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'Facts and Engineering' to Settle LightSquared's Fate: FCC

Aug 9, 2011, 7:12 PM by Eric M. Zeman

The Federal Communications Commission today re-stated that LightSquared will not be allowed to operate its planned Long Term Evolution network if it interferes with GPS systems. The FCC gave LightSquared provisional permission to use L-band satellite spectrum for its terrestrial LTE network — as long as it could prove the network wouldn't interfere with nearby GPS signals. "We're not going to do anything that creates problems for GPS safety and service as we explore technical solutions that will both protect GPS and allow a new service to launch," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said during a press conference today. A number of tests conducted by a range of private and government organizations in the last few months, however, have shown that LightSquared's network does in fact harm GPS signals. It renders GPS services useless in areas where the LTE network operates, endangering, among other things, airborne aircraft. LightSquared proposed to switch the channel it intended to use for its network to create a barrier protecting the GPS spectrum. The FCC today said that it does not approve of this "guard band" idea, as it leaves too much spectrum unused. The FCC wants to find a solution that protects the GPS systems while also allowing LightSquared to launch its network, which will pump $14 billion into the infrastructure market over the next eight years. In the end, Genachowski said that it will be the "facts and engineering" that determine the fate of LightSquared's planned LTE network.

Reuters »

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Comments

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This forum is closed.

MileHigh8710

Aug 9, 2011, 11:17 PM

The FCC needs to do their job

They need to help with fixing the problem which are the GPS companies and their careless infrastructure. Lightsquared shouldn't have to compromise its business to accommodate an error that it didn't create, but then again lightsquared knew about this problem going in and agreed to fix the problem themselves, so they did ultimately bring this upon themselves.

Still to me the FCC should have never let the GPS companies to build so reckless to where their signal is pouring over on the L-band, knowing that in the future this spectrum was going to be wanted/needed to be used. SMH.

jhr2112

FYI..The GPS companies have no "signal pouring over L band. All their receivers do is read the GPS signals provided by the United States government. The receivers are not built very well, to reject adjacent channel interference. Until now, they didn't...
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...

CellStudent

Aug 9, 2011, 11:40 PM

"Durr.... what's a guard band?" - Julius

The FCC today said that it does not approve of this "guard band" idea, as it leaves too much spectrum unused.

There are two ways to fix this problem. Period.

1) Replace all the cheap, shoddy, accepting-out-of-band-transmissions-as-legiti mate-signals GPS receivers in the world.

2) Increase the guard band size so that cheapskates like Garmin, TomTom and Trimble can keep their lousy second rate radios functioning in the midst of an L-Band LTE rollout.

How crazy is this? "We won't let LightSquared use any of their spectrum unless they can use all of it!"

But an FCC official speaking at a background briefing for the press said creating such a "guard band" between LightSquared's airwav

...
(continues)

MileHigh8710

I totally agree with your long term solution. This is nonsense. 😕

maokh

So are you saying that the avionics for RNP/RNAV are lousy, second rate radios too?

GPS receivers are designed to reject strong out of band signals (such as jamming attempts), but the position quality will go down due to this. Sometimes this is ...
(continues)

Globhead

Replace all the cheap, shoddy, accepting-out-of-band-transmissions-as-legiti mate-signals GPS receivers in the world.

I can only disagree with cautious reservation, as I am not an expert on GPS systems, but I have seen it m...
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