Another Wrinkle in the Supply Chain

[Stephanie B]

AvWeb is reporting that the rollout of 5G cell service has the potential to screw up the use of radar altimeters.

So what, you ask? You need a radar altimeter to execute really low-ceiling instrument approaches. Without a radar altimeter, the ability to shoot instrument approaches is basically going to revert to 1950s-era minimums. Which will mean more flights not making it through to destinations, more ground stops, and so on.

[GyroF-16]

AvWeb is reporting that the rollout of 5G cell service has the potential to screw up the use of radar altimeters.

So what, you ask? You need a radar altimeter to execute really low-ceiling instrument approaches. Without a radar altimeter, the ability to shoot instrument approaches is basically going to revert to 1950s-era minimums. Which will mean more flights not making it through to destinations, more ground stops, and so on.

NOW is when they’re figuring out the potential for interference?
I have an idea - let’s create a federal agency, or maybe a commission, to ensure that only certain devices can operate in certain frequency ranges, thereby avoiding interference between devices. Maybe it could be called the Federal Communications Comission. And funded with an Infrastructure Bill.

ETA - maybe with enough funding, this commission could be staffed with people who actually know what the fuck they’re doing. (Just read linked article and saw that the FCC auctioned the frequency band adjacent to the radar altimeter band, but didn’t expect (or evidently test) that there could be interference.) But at least the federal government made some money in the auction. They’ll need it to do vital tasks in the future- like compensating illegal boarder crossers who were separated from their families.

[Stephanie B]

NOW is when they’re figuring out the potential for interference?
I have an idea - let’s create a federal agency, or maybe a commission, to ensure that only certain devices can operate in certain frequency ranges, thereby avoiding interference between devices. Maybe it could be called the Federal Communications Comission. And funded with an Infrastructure Bill.

ETA - maybe with enough funding, this commission could be staffed with people who actually know what the fuck they’re doing. (Just read linked article and saw that the FCC auctioned the frequency band adjacent to the radar altimeter band, but didn’t expect (or evidently test) that there could be interference.) But at least the federal government made some money in the auction. They’ll need it to do vital tasks in the future- like compensating illegal boarder crossers who were separated from their families.

There is nothing new in this. Ten or so years ago, the FCC was going to let a company called LightSquared completely fuck up GPS. But then everybody else got wind of it and the whole proposal was shot down. The FCC doesn’t seem to give a fuck how about anybody else.

[RoyGBiv]

NOW is when they’re figuring out the potential for interference?
I have an idea - let’s create a federal agency, or maybe a commission, to ensure that only certain devices can operate in certain frequency ranges, thereby avoiding interference between devices. Maybe it could be called the Federal Communications Comission. And funded with an Infrastructure Bill.

ETA - maybe with enough funding, this commission could be staffed with people who actually know what the fuck they’re doing. (Just read linked article and saw that the FCC auctioned the frequency band adjacent to the radar altimeter band, but didn’t expect (or evidently test) that there could be interference.) But at least the federal government made some money in the auction. They’ll need it to do vital tasks in the future- like compensating illegal boarder crossers who were separated from their families.

Excellent rant. Easy read, incorporation of current event references, accomplished with minimal words. 5 Stars.

Some elderly lady...... eh... I'll put it in the BS thread.

[feudist]

Good time for a diet?

[beenalongtime]

NOW is when they’re figuring out the potential for interference?
I have an idea - let’s create a federal agency, or maybe a commission, to ensure that only certain devices can operate in certain frequency ranges, thereby avoiding interference between devices. Maybe it could be called the Federal Communications Comission. And funded with an Infrastructure Bill.

ETA - maybe with enough funding, this commission could be staffed with people who actually know what the fuck they’re doing. (Just read linked article and saw that the FCC auctioned the frequency band adjacent to the radar altimeter band, but didn’t expect (or evidently test) that there could be interference.) But at least the federal government made some money in the auction. They’ll need it to do vital tasks in the future- like compensating illegal boarder crossers who were separated from their families.

You mean you want the agency to be staffed with engineers, and not politicians?

[Joe in PNG]

I think there's a general law about this sort of thing happening.

Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people":
First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.
Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.
The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.

[Dog Guy]

There is nothing new in this. Ten or so years ago, the FCC was going to let a company called LightSquared completely fuck up GPS. But then everybody else got wind of it and the whole proposal was shot down. The FCC doesn’t seem to give a fuck how about anybody else.

Did LightSquared actually get stopped? Last I heard, pretty much everybody else who used commercial grade GPS was opposed and the science was clear that interference was a problem but FCC and their political masters told them all to pound sand, LightSquared gets to go forward.

[Borderland]

There is nothing new in this. Ten or so years ago, the FCC was going to let a company called LightSquared completely fuck up GPS. But then everybody else got wind of it and the whole proposal was shot down. The FCC doesn’t seem to give a fuck how about anybody else.

I remember LightSquared. It was a yuge deal with GPS users in the 90's before GPS really got a footing into civilian applications and everything that moves.

I'm beginning to wonder if 5G is even needed for faster internet speeds. My neighbor just set up a Starlink dish because all we have here is DSL and ridiculously slow internet.

I'll ask my other neighbor about this. He's an FAA tech that keeps the airport nav systems up.

[Stephanie B]

Did LightSquared actually get stopped? Last I heard, pretty much everybody else who used commercial grade GPS was opposed and the science was clear that interference was a problem but FCC and their political masters told them all to pound sand, LightSquared gets to go forward.

The last thing I heard was that the military is pretty much hard against LightSquared and since the GPS constellation is theirs by some statute, their opinion has a lot of weight. Almost everything, from shipping companies to bail bondsmen, uses GPS and crippling the system so a bunch of hedge-fund guys can make money, will run the FCC (and them) through a political buzzsaw.