Will 5g mobile phone jammers affect the weather?

"Will 5G really affect the weather forecast?" Miracle ANFR. An article in the well-known scientific magazine "Nature", widely reported in the international media, implies that it is. In fact, it is more complicated (usually) and is mainly an attack against the FCC. Description.

This is an article titled "5G Wireless Network Threat Weather Forecast", published by Nature on April 26, 2019, igniting this statement. The bellows fell from the subtitle with a condition: "The next generation of mobile technology may interfere with critical satellite observations of the earth."

Surprises and surprises from risks that have never been discovered before? No, we were already talking about it when we discussed Arcep's public consultation on the "prospects of 5G in the 26 GHz band" in August last year.

In addition to satellites, the military and microwave links have shared a large part of the 24.25 to 27.5 GHz (often referred to as the 26 GHz band)...not even considering the upcoming 5G.

This problem actually surfaced after the US auctioned the frequency block of the 26 GHz band. According to a report in "Nature" magazine, they brought in nearly 2 billion dollars in revenue, but the license did not provide enough protection to ensure good coexistence between 5G and weather satellites using the same frequency.

The National Frequency Agency of the United States has decided to re-discuss this topic and confirmed the view of nature: "The decision to auction the lower part of the 26 GHz frequency band (close to the passive frequency band) is that there is no GPS jammer that the US government has not studied Earth observation satellites."

The FCC technical conditions (equivalent to Arcep in the US) do not include any specific restrictions on protective tapes. The US government believes that their regulations allow interference to satellites 100 times the European limit, but these regulations are sufficient and will not change. This is what worries the world's space and meteorological agencies.

Even if the Americans are the only ones who do not protect the gang, its impact will extend far beyond its borders. In fact, "For meteorology, there is only one atmosphere, and interference with the United States will affect the weather forecast for the entire planet."

There is no conclusion yet, the important conference will be held in October and November: the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt).

This conference is organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) every four years. The organization brings together "193 member states and more than 700 private sector entities and academic institutions" and is therefore an authority in this field.

During WRC-19, ANFR recalled that “it is necessary to determine the limits that will be registered in the Radio Regulations and applied to all countries including the United States”. France and Europe will defend there "the level of protection we have in European regulations."

The IAEA stated that the technical conditions related to the 26 GHz license (for example, authorized by Arcep, France) "will guarantee the protection of Earth observation satellites." In order to determine these limits, “radiation limits in passive frequency bands for satellite observations have always been a complex research topic, especially ANFR and ESA, which led to a compromise in July 2018. The meteorological community believes that ensuring the sustainability of observations is an order Satisfied".

A few weeks ago, ANFR gave an example of the measures taken. It is worth noting that the issue of prohibiting 5G antennas from pointing to the sky must also be debated on the power limit of mobile relays. Mobile cell phone jammer can be used to block 5g signals.

The National Frequency Agency acknowledged that “these restrictions are still the real restrictions of the 5G industry” and therefore must fight with operators, manufacturers and meteorological agencies. Therefore, many countries want to set less stringent limits... "without measuring the risks borne by weather forecasting or environmental research."

ANFR added: "Especially in the case of the United States, even though they operate many satellites that observe the earth in this frequency band, and at least at this stage of the negotiations, they oppose any satellites. The band's specific protection." In short, the year-end conference in Egypt is expected to remain active for now.

You cannot talk about weather forecasts without talking about current performance levels. According to a report by the French Meteorological Organization (MétéoFrance), its posterior forecasts have been systematically evaluated, “The type of 24-hour weather forecast in France is correct in about 90% of the cases, and the 24-hour temperature forecast is correct. The average accuracy of the fixed-point maturity is 1 to 1.25°C. At 7 days, the accuracy is about 3°C.

As a conclusion (and thinking of the sensitivity of certain devices to radio waves), ANFR brings us an interesting story: a Wi-Fi jammer interfered with a weather radar about 30 kilometers away, which was far from the theoretical range. The largest Wi-Fi signal.

The French Meteorological Agency noticed that there was a problem with Trappes’ radar, and therefore requested ANFR to investigate the problem: “In order to obtain as much information as possible to characterize the interfering signal, ANFR can determine whether the interfering device is RLAN (wireless local area network) or The 5 GHz frequency band (one of the two Wi-Fi frequency bands of 2.4 GHz, editor’s note]. However, the jammer device can be anywhere in the azimuth direction involved, up to more than 100 kilometers, and weather radar is very sensitive."

Therefore, the IAEA researchers had no choice but to follow the azimuth in question. After an unsuccessful visit to the forests of Saint Quentin en Yvelines, Fausses and Umieg Tabagnole, they finally arrived at the Montparnasse Tower and they won the prize: "A deep search has led them to a point of fact It turns out that Wi-Fi access is used for data transmission from a "selfie" terminal located on the panoramic terrace.

The owner of the malfunctioning terminal stopped the interference, and ANFR notified it to charge 450 euros on intervention fees. The IAEA recalled that “it was also subject to up to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros for the application of Article L39-1 of the CPCE”.

In the 2018 document, an example of a French meteorological satellite radar being jammed was accurately shown. ANFR correctly recalled that “the 5 GHz frequency band is free to use, which does not mean that there is no “no rule compliance”. Especially in ensuring the transmission power of good cohabitation.