To ensure Embraer sales, Anatel evaluates the installation of anti-5G filters on planes

​Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) assesses the need to install filters in aircraft equipment to avoid interference with the arrival of 5G telephony from July this year.

The measure, according to the agency’s technicians, would be “cosmetic” to give more guarantee to the jet maker Embraer in the sale of its devices.

At the end of last year, the company sent a letter to Anatel asking about possible interference from 5G, which will be provided in the 3.5 GHz (gigahertz) frequency band.

Frequencies are like avenues in the air through which telecoms carry their signals. Outside these pathways, interference occurs.

Also according to Anatel technicians, Embraer’s order is the result of a global concern on the part of aircraft manufacturers.

In the US, the telecommunications agency, known as the FCC, was also triggered due to the start of 5G service in the country.

However, according to the technicians, these aeronautical equipment (radio altimeters) – responsible for approaching planes when preparing for take-off – operate between 4.2 GHz and 4.4 GHz, far from the 3.5 GHz band.

According to counselor Moisés Moreira, who will lead one of the 5G deployment work groups, the issue of aircraft has been monitored by the Superintendence of Granting and Resources to Provision (SOR), responsible for, among other matters, managing the spectrum of radio frequencies in the country.

“This spectrum management includes interaction with other countries and monitoring of discussions on possible problems of coexistence between different services and systems, as well as the definition of measures to mitigate possible interference”, he said.

Also according to him, the coexistence between telephony services and radio altimeters is an issue that has been debated internationally for several years.

“This discussion gained greater repercussion in the US with the imminence of the activation of 5G there”, he said.

There, altimeters operate between 3.7 GHz and 3.9 GHz — a gap of up to 200 MHz, known as the guard band, between 5G service and plane altimeters.

This risk in Brazil is removed because the guard band has at least 500 MHz.

In other words, the chances of interference would be negligible.

Even so, to reassure future buyers of Embraer aircraft, Anatel is studying the possibility of installing filters in these equipment.

These filters would prevent the devices from suffering any kind of interference at the time of a landing, for example.

For this, however, Anatel will have to include commercial planes in the project to clean the 3.5 GHz band, something that will depend on the deliberation of the agency’s board of directors.

The so-called “lane cleaning” is a kind of fine-tooth comb to avoid any type of interference from the services. Before the 5G auction, which took place in November last year, the 3.5 GHz band was occupied by broadcasting and thousands of satellite dishes captured open signals from the main broadcasters in the most remote corners of the country.

To prevent fifth-generation telephony from interfering with the reception of signals, the operators that won the auction will deposit funds in the account of the 3.5 GHz Band Management Entity (EAF), which will be created to carry out the measures to mitigate interference .

One of the pre-defined projects in the 5G public notice established the distribution of satellite dishes reception kits, which will operate on another frequency.

The installation of filters on aircraft would be a new demand, not previously foreseen by the agency’s technicians because there is no need, according to one of the technicians participating in the studies.