’s auto-throttle to disengage.

ASRS contains at least 40 reports of possible 5G interference in the vicinity of the 50 airports with buffer zones. With six reports, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport had the most complaints.

“I've been flying an aircraft with a radar altimeter for years and never once have I seen a malfunction such as this until the 5G turn on,” wrote another pilot in Florida, whose altimeter fluctuated between -90 and 400 feet prior to takeoff. “Coincidence? Probably not.”

But could it be? Chris Rudell is an associate professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Washington. “I’d sleep like a baby [on a plane] that flew over a 5G base station at full power output,” he told Spectrum. “Probably something happens that’s unusual and the pilots attribute it to 5G but maybe it’s not attributable to 5G. After everything in the news, they’re now submitting what they actually see, whereas before they perhaps weren't motivated to do that.”

It is true that the FAA does now have a specific online radio-altimeter anomaly reporting form, that it asks pilots and other aviation personnel to complete. The FAA would not share the full details of these reports, but it did provide high-level data that indicates it has received around 550 such submissions since January.

The agency has reviewed over half of the reports, and was unable to rule out 5G interference in around 80 incidents. Contrary to the ASRS reports, none of the interference events identified by the FAA had any safety-related system impacts, affecting direct aircraft control inputs such as auto-throttle or speed brakes. The FAA has concluded that the mitigations it had agreed with wireless providers “are working.” In June, it agreed with the carriers to extend those mitigations for another year.

Although altimeter complaints on ASRS seem to be declining, many pilots still want tighter controls on 5G technology. AOPA, the world’s largest organization representing general aviation pilots and aircraft owners, told Spectrum: “We call for continued discussions between the public and private sectors to further mitigate the proven safety risks that 5G technology poses to radar altimeters. Further cooperation and coordination will bring about solutions that work for all.”

A few pilots were less diplomatic when sharing their views anonymously. “Shutdown [sic] 5G until carefully vetted,” suggested one. “Delay implementation of 5G service until all issues with radar altimeters and transport category aircraft have been dealt with,” wrote another. A third simply pleaded: “Turn off 5G cell service near airports.”

This article was updated to clarify AOPA’s status as an aviation association.

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