FCC pulls approval due to GPS interference. Any thoughts on this issue?

MonacoMike

MonacoMike

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Sep 15, 2009
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I've got an interest (very small) in several LPTV stations. The after the last round of frequency auctions the FCC had, there have been interference problems in several different frequency bands. A pure guess is that this is another example if bureaucrats making decisions without understanding what they are regulating and the problem with LightSquared is more one of frequency overlap than a lack of shielding.
 
The problem is light squared got a license for a band that was to be used for satellite communications and via a legal game tried to implement a terrestrial based cell system. So it would have ended up with a terrestrial signal about 120 db higher than the satellite signal in a band that was very close to GPS signals. After many attempts to persuade the FCC that if would be OK the FCC has done the right thing and basically shut down light squared.
Not many GPS systems, even very high accuarcy ones would have been able to work if light squared had gone ahead.
 
Last edited:
Westie said:
The problem is light squared got a license for a band that was to be used for satellite communications and via a legal game tried to implement a terrestrial based cell system. So it would have ended up with a terrestrial signal about 120 db higher than the satellite signal in a band that was very close to GPS signals. After many attempts to persuade the FCC that if would be OK the FCC has done the right thing and basically shut down light squared.
Not many GPS systems, even very high accuarcy ones would have been able to work if light squared had gone ahead.
Click to expand...

Exactly, Boat US and several other boating advocacy groups were fighting this because it would ruin the GPS signal for almost all pleasure craft.

Regulation once again saves the ignorant..... go figure... LOL
 
Not to mention aircraft, military, satelittes, guided missels, DOD equipment,
 
What this says to me is that the next serious war will be ugly for the home front, even if combat is 1000 miles away. How many of our toys (both personal and military) are GPS based? GPS in you phone. In your car. In the plane you fly.

Hopefully, the military stuff is protected against the inevitable jamming of GPS signals.
 
I do not know anything about this issue, however I am trying to reconcile reports and get to the truth. It seems to boil down to the "frequency overlap" Frank described and-or the GPS manufacturers that did not shield their products: "...the FCC had previously mandated that GPS manufacturers install filters in their equipment to ensure that their signals did not pick up signals from adjacent spectrum and cause interference. Carlisle said during the conference call with reporters that many in the GPS community ignored this mandate, causing the many issues that exist today." Did it happen this way?

MM
 
comsnark said:
What this says to me is that the next serious war will be ugly for the home front, even if combat is 1000 miles away. How many of our toys (both personal and military) are GPS based? GPS in you phone. In your car. In the plane you fly.

Hopefully, the military stuff is protected against the inevitable jamming of GPS signals.
Click to expand...

Are jamming signals anything new?

MM
 
The FCC will indefinitely suspend LightSquared's authority to carry terrestrial broadband signals on frequencies close to GPS frequencies after receiving a report that concludes the two systems cannot currently coexist. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) wrote (PDF) the FCC on Tuesday saying there was no immediate solution to interference problems found in testing GPS units in the presence of the types of signals that LightSquared is proposing. The FCC conditionally allowed LightSquared to use frequency bands it owned adjacent to the GPS bands provided it could prove the broadband wouldn't step on GPS. A year of testing demonstrated serious and widespread interference according to NTIA. LightSquared says it "profoundly disagrees" with those findings and was fighting to have the FCC rule in its favor right up until the decision was announced. The battle isn't officially over yet.

According to PC World, the FCC was planning to issue a public notice of its intentions on Wednesday and will seek public comment on its plan and the NTIA's conclusions. The NTIA did leave a crack in the door by saying it would like to work with the FCC and industry to tackle the interference problems so that spectrum can be freed up to be used for broadband. LightSquared hasn't said what it intends to do with the decision which will effectively cancel its plans for a $14 billion high speed wireless system.

The links contained are hot ,so click and go for more info.
 
Bt Doctur said:
The FCC will indefinitely suspend LightSquared's authority to carry terrestrial broadband signals on frequencies close to GPS frequencies after receiving a report that concludes the two systems cannot currently coexist. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) wrote (PDF) the FCC on Tuesday saying there was no immediate solution to interference problems found in testing GPS units in the presence of the types of signals that LightSquared is proposing. The FCC conditionally allowed LightSquared to use frequency bands it owned adjacent to the GPS bands provided it could prove the broadband wouldn't step on GPS. A year of testing demonstrated serious and widespread interference according to NTIA. LightSquared says it "profoundly disagrees" with those findings and was fighting to have the FCC rule in its favor right up until the decision was announced. The battle isn't officially over yet.

According to PC World, the FCC was planning to issue a public notice of its intentions on Wednesday and will seek public comment on its plan and the NTIA's conclusions. The NTIA did leave a crack in the door by saying it would like to work with the FCC and industry to tackle the interference problems so that spectrum can be freed up to be used for broadband. LightSquared hasn't said what it intends to do with the decision which will effectively cancel its plans for a $14 billion high speed wireless system.

The links contained are hot ,so click and go for more info.
Click to expand...

Thanks, the report was interesting to read.

MM
 
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