Pei Yu, a reporter of this newspaper, reported from Beijing
After the Civil Aviation Administration of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Civil Aviation Administration") and other three departments issued the "14th Five-Year Civil Aviation Development Plan" and applied 5G to civil aviation as a clear development goal, the application of 5G in various scenarios of China's civil aviation industry began to land rapidly. On January 21, the first full application of 5G scenario, the answer was revealed.
Civil aviation airports have become the "entry point" for the full implementation of 5G technology applications in the field of civil aviation. "China Business Daily" reporter learned that China will first start to build aviation 5G airport scene broadband mobile communication system, according to the relevant work arrangements, in 2022, will promote the system "scene taxi guidance technical standards", operation specifications and operating procedures of the preparation of work.
This work has been recognized by China's civil aviation regulatory authorities. A person from a large state-owned airport enterprise told reporters that the aviation 5G airport scene broadband mobile communication system, referred to as the 5G AeroMACS system in the industry and the international civil aviation community, China is the first country in the world to use 5G technology for this system, which is based on China's technological leadership in the field of 5G research and development and national strategic orientation.
"AeroMACS system, usually the aircraft cockpit, tower, airport surface vehicles and airlines, airport control centers and other airport and airspace operation management and deployment of key departments linked together a set of information-based working system, different eras, different countries, applied to the AeroMACS system communication technology, may be 4G, may also be 3G, China is now to apply 5G technology in this system." He further explained.
Compared with 4G, 5G technology has lower latency, large bandwidth and stronger reliability. A large state-owned airline source told reporters that the AeroMACS system based on 5G technology can achieve some functions that cannot be achieved in non-5G states, for example, sharing high-precision maps between key departments of the airport, towers and aircraft taxiing on the ground, sharing information such as running, bridges, parking positions, etc., and can also calibrate the real-time location of aircraft and vehicles. This kind of information sharing, in the case of 5G applications, can be done "completely real-time".
The Civil Aviation Administration has set up a number of time mission nodes for the landing of the 5G AeroMACS system. The reporter learned that at present, as the first task time node, the relevant departments and units have set up a "civil aviation scene coordinated operation management air traffic control expert group" (hereinafter referred to as the "expert group"), relying on the expert group to promote the preparation of technical standards, operating specifications and operating procedures for the scene taxi guidance of the 5G AeroMACS system.
The second task time node is from 2023 to 2025, on the one hand, the preparation of the above technical standards, operating specifications and operating procedures is completed, on the other hand, this standard, norm and procedure is promoted internationally and gradually incorporated into the ICAO standard system. The so-called ICAO is an abbreviation for the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
China has systematic plans to promote the application of 5G technology to civil aviation. In April 2021, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the "Roadmap for a New Generation of Aviation Broadband Communication Technology in Civil Aviation of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Roadmap"), which proposes to vigorously promote the application of a new generation of aviation broadband communication, build a civil aviation 5G network that combines public and private use, actively build a world-class modern civil aviation communication infrastructure system, and help the construction and operation of a smart civil aviation transportation system.
"We are also studying the Roadmap and the work plan of the recently determined 5G AeroMACS system, which is also an opportunity for our business development, and we have had more in-depth discussions and communication with airports and airlines before." A person from the marketing department of a 5G hardware equipment manufacturing company told this reporter that they have been continuously engaged in research in this field, and now the opportunity for market application has finally arrived.
The reporter learned that in the specific work arrangements of the Civil Aviation Administration, it includes the research and development of relevant system hardware equipment. On the one hand, it is to guide the industry to develop independent and innovative 5G AeroMACS ground equipment, airborne avionics equipment and terminal equipment in combination with actual business needs. On the other hand, efforts are focused on system integration and adaptation, leading to the ability to provide secure communication services at airports.
In terms of network construction and approval, the construction of the 5G AeroMACS civil aviation industry application test base and the construction of the pilot airport network will be carried out, and the frequency use permit, the ground base station equipment use permit and the airworthiness certification of airborne avionics equipment will be completed in accordance with the relevant business management requirements.
Unlike China's attitude of actively promoting the application of 5G technology in the field of civil aviation, the attitude of the US civil aviation regulatory authorities is very different. On December 7, 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued two airworthiness directives, the core of which is to require pilots to prohibit the use of several flight operations when there is a civil aviation flight in a 5G environment. The FAA-related airworthiness instructions mastered by the reporter show that the prohibited flight operation measures even include automatic landing flight operations.
The FAA issued the airworthiness directive because the regulator believes that signals in the 5GC band have an impact on some devices, including aircraft radar altimeters. Since then, the FAA has issued a directive prohibiting the deployment of 5G facilities at 50 airports in the United States. This operation triggered a tug-of-war between the US aviation regulator and the telecom operator, and by January 19, 2022 local time, the relevant telecom operators agreed not to deploy the relevant 5G communication equipment at the airport for the time being.
However, the impact has already been felt. Recently, Emirates, Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and others have partially cancelled international flights to San Francisco, Dallas Fort Worth, Orlando, Seattle, Miami, Newark, Houston, Chicago and Boston as destination airports, due to the FAA's ban on flights in the 5G environment of related aircraft types.
China does not have this problem. On January 21, at a press conference held by the Civil Aviation Administration, Chen Xiangyang, deputy director of the Air Traffic Control Office of the Civil Aviation Administration, said that the system applying 5G technology was "completely isolated from the 5G network built and deployed by telecom operators, and there is no common relationship." At the same time, he also stressed that the application of AeroMACS, a private network for civil aviation, is not completely equivalent to the 5G network used on mobile phones every day.
He explained that aviation 5G is mainly oriented to airport airside scenarios, which are used to achieve efficient and coordinated operation of airport flight areas, and the core technology used is 5G AeroMACS. This technology has several important characteristics: one is based on the civil aviation private network, the second is the use of aviation-specific frequencies, and the third is to meet the requirements of aviation safety communication level. "These characteristics determine that its use needs to strictly comply with the relevant requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization, specifically the frequency should be separated from the frequency of other public services, the network should be strictly isolated from the public network, and the base station, terminal and other equipment and carrying business should be relatively independent."
(Editor: Hao Cheng Proofreader: Yan Jingning)