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Airbus, Boeing Report 2021 Commercial Aircraft Deliveries

(Photo: Airbus)

Airbus and Boeing reported their full-year 2021 commercial aircraft deliveries this week, with both of the manufacturers seeing increases over 2020 delivery activity. Both OEMs plan on providing more details in press conferences scheduled to occur over the next month.

Airbus

The reported delivery total for Airbus includes 611 commercial aircraft to 88 customers last year, up from 566 in 2020. According to a Jan. 10 announcement from the French airplane maker, Airbus completed 483 total A320 family deliveries last year and also more than doubled its gross order intake compared to 2020 with “771 new sales (507 net).”

Guillaume Faury, Airbus Chief Executive Officer, described the 2021 results as a year that “saw significant orders from airlines worldwide, signaling confidence in the sustainable growth of air travel post-COVID. While uncertainties remain, we are on track to lift production through 2022 to meet our customers’ requirements.”

The company also notes that 25% of its commercial aircraft were transported to airlines through the “e-Delivery” process that uses a new electronic Transfer-of-Title and ferry flight approach introduced by Airbus in 2020 to reduce the need for airlines to travel to receive newly manufactured aircraft. Air Lease Corporation also became the launch customer of the A350 Freighter—the air cargo variant of the A350 introduced by Airbus last year—during the Dubai Air Show in November.

Airbus published this infographic showing its order and delivery activity last year along with its 2021 results. (Airbus)

At the end of 2021, the Airbus commercial aircraft order backlog stood at 7,082 aircraft.

Boeing

Boeing’s 2021 delivery total of 340 commercial aircraft more than doubled the 157 that the company delivered in 2020, reflecting a staggered lifting of the 737 MAX grounding by civil aviation regulators internationally.

The results reflect the COVID-19 recovery period both companies went through in 2021, a year where Boeing was also able to re-start deliveries of its 737 MAX to airlines in countries that lifted bans on the model. 2021 deliveries reported by Boeing come following a significant fleet order win by the company last week by all-Airbus fleet operator Allegiant Air for up to 100 total 737 MAX aircraft.

One issue that remains unresolved for Boeing is the temporary suspension of 787 Dreamliner deliveries enacted in July when deliveries were halted due to a manufacturing issue associated with some components of the aircraft located in the forward pressure bulkhead and within sections of the fuselage. Only 14 total 787s were delivered last year, compared to 41 in 2020, with Boeing still un-determined on a re-start date for the 105 Dreamliners currently sitting in inventory awaiting the suspension to be lifted.

According to a report published Tuesday by The Associated Press, the Chicago-based company reported a total of 479 net orders in 2021, slightly lagging behind the 507 recorded by Airbus after both accounted for order cancellations.

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Aptiv Reaches New $4.3 Billion Agreement to Acquire Wind River

Wind River CEO Kevin Dallas (left) and Aptiv CEO Kevin Clark (right) announced Aptiv’s $4.3 billion acquisition of Wind River on Jan. 11. (Aptiv)

Dublin, Ireland-based auto parts maker Aptiv announced a new agreement on Tuesday to acquire mission-critical software provider Wind River for $4.3 billion from TPG. Under the agreement, Wind River will become a stand-alone business unit within Aptiv’s Advanced Safety and User Experience division.

The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval, comes four years after TPG—a San Francisco-based alternative asset management firm—acquired Wind River from Intel. While Aptiv’s acquisition of Wind River will focus on exploiting their technology to enable increasingly software-defined automotive systems, Wind River remains one of the largest suppliers of real time operating systems (RTOS) and intelligent edge solutions to the aerospace and defense industry. Their VxWorks 653 RTOS for example has been used for avionics enablement on the Airbus A400M, Boeing 787 and Northrop Grumman’s Black Hawk UH-60V cockpit upgrade program among others.

Kevin Dallas, president and chief executive officer of Wind River, stated in the company’s announcement of the acquisition that, “Combining Wind River’s industry-leading software, customer base and talent with Aptiv’s complementary technologies, global resources and scale will realize our vision of the new machine economy. Together we will accelerate the digital transformation of our customers across industries through best-in-class intelligent systems software.”

In recent years, Wind River has shifted its focus to supplying software for what the company describes as the “intelligent edge,” or the increasingly expanding scope of connected systems and devices that are constantly transmitting, receiving, analyzing and processing data. Christine Stevens, who served as the director of aerospace and defense business development for Wind River through August of last year, described the digital transformation that the company envisions avionics—and mission critical electronics systems in other industries—undergoing within the next decade.

“Digitally transformed avionics will rely heavily on advanced software for motion planning, trajectory prediction, and predictive analysis integrated with sensor fusion. These systems will analyze massive amounts of data to perform next gen functions. They can develop and deploy systems running applications such as machine learning and analytics. This allows them to make constant improvements as part of a digital feedback loop, which in turn enables endless adaptability,” Stevens wrote in an April 2021 blog post.

Kevin Clark, president and chief executive officer of Aptiv, in a statement released by the company, said that the acquisition is timely for his company as they look to compete in the automotive industry’s “largest transformation in over a century, as connected, software-defined vehicles increasingly become critical elements of the broader intelligent ecosystem.”

During a conference call held with investors announcing the acquisition Tuesday, Clark said that the combination of their existing automotive capabilities and Wind River’s cloud-native software platform will allow them to create the type of digital feedback loop and cloud-based fleet management for cars that many of their automotive manufacturing customers want to establish.

“We’re more confident than ever that the software-defined vehicle will become one of the most important devices on the intelligent edge requiring grater levels of in-vehicle compute and connectivity,” Clark said.

Wind River generated approximately $400 million in revenue in 2021. Clark expects Aptiv to officially close the acquisition with regulatory approval later this year.

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Aquiline Becomes First U.S. Drone Manufacturer to Establish Insurance Subsidiary

Hartford, Connecticut-based drone manufacturer Aquiline Drones is the first in the U.S. to establish its own insurance subsidiary. (Photo: Aquiline Drones)

Aquiline Drones Corporation, based in Hartford, Connecticut, has become the first drone manufacturer in the U.S. to create its own insurance subsidiary (ADIC). Barry Alexander, Founder and CEO of Aquiline Drones (AD), stated in the company’s announcement, “Our goal is to introduce various aspects of safety at every level and opportunity in a UAV/drone operations environment, for every drone business or individual operator, in keeping them safe and compliant as well as protecting the interest of the general public.”

AD was established in January 2019 after four years in incubation. The recent creation of ADIC serves to meet the parent company’s various risk management needs and to help ensure AD’s profitability by providing tax advantages. With this insurance license, AD can assume the risk of all of its companies and insure its partners and affiliates. Additionally, this development allows AD to indemnify its product and service offerings as well as the products used by the company’s professional drone service providers across the country.

Aquiline Drones’ Spartacus MAX (Photo: Aquiline Drones)

Benefits resulting from the newly formed captive insurance company include “writing insurance policies to cover multiple lines of commercial UAV/drone operations which are based on AD’s definitive risk mitigation and management protocols,” according to the press release. These operations range from drone manufacturing and safety training to cloud-connected drone operations.

In an interview conducted via email, Aquiline Drones founder Barry Alexander told Avionics International that the company is set to achieve several milestones in 2022. The first of their goals is “to establish the AD Drone and Cloud Technology Ecosystem as the national de facto standard for advanced commercial drone operations and UAV mission management applications.” Second, he expects Aquiline Drones’ IPO to take place by mid-summer. Third, by March, two strategic acquisitions that are currently underway will be announced. Another priority this year: “Making Aquiline Drones Indemnity Corporation the national standard for commercial drone liability insurance—products and services,” said Alexander.

Pictured: CEO Barry Alexander, who founded Aquiline Drones in January 2019 after a four-year incubation phase (Photo: Aquiline Drones)

AD announced a partnership in December 2020 with Drone Volt, a publicly-traded French drone manufacturer. Just a few months later, they acquired 50% of UAS manufacturer AerialTronics from Drone Volt, a $9 million purchase. AD next acquired ElluminAi Labs in September 2021 in order to support further development of the Spartacus AI framework. In the same month, the company announced a teaming agreement with AWARE—an incident response platform that enhances situational awareness in a crisis—“to enhance the ability to comprehensively respond to any emergency incident,” Alexander commented.

The most common applications for AD’s drones include search and rescue, law enforcement, asset inspections, fighting fires, and perimeter security, according to Alexander. In the coming years, he predicts “a more rapid adoption of drone services in areas and applications that have greater societal impacts such as life-saving scenarios and other areas where danger to man is minimized, such as first-responder services—i.e., law enforcement, firefighting, EMS, and search and rescue.”

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FAA Identifies 50 US Airports for New 5G Buffer Zones

An American Airlines aircraft lands at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, one of 50 airports identified by the FAA as requiring 5G C-Band “buffer zones.” (Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport)

The FAA on Jan. 7 published a new list of the 50 U.S. airports that will have “buffer zones” around them once 5G C-band services come online later this month.

Identification of the airports is the latest policy update from the agency related to its ongoing efforts to establish a long-term solution that allows new 5G C-band wireless services and flight operations to safely co-exist throughout the National Airspace System (NAS). According to the statement published by the FAA, the list of airports was developed based on input from aviation industry leaders, and the traffic volume, number of low-visibility days on average, and geographic location were all determining factors in developing the list.

“The wireless companies agreed to turn off transmitters and make other adjustments near these airports for six months to minimize potential 5G interference with sensitive aircraft instruments used in low-visibility landings,” the FAA said in a statement published on its website.

Some of the largest and busiest airports in the U.S.—based on the latest available air traffic data—are included in the list. Dallas/Fort Worth International, Chicago O’Hare International, and Los Angeles International were among the airports with the highest amount of traffic listed—with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport being one of the most notable to be left off the list. Airports located in cities where 5G C-Band is not being deployed were left off the list, with the FAA naming Denver International and Ronald Regan Washington National Airport as some examples of areas where the new services are not being deployed.

In an emailed statement to Avionics International, a representative for the FAA said that the buffer zones will follow the guidance outlined by AT&T and Verizon on the fifth page of the letter sent to the agency to negotiate a new agreement.

Based on the guidance provided by the two companies in the letter, the buffer zones include “limit power radiated below the horizon to no more than 62 dBm/MHz” and “to limit radiated power for all of their 5G C-Band base stations directed skyward above the horizon to even lower levels.” Moreover, the buffer zones are three-dimensional, yielding lower measured power levels from 5G C-Band stations on all airport surfaces and up to 300 feet above airports and more than one mile from airport runways.

“AT&T and Verizon also agreed to limit radiated power from 5G base stations to even lower levels when those base stations are located in line with airport runways. This commitment can apply to base stations located as far as 1,000 feet from a runway,” the letter says.

Low visibility landings are still being permitted at the airports included in the list if they’re being performed by aircraft that have “an altimeter that has been proven to be accurate and reliable in the U.S. 5G C-band environment,” according to the FAA.

A new infographic published by the FAA shows the differences in how 5G C-Band has been deployed in France and the U.S. (FAA)

The list comes following several months of ongoing discussions between aviation and wireless industry/government leadership to address concerns raised by the FAA regarding the potential risk of signal interference issues that the operation of 5G C-band services could cause to radar and radio altimeters used by air transport category aircraft. Last week, AT&T and Verizon reached an agreement with the aviation industry to delay the planned Jan. 5 deployment date of its new 5G C-Band wireless network services.

Aircraft radar altimeters operate within 4.2–4.4 GHz, the lower half of which falls within the C-Band—a frequency range from 3.7–4.2 GHz where the combination of the range of signal transmissions and capacity are optimum. The 5G wireless networks scheduled to be switched on by AT&T and Verizon this month will occur within the 3.7–3.98 GHz frequency range, close to the altimeters, which has left aviation industry experts with concerns over signal interference issues. In December, the FAA published new airworthiness directives (ADs) that will prohibit certain types of advanced fixed and rotary wing landing procedures that rely on the use of radar altimeter data.

Separate from the list of identified airports, the FAA also published a new “5G and Aviation Safety” page to its website, providing answers to some of the most frequently asked questions it has been receiving in relation to the deployment of the new 5G networks. Among the answers given are an explanation of the differences between the 5G deployment that has already occurred in France and the mitigation strategy around airports employed by the French government compared to what the FAA is doing in the U.S.

“5G power levels are lower in France. In the U.S., even the planned temporary nationwide lower power levels will be 2.5x higher than in France,” according to the FAA’s new 5G page. “In France, the government required that antenna must be tilted downward to limit harmful interference. Similar restrictions do not apply to the U.S. deployment.”

The post FAA Identifies 50 US Airports for New 5G Buffer Zones appeared first on Aviation Today.

FAA Authorizes 35 Miles of BVLOS Drone Operations for NUAIR

The FAA has now authorized NUAIR and the New York UAS Test Site for beyond visual line of sight drone operations across 35 miles of the 50-mile drone corridor in New York State. (Photo: NUAIR)

New York-based nonprofit NUAIR (Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance), which manages operations at the New York UAS Test Site, received authorization this week from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations in 35 miles of airspace. The designated airspace is within New York’s 50-mile drone corridor that connects the cities of Rome and Syracuse, NY. NUAIR’s long-term mission is to promote the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS).

NUAIR and the Test Site were first authorized for BVLOS in 2019 in a small airspace at Griffiss International Airport in Rome, NY. Local county executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. commented on the newest authorization in a press release this week, saying: “The one-of-a-kind testing, research and development that occurs here is elevating the entire industry. This latest FAA authorization will allow our 50-mile drone corridor to push the limits of what is possible.”

This image shows the location of the 50-mile drone corridor in New York which reaches from Syracuse to Rome. (Photo: Google Maps)

A ground-based surveillance system (GBSS) that is integrated throughout the 50-mile drone corridor allows NUAIR to monitor air traffic in order to quickly detect any intruder aircraft occurring.

Tony Basile, NUAIR’s chief of operations, looks forward to the nonprofit’s expanded ability to fly BVLOS, which he says will allow their team “to test more advanced, long-range flights and help us prove BVLOS operations can be done safely—the key component in realizing the true economic advantage of commercial drone operations.” Some of these operations will likely include medical and package deliveries.

In June 2021, a team completed a medical delivery via drone as part of a project to test the feasibility of such an operation. The NUAIR alliance collaborated with Virginia-based company DroneUp and SUNY Upstate Medical University to successfully deliver a COVID-19 test kit. While this was a significant achievement, some roadblocks to enabling routine medical deliveries via drone include the high cost of operating the drone, risk of exposure to biohazardous materials, and the need to receive FAA approval for specific drone models to make such deliveries.

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Joby Aviation Receives FAA and USAF Approval For Second Prototype Aircraft

Joby’s second pre-production prototype of its eVTOL aircraft was just awarded the Special Airworthiness Certification by the FAA and given airworthiness approval from the USAF. (Photo: Joby)

FAA Special Airworthiness Certification and U.S. Air Force Airworthiness Approval were both awarded to Joby Aviation for the company’s second pre-production prototype aircraft. The company achieved an initial (stage 2) signed G-1 in 2019 and went on to become the first eVTOL company to sign a G-1 (stage 4) certification basis with the FAA in 2020. After receiving these latest approvals for its second pre-production prototype, Joby will be able to ramp up flight testing in 2022 and continue working towards a commercial operations launch date in 2024.

Joby’s all-electric aircraft currently has a maximum range of 150 miles and can operate at a top speed of 200 mph. It has a four-passenger capacity in addition to a pilot. Later this month, the second pre-production aircraft will begin flying as part of the company’s contract with the US Air Force’s Agility Prime initiative. Over 1,000 test flights have already been completed in the last decade, and that number is expected to increase dramatically to achieve Joby’s goal of commencing passenger service in 2024.

Commercial operations of Joby’s eVTOL aircraft could begin in 2024.

Some of the company’s priorities with its eVTOL aircraft are sustainability, speed, and a low operating volume to minimize disturbance to communities. Joby shared a video demonstrating the low noise profile of its aircraft during flyover along with the statement, “We aim for our aircraft to blend into the background environment of communities in which we operate, enabling aerial ridesharing without any compromises.”

Joby’s aircraft achieved another milestone last year as the first to test with NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Campaign. The first set of National Campaign tests are planned to occur in 2022 and will involve additional flight scenarios and vehicle partners. However, Joby’s flight tests with NASA occurred in September and focused primarily on collecting vehicle performance and acoustic data. The findings could be used by NASA to determine any gaps in current regulations.

Joby’s aircraft was designed with speed optimization and a low noise profile in mind. (Photo: Joby)

Founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt said in the press release, “Our 2021 flight test program delivered a wealth of information and experience to support our program. With two aircraft flying at the same time, we’ll be able to increase the speed of our learnings as planned, while continuing to fulfill the requirements of our Agility Prime contract.”

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Allegiant Places New Fleet Order for 50 Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft

Allegiant has placed an order for up to 100 new Boeing 737-7 and 737-8-200 aircraft. (Boeing)

Las Vegas-based low-cost airline Allegiant has signed an agreement with Boeing to purchase up to 50 new 737 MAX aircraft, including the 737-7 and 737-8-200 models.

According to a Jan. 5 press release, the fleet order includes options to purchase 50 additional 737 MAX aircraft as part of Allegiant’s ongoing fleet modernization efforts. The 737 MAX will be the first Boeing aircraft to be operated by Allegiant, an airline that became an all-Airbus A320 operator in 2018 after its final MD-88s were retired from service.

Maurice J. Gallagher, Jr., Allegiant’s chairman and CEO, described the Boeing fleet order as “opportunistic.”

“While the heart of our strategy continues to center on previously-owned aircraft, the infusion of up to 100 direct-from-the-manufacturer 737s will bring numerous benefits for the future—including flexibility for capacity growth and aircraft retirements, significant environmental benefits, and modern configuration and cabin features our customers will appreciate,” Gallagher said.

Boeing claims that the 737 models ordered by Allegiant will be capable of reducing the airline’s fuel use and carbon emissions by 20%. Stan Deal, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO, said the new Allegiant deal “further validates the economics of the 737 MAX family in the [ultra low cost carrier] ULCC market.”

During Allegiant’s third-quarter earnings call held in October 2021, Greg Anderson, the airline’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said they expect to place 19 additional Airbus A320neo aircraft into service in 2022.

Allegiant currently operates a fleet of 108 Airbus A319 and A320 airplanes.

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EHang Launches 5G Air Mobility Center for eVTOLs

A demonstration of the EH216 AAV took place at the 5G Intelligent Air Mobility Experience Center. The aircraft has a range of 35 km. (Photo: EHang)

Last week, EHang, developer and manufacturer of autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs), announced the launch of the 5G Intelligent Air Mobility Experience Center in partnership with Guangzhou Development District Communications Investment Group. The 21,500-square-foot center is located at the Innovation Park in Guangzhou, China—EHang’s first urban air mobility pilot city—and has a take-off and landing vertiport.

Founder and CEO of EHang, Huazhi Hu, stated in the press release, “We will use the world’s leading AAV technologies and command-and-control system to provide intelligent, comprehensive solutions for urban air mobility and smart city management in Guangzhou. We expect to build Guangzhou into a model city for UAM and have plans to extend it to more cities across the country and worldwide.”

EHang posted the flight demonstrated video featured below to its YouTube page upon announcing the launch of their new Experience Center.

The Experience Center will enable trial operations in Guangzhou of eVTOLs such as the EHang 216 and Falcon B in a variety of applications related to urban air mobility. An automatic parking garage, for example, will one day enable a seamless transfer from car to eVTOL and vice versa, according to EHang.

EHang’s unveiling of the new Experience Center comes following the reporting of its Q3 unaudited financial results last month, sharing total revenues of $2M USD—a 6.6% increase from Q2. According to the company’s announcement, they are undergoing a strategic transition from a model that is centered on product sales towards an operation platform-oriented model. While EHang sold and delivered three AAVs in Q2, that number grew to eight units for the third quarter.

EHang reached 20,000 autonomous trial flights on record in November 2021 and continues to work towards full certification for its EH 216 aircraft. As part of the “100 Air Mobility Routes Initiative,” there have been roughly 2,800 operational trial flights of the EH 216.

Another strategic partnership with EHang was announced in October 2021. Shenzhen Expressway, also a partner of the 100 Air Mobility Routes Initiative, will “join efforts with EHang to explore the innovative integration of AAV air mobility and expressway networks in smart city transportation,” according to the company’s website. The partnership will also analyze use cases such as road inspection, emergency rescue, and transportation of materials.

During the EU’s Gulf of Finland (GOF) 2.0 project in 2021, EHang demonstrated its AAV in a Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flight test and showcased the automated cargo delivery capabilities of its drone, the Falcon. This was the first instance of a passenger-grade AAV completing BVLOS trial flights in Estonia.

The Air Mobility center is powered by 5G networks and it relies on EHang’s command-and-control system platform. (Photo: EHang)

The latest update from EHang about the launch of the 5G Intelligent Air Mobility Experience Center also described an automatic guided vehicle parking garage that is integrated into the center. UAM routes in Guangzhou have already been mapped out and tested for smart city management services, aerial logistics, and passenger transportation.

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Deos RTOS to Host Honeywell’s Next Generation Anthem Cockpit System

DDC-I, Inc.’s Deos real time operating system has been selected by Honeywell Aerospace as the host of its cloud-native Anthem cockpit system. (Honeywell Aerospace)

Phoenix, Arizona-based operating systems and software supplier DDC-I, Inc., is supplying its DO-178 Deos multicore real time operating system (RTOS) to Honeywell Aerospace to serve as the host of the OEM’s Anthem cloud-native cockpit system.

Honeywell launched its first next-generation flight deck in over two decades during a media event in October, where it was revealed that Anthem’s launch customers include the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft under development by Lilium and Vertical Aerospace. According to a Dec. 21 press announcement from DDC-I, the “fine grain cache partitioning, binary modularity, and reusable certification evidence” elements of Deos as some of the key features that can be leveraged by Anthem.

The DDC-I RTOS supplier announcement is one of the first major updates revealed about the development and capabilities of Anthem since its launch. Honeywell’s RTOS Chief Engineer, Larry Miller, says that the Deos processors will provide the Anthem development team with the type of core-to-core contention capabilities that will allow his team to meet safety objectives “with deterministic operation while at the same time reducing the worst-case CPU utilization of our applications.”

“Deos boosts processing performance by implementing fine-grained cache partitioning in software rather than hardware, which gives us access to faster and more efficient processors. As a result, the Honeywell Anthem system enjoys a compelling advantage in throughput per watt over other competitive offerings. In addition, Deos’ capabilities promote software modularity and binary reuse, which reduces our verification and validation complexity and lowers our certification cost, thereby reducing the effort needed to re-apply Honeywell Anthem from one aircraft type to the next,” Miller said.

Anthem will be the latest Honeywell cockpit avionics system to feature Deos as its host operating system; the company has used Deos to host several of its other safety critical avionics systems. First certified to Design Assurance Level (DAL) A in the late 1990s, the Deos RTOS has been used to host DO-178 certifiable avionics software including functions such as air data computers, air data inertial reference units, cockpit video, displays and flight instrumentation, radios, traffic collision avoidance systems, and weather radar, among other systems.

Greg Rose, vice president, marketing and product management at DDC-I, said Honeywell’s selection of Deos is a result of its “advanced features like multicore capabilities that address CAST-32A objectives, low-jitter deterministic operation, and reusable certification evidence.”

During an October interview with Avionics International, ahead of the unveiling of Anthem, Vipul Gupta, vice president and general manager of Honeywell’s avionics division, said that the company expects to meet the 2023 and 2024 certification timelines for Anthem that Lilium and Vertical Aerospace are targeting in their eVTOL development programs.

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Latest C-Band 5G Delay Allows AT&T, Verizon to Address Aircraft Radar Altimeter Concerns

On Jan. 3, AT&T, Verizon, the FAA, and aviation industry leadership reached a new agreement that will delay the launch of C-Band 5G services until Jan. 19. The White House released a statement about the new agreement on Jan. 4, indicating that delay will give both sides enough time to reach a long-term resolution. (Photo: Verizon)

In statements released Monday, AT&T and Verizon agreed to delay their deployment of C-Band 5G wireless networks by another two weeks in an effort to address concerns over potential signal interference issues raised by U.S. aviation regulators and industry executives in recent years.

The latest delay will move the planned Jan. 5 deployment date of the two 5G C-Band services to Jan. 19, with both AT&T and Verizon also agreeing to adhere to operating their networks in a way that will mitigate potential aircraft radar altimeter issues near airports. AT&T and Verizon on Sunday sent a letter in response, rejecting the request for a further delay made by the Department of Transportation in a letter last week, before committing to the postponement in a new agreement.

“At Secretary Buttigieg’s request, we have voluntarily agreed to one additional two-week delay of our deployment of C-Band 5G services. We also remain committed to the six-month protection zone mitigations we outlined in our letter. We know aviation safety and 5G can co-exist and we are confident further collaboration and technical assessment will allay any issues,” an AT&T spokesperson told Avionics International in an emailed statement.

On modern commercial and military aircraft, radar altimeters are typically affixed to the bottom of the airframe and transmit radio frequency signals to the ground or terrain. The time that it takes for the signal to reach the ground and reflect back up to the aircraft is measured by the altimeter as its height above ground, updated on a regular basis, multiple times per second. Terrain avoidance and warning systems (TAWS), autoland functionality, and cabin pressurization systems also rely on data supplied by altimeters on the majority of modern air transport aircraft.

Last month, the FAA published new airworthiness directives (ADs) that will prohibit certain types of advanced fixed and rotary wing landing procedures that rely on the use of radar altimeter data. The directives, which would have become effective Jan. 5 under the original one-month delay agreed to by AT&T and Verizon, could be subject to change based on the results of collaboration by the two sides during the new two-week delay period.

As the FAA indicated in its Dec. 7 AD, while it has heard concerns from airlines, the FAA, and aircraft OEMs over the potential interference issues posed by the deployment of 5G in the C-Band, it has not yet been presented with data or information that shows altimeters are not susceptible to interference.

A statement published the FAA on Monday includes a letter documenting some of the terms included in the new deal established between the aviation industry and the two companies. Among the requests outlined by the FAA in the deal include a commitment by AT&T and Verizon to continue to work on establishing several long-term mitigation measures that would address potential interference issues posed by C-Band 5G stations located near airports.

One of the key elements of the deal between the two sides is identifying the geographical locations of C-Band 5G ground stations with a more in-depth understanding provided to the aviation industry regarding how the more powerful beam-forming signals of those stations will function within the C-Band spectrum.

Specifically, the agency is requesting “information on base station locations and operating characteristics planned for Q1 2022,” and that AT&T and Verizon “will continue to work with the FAA in good faith to provide it with complete and accurate information on these locations, to include accurate and complete details regarding expected site implementation dates during the quarter as well as accurate operational characteristics of these locations.”

During the new two-week delay, the aviation industry will identify a list of 50 priority airports that will operate in C-Band 5G protection zones where the stations will emit signals at significantly lower levels of power. Pictured here is a Verizon 5G antenna deployed in Houston, Texas.

According to the terms of the new agreement, aviation industry leadership will provide a list of 50 priority airports that will be subjected to the C-Band exclusion zones that were proposed in the Jan. 2 letter sent by AT&T and Verizon to the FAA and Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The letter, sent by John Stankey, the chief executive of AT&T, and Hans Vestberg, Verizon’s chief executive, notes that the perspective of the two wireless network providers is that the 220 megahertz distance between the C-Band 5G service that they will deploy in the future will not present harmful interference issues to aircraft radar altimeters.

The two companies ultimately committed to adopting the type of geographic exclusion zones that have been implemented in France where some C-Band 5G services have already been deployed.

“That approach—which is one of the most conservative in the world—would include extensive exclusion zones around the runways at certain airports. The effect would be to further reduce C -band signal levels by at least 10 times on the runway or during the last mile of final approach and the first mile after takeoff,” the letter, obtained and published by The New York Times, reads.

AT&T and Verizon also note in their letter that they were only made aware of the aviation industry’s concerns from potential C-Band 5G signal interference with aircraft radar altimeters last year. In an emailed statement to Avionics, a representative for the FAA said that the agency had been part of several aviation industry group efforts to work collaboratively with the FCC and wireless network providers on developing the type of mitigation and protection measures they’re currently discussing.

“In 2018, Boeing raised concerns and proposed a solution (see attached). Additionally, ICAO, the aviation arm of the United Nations, identified that any use of the bands near 4.2 to 4.4 GHz should be contingent upon Radio Altimeter Studies,” the representative said. “In 2020 ahead of the auction for 5G C-Band, the FAA again raised concerns and asked for a postponement to collaborate on a solution. The NTIA, the federal government coordinator on spectrum disputes, failed to put the 2020 letter into the FCC’s docket.”

Regarding the adoption of protection zones implemented in France for the use of C-Band 5G near airports, the FAA’s representative said that France uses spectrum for 5G that sits further away—in the 3.6-3.8 GHz range—from the 4.2-4.4 GHz spectrum used by radar altimeters.

Several aviation industry groups released statements acknowledging the new agreement, including Airlines for America (A4A), the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), and the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), with NBAA President Ed Bolen committing to serving as a real-time resource on the 5G deployment as more information becomes available.

While the Helicopter Association International (HAI) applauded the agreement, in a statement released Tuesday the group calls for the two sides of the deal to have more consideration for the impact of C-Band 5G deployment on heliports.

“The voluntary measures proposed by the wireless carriers would provide modest 5G limitations at the surface of public-use heliports, of which there are only 55 in the country. That number is dwarfed by the estimated 6,533 to 8,533 [Helicopter Air Ambulance] HAA landing sites in the United States, with more than 4,000 being private-use heliports colocated at hospitals,” the statement from HAI reads. “As regulators spend the next two weeks bridging the gap between the wireless industry’s voluntary measures and what is needed to maintain the safety and usability of the NAS, solutions for helicopter operators must be prioritized.”

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