Radio Local Area Network (RLAN) and C-Band Weather Radar Interference Studies

There is a growing concern about the effect that wireless internet devices operating at 5 GHz will have on the operation of weather radars. At the World Radio-communication Conference 2003 (WRC-2003), the decision was made provide a primary allocation to the mobile service for the implementation of wireless access systems (WAS), including radio local area networks (RLAN), in the band 5470-5725 MHz (ITU-R 229, 2003). The operation of RLANs in this band is permitted as long as they do not cause interference to licensed services such as Radiolocation, which operate in the 5600-5650 MHz sub-band (C-Band). The RLAN bands consist of 10 channels, each with 18 MHz bandwidths. Typical C-Band weather radars operate with 0.5 or 1 MHz bandwidths. There are 2 RLAN carrier bands that are very near or within the weather radar C-Band.