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Ajit Pai Says NOAA and NASA Are Wrong About 5G Harming Weather Forecasts

posted by chromas on Tuesday June 18 2019, @03:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the two-minutes-hate dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow4463

The FCC recently auctioned spectrum in the 24GHz band under controversial circumstances, as experts from other federal agencies warned that cellular transmissions in that band may significantly reduce the accuracy of weather forecasts.

When asked about the controversy at yesterday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Pai said that data provided by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is faulty. He also criticized the agencies for raising concerns "at the 11th hour."

Calling NOAA's study "fundamentally flawed," Pai said, "For example, it ignores the fact that 5G will involve beamforming, essentially adaptive antenna arrays that will more precisely send 5G signals—sort of a rifle shot, if you will, instead of a shotgun blast of 5G spectrum."

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/06/ajit-pai-says-noaa-and-nasa-are-wrong-about-5g-harming-weather-forecasts/

See also: 5G likely to mess with weather forecasts, but FCC auctions spectrum anyway

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by hwertz on Tuesday June 18 2019, @05:16PM (2 children)

    by hwertz (8141) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @05:16PM (#857072)

    Just to debunk what Pai says, transmissions in a voice or data session to the device may be beamformed, but the paging channel and such ARE NOT. In analog (0G) up through 4G, the paging channel is transmitted in all directions. This is the channel the phone waits on when it's not actually in a call or data session, so it can be told when a call, text, or data is coming in, or start an outgoing call, text, or data. When nothing is going on, it only contacts the site about every 10-15 minutes (to save battery power mainly). Power control and beamforming are not possible without feedback from the phone (signal strength info and such).

    *Existing 2G-4G systems, even with no beamforming, do at least use power control to use the lowest amount of power to keep a clean voice or data signal; both for battery life purposes, and to reduce interference on the channel.

    ---
    On the other hand, is this 5G really going to bleed over 450mhz outside it's band? I do question whether this will really be a problem or not.

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  • (Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Tuesday June 18 2019, @07:17PM (1 child)

    by DutchUncle (5370) on Tuesday June 18 2019, @07:17PM (#857143)

    >>> ... whether this will really be a problem or not.

    Good point. Hmm. I suppose TESTING it before allowing the situation to become a fait accompli would be too hard?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 19 2019, @01:56AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 19 2019, @01:56AM (#857287)

      Quiet, they're creating jobs.