FCC to revoke LightSquared approval

[Faztbullet]

February 16, 2012
Filed under News, Top Stories

ALEXANDRIA, Va. ? Condition approval granted to LightSquared to build a broadband cellular network around the U.S. is scheduled to be revoked by the FCC, the federal agency announced this week.

The decision to revoke the approval came after the U.S. Commerce Department advised the FCC that there were no mitigation strategies at this time that could prevent interference singles if the cell phone network were built as proposed, according to a release from The Boat Owners Association of the United States.

LightSquared originally asked for permission to build 40,000 cell phone ground stations across the U.S. for its proposed broadband cell network. However, the National Telecommunication and Information Administration said in a letter on Feb. 14 that tests indicated that the network would cause harmful interference to the majority of general navigation GPS receivers tested.

?This is a significant development for all GPS users,? said BoatUS President Margaret Podlich in a statement. ?The FCC, as America?s guardian of our airwaves, needs to protect the integrity of the GPS system. It is one of the most important, reliable, and critical elements in navigation today ? on boats, in the air, and on land.?

The FCC is hosting a 15-day comment period ending March 1 to allow for feedback on the plans to revoke LightSquared?s permit, and BoatUS is collecting input from GPS users on the issue that will be posted on BoatUS.com.

 

[5150abf]

Re: FCC to revoke LightSquared approval

You would think the military would put the kabosh on it immediatly if it messes wit GPS, they are very heavily vested in the system, almost everything they have is gps linked somehow.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: FCC to revoke LightSquared approval

You would think the military would put the kabosh on it immediatly if it messes wit GPS, they are very heavily vested in the system, almost everything they have is gps linked somehow.

The military pretty well killed off the proposal by Lightsquared after reviewing test data, as did the FAA. The civilian GPS makers also lobbied hard against it. The entire idea proposed by Lightsquared was flawed from inception as they did not fully consider what their emissions would do to the receivers in the adjacent GPS band. The FCC was kind of dumb in letting this scheme even get this far, as they were fully aware of what a terrestrial based, high power transmitter would do to sensitive satellite receivers in the adjacent bands.

 

[Splat]

Re: FCC to revoke LightSquared approval

In lightsquared's defense it isn't really all their doing in this situation. My understanding is that most GPS receivers made today are built with very "open" front ends on the radios. That is they lack band pass filters, and other shielding to block out signals that are very close to their target frequencies. This is because the GPS band is pretty much up there all by it's self (1.3ghz if I remember correctly), thus they really don't need to combat interference. Since there's not really a need for filters, and they add cost, GPS receivers are built without them.

Lightsquared wouldn't so much add interference on the GPS signal, as it would have butted right up next to it, and confused the receivers by giving them more to listen too.

Bill