On May 4, 2026, NextNav engineers ascended to the roof of 10 South Almaden Boulevard in San Jose, California, to conduct a real-world coexistence demonstration using the company’s 5G PNT Network and a standard RFID reader with multiple RFID tags. 

The goal was straightforward: put recent claims about RFID interference to the test and use a real-world demonstration to lower the temperature of this discussion. 

For months, some in the RFID industry have claimed that NextNav’s proposal to enable 5G-powered 3D PNT in the lower 900 MHz band would disrupt RFID devices and impose billions of dollars in costs due to incompatibility between the two systems. 

NextNav has already addressed those claims through detailed engineering analyses in the FCC record. Our studies showed definitively that RFID technologies are resilient by design and can continue to operate alongside 5G signals in the lower 900 MHz band without operational impact. Importantly, independent firm RKF Engineering has since reviewed our work and formally concurred with both the study methodology and the technical conclusions regarding RAIN RFID coexistence.  

Even though others’ claims are not backed by similar rigorous, fact-based technical analysis, they persist. 

That is why we decided to do a real-world demonstration. Sometimes, there is no better evidence than seeing it for yourself. 

In the video, NextNav engineers demonstrate a live 5G-powered PNT base station operating under the technical parameters typical to low band 5G base stations. Using a standard RFID reader and multiple RFID tags, the team tested whether RFID system continued to operate normally in close proximities and direct line of sight to a 5G base station which subjected the RFID system to extremely high 5G signal levels not experienced in normal RFID operations.  

They did, even with unrealistically high 5G signal levels. 

This matters because the lower 900 MHz band already supports coexistence among multiple unlicensed technologies. Part 15 unlicensed devices will continue to operate across the entire 902 – 928 MHz band under NextNav’s proposal as they do today.  

By optimizing the lower 900 MHz band, the FCC can enable a terrestrial, 5G-powered 3D PNT solution that can complement and backup GPS while allowing existing users to continue operating across the entire band.