LightSquared Files ALU Test Results for GPS Receivers

TR Daily

LightSquared, Inc., today told the FCC that independent non-government testing of modified Global Positioning System receivers "demonstrate conclusively that high precision receivers can be made fully resilient to LightSquared's adjacent band transmissions while maintaining all of their necessary performance specifications."

In an ex parte filing in International Bureau docket 11-109, LightSquared said that the test results demonstrate that "LightSquared's planned terrestrial deployment is fully compatible with GPS operation, even for the highest precision equipment available on the commercial market. Leading manufacturers have quickly demonstrated that resiliency can be achieved using readily available components which have similar costs and form factors to those that have previously been used by the equipment."

Testing was conducted at an Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) lab in New Jersey.

Referencing different devices, LightSquared said, "In the Hemisphere report, it is demonstrated that the enhanced Hemisphere and Javad antennas provide location accuracy at least equal to that of the unmodified legacy Hemisphere external antenna when paired with a legacy device. Similar results are presented by Manufacturer 1 in its test report. These assessments were also confirmed by an analysis LightSquared performed on position information collected by ALU on the Javad and Topcon devices during the testing process."

Save Our GPS on GPS Testing Data

By Spokesman Dale Leibach

"We look forward to studying the new test results filed today. These results, along with independent government testing of high precision receivers to be conducted next year under the auspices of the NTIA, will provide information about whether there are technical solutions for new high precision GPS devices sold in the future.

"None of these results, however, address proven interference to hundreds of thousands of existing high-precision GPS receivers in a wide variety of critical uses. Even if new equipment solutions are fully tested and verified, these existing high-precision receivers will have to be retrofitted or replaced. LightSquared still refuses to accept the financial responsibility for addressing interference to existing devices, and so has not offered a comprehensive solution in any way, shape, or form. This refusal to accept financial responsibility is egregious in light of the multi-billion dollar windfall in increased spectrum value that LightSquared stands to pocket if its plans are allowed to go forward," the coalition spokesman added.

"The government tests results reported earlier this month also make clear that, even after all of the modifications to LightSquared's plans have been taken into account, and contrary to LightSquared's previous claims, its operations will interfere with millions of navigation devices that consumers use every day in their cars and boats. Moreover, there are serious, unresolved interference issues affecting aviation safety. Based on all of the available evidence, LightSquared is still far short of satisfying the FCC's condition that it must demonstrate non-interference to GPS before it can commence operations," the coalition spokesman said.

LightSquared FCC Filing

Communications Daily

The GPS Industry Council's request to remove the upper 10 MHz of spectrum from terrestrial broadband use is "unsound" from a "legal and policy perspective," said LightSquared in an FCC filing (http://xrl.us/bmmrmr). LightSquared hasn't done anything that has altered its rights in relation to the commercial GPS industry, which failed to prepare itself for ancillary terrestrial component deployment, LightSquared said. The GPS proposal is baseless because GPS receivers are unlicensed and operate on an "unprotected, non-interference basis," the company said. While LightSquared has offered to initially confine its operations to the lower part of L-band, the GPS industry hasn't shown "a commensurate willingness to compromise," the company said.

LightSquared Asks for Ruling from FCC in GPS Dispute

By Steven Overly
WashingtonPost.com

The struggle over the airwaves that has bogged down Reston-based LightSquared's plans to deploy a wireless broadband network looks like it might be nearing a showdown.

The company made its boldest attempt yet to squash the opposition last week, asking the Federal Communications Commission to issue a declaratory ruling asserting LightSquared's right to use the spectrum.
(Read Complete Story Here)

LightSquared Refuses to Release Communications with White House

By Brendan Sasso
The Hill

Wireless company LightSquared has refused a request from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to release its communications with the White House and the Federal Communications Commission.

Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, requested the documents earlier this month to probe whether the company benefited from improper influence in its effort to secure regulatory approval. LightSquared told Grassley it would "respectfully decline" his request in a letter Wednesday night.
(Read Complete Story Here)

LightSquared, Harbinger Won't Turn Over Documents to Grassley; FCC has already rejected republican Senator's request

By John Eggerton
Broadcasting & Cable

LightSquared and parent Harbinger Capital have declined to provide documents to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) about their contacts with the FCC and White House over LightSquared's FCC waiver to launch a national, wholesale 4G terrestrial service using its satellite spectrum.
(Read Complete Story Here)

Falcone, LightSquared Decline Senator’s Request for Records

By Todd Shields
Bloomberg

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Philip Falcone and his LightSquared wireless venture declined to provide documents about contacts with the White House and U.S. regulators sought by a Republican senator, according to a letter released by the lawmaker.
(Read Complete Story Here)

LightSquared Harms GPS

By Jim Kirkland, VP and General Counsel of Trimble
The Hill

LightSquared has been trying for nearly a year to show that it can provide new broadband services without seriously undermining the critical GPS uses and applications Americans rely on every day. It has consistently failed to make its case. But that hasn’t slowed down a LightSquared public relations barrage proclaiming solution after solution.   
(Read Complete Story Here)

LightSquared: The So-Called "Fix"

By Eric Gakstatter, Survey Scene, October 2011
GPS World

LightSquared’s been in the news quite a bit since my last Survey Scene newsletter a month ago, but very little of it has actual consequence. A lot of the “news” is just noise. LightSquared pumped up its propaganda campaign nationwide to try to build a consensus in their favor and put pressure on the FCC, and is threatening a lawsuit if the FCC doesn’t do what LightSquared wants. No surprises there. However, other things have happened that I think you might be interested in hearing about.
(Read Complete Story Here)

LightSquared and GPS Can Coexist

By Dr. Javad Ashjaee
The Hill

Dr. Javad Ashjaee, president and CEO of JAVAD GNSS, the company LightSquared has partnered with to develop a technical solution to GPS interference by LightSquared’s planned network, penned an op-ed for The Hill’s Congress Blog. “Technology has solved the problem,” he wrote, “now we just have to wait for the politicians to catch up.”
(Read Complete Story Here)

LightSquared vs. GPS: A $6 Solution?

By Mary Grady
AV Web

LightSquared, the broadband company that has met with resistance from GPS users due to interference from its system, said last week technology company Partron America has developed a filter that costs only $6. This technology, along with several other prototypes, will undergo extensive testing in the coming weeks, LightSquared said. "Preliminary testing leaves LightSquared confident that the debate over our system and interference from GPS signals will be resolved," the company said in a news release.
(Read Complete Story Here)

LightSquared: Say Goodbye to Internet Dead Zones

FieldTechnologies.com

Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just “broadband”, is a high data rate connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access with a modem. There are several broadband service providers in the US such as AT&T, Verizon, Cox, and Time Warner. Broadband service is available in all major US cities, but there are still millions of people in rural areas that do not have high speed internet.
(Read Complete Story Here)

LightSquared Keeps A Light On

By Anna Palmer & Dave Levinthal
Politico

KEEPING A LIGHT ON: Wireless broadband company LightSquared may be under scrutiny, but the company isn’t pulling up its stakes on K Street. In fact, the startup is expanding its downtown reach, adding three shops this month alone — Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, K&L Gates, and Podesta Group. The trio comes on board after LightSquared beefed up its contract shops by five earlier this year. Nethercutt Consulting, American Continental Group, Ballard Spahr, Gephardt Group Government Affairs and Dickstein Shapiro have all been hired in 2011.
(Read Complete Story Here)

Communications Daily and TR Daily report that CTIA said in light of questions over LightSquared’s network that the FCC should look at interference issues before granting a waiver to Dish Network.

• "DISH's proposed service would create the significant potential for harmful interference to incumbent PCS networks," CTIA said (http://xrl.us/bmgf6k). "The recent LightSquared proceeding demonstrates the importance of identifying and resolving known interference concerns prior to taking action on a waiver petition. In that proceeding, the Commission granted LightSquared's modification application while leaving unresolved the significant interference issues that were raised by LightSquared's proposed operations."

Communications Daily reports that Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen said that charging spectrum fees for terrestrial use of mobile satellite service spectrum is bad policy and could slow investment in services. He also denied claims that Dish’s plan to buy DBSD and TerreStar would be a windfall for Dish because those companies didn’t have to buy the spectrum at auction. As for LightSquared, Ergen said it shows the need to “do it right the first time.” Dish has done its homework in the S-band purchases and proactively said it wants regulators to take the normal amount of time in looking at the deals, he said. Dish wouldn't have gone ahead with purchases without the precedent set by LightSquared, Ergen said.

Communications Daily reports that FCC International Bureau Chief Mindel de la Torre said Monday that the bureau will help with the ongoing review of LightSquared's services in an "open and transparent manner” and that the FCC won't allow LightSquared to begin service without resolving the GPS interference concerns.

Tyler Surveyors Take Stand On LightSquare/GPS Threat

By Roger Gray
www.KETKNBC.com

There was a good old fashioned protest in front of the Smith County Courthouse this morning. But the subject is a little complex, and some suspect, very political. It’s all about cellular phones, multi-billion dollar investments, political influence, and public safety. It centers on a broadband supplier called LightSquare.

It’s also about a battle between powerful communications giants, while we can only sit on the sidelines.

(Read Complete Story and View News Video Here)

White House’s Testimony ‘Guidance’

By Eli Lake
The Daily Beast (www.thedailybeast.com)

First it was a four-star general, and now a federal agency official says the White House sought changes to his testimony on a wireless project tied to a prominent Democratic donor. Eli Lake reports.
(Read Complete Story Here)

General Reported He Was Pressured on Testimony About White House-Backed Project, Sources Say

By Justin Fishel
FoxNews.com

Gen. William Shelton, head of the Air Force Space Command, told House members in a classified briefing earlier this month that he was pressured to change prepared congressional testimony in a way that would favor a large company funded by Philip Falcone, a major Democratic donor, congressional sources told Fox News.

Republicans have raised questions about whether the project pursued by the company, LightSquared, is being unduly expedited by the Obama administration, which has pushed for national wireless network upgrades.
(Read Complete Story Here)

LightSquared: Another Solyndra?

By Richard Pollock
Pajamas Media (www.pajamasmedia.com)

There’s a White House scandal involving favoritism towards a specific company high on President Obama’s political agenda — and it’s not Solyndra.

In this case, the company owner happens to be a big Democratic Party donor. And in the pursuit of giving preference to a specific company, the White House undercut a legendary four-star general and potentially undermined U.S. national security. Adding fuel to the explosive story: at one time President Obama was a personal investor, with $50,000 of his own money.
(Read Complete Story Here)

White House Pressure for a Donor?

By Eli Lake
The Daily Beast (thedailybeast.com)

The Pentagon has worried for months that a project backed by a prominent Democratic donor might interfere with military GPS. Now Congress wants to know if the White House pressured a general to change his testimony.
(Read Complete Story Here)

LightSquared Needs More Testing for Interference, FCC Says

By Todd Shields
Bloomberg.com

Philip Falcone’s LightSquared wireless service needs more testing to ensure it won’t cause harmful interference to global-positioning system operations, the Federal Communications Commission said.

Interference concerns persist after LightSquared changed plans to keep its signals away from those used by GPS, the agency said in an e-mailed notice today.
(Read Complete Story Here)

Rallies to Support GPS (Seattle)

(By Gavin Shrock)

A rally is being held September 22nd 8:30am in front of the Jackson Federal Building, 2nd Ave in Seattle, and other rallies are being organized for the same day in other cities (more news as they are confirmed).

These rallies are in support of GPS as a critical public resource, and to voice end user concerns over the proposal being considered by the FCC that could cause damaging interference for high precision GPS for end users like surveyors, aviation, construction, science, industry and public safety [aka the "LightSquared" issue].

The rallies are being spearheaded by surveyors and surveying associations; but other end user segments are pitching in, like precision agriculture, academia, aviation and public safety. This is purely grass roots about this specific issue with no other agenda.

Join in the rallies; if you would like to organize a rally for your local area (and there are federal buildings everywhere; especially look for the ones with FCC offices) then some materials have been prepared by the organizers of the original rally in Seattle; a sort of primer with a press release template; see attached files.

Questions? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Don't Block the Road

By Jose Menendez, House of Representatives
Austin American Statesman (statesman.com)

‘If my friend, Senator Warren, wishes to use one of these newfangled devices inside the confines of his own ranch in Wyoming, no one shall say him nay, but not on the public roads," said Sen. Joseph Weldon Bailey, D-Texas, on introducing legislation in the early 1900s that would have banned automobiles from public highways. "The horse has an ancient and prescriptive right to the highways."

Bailey strongly believed that the rise of the automobile meant the fall of the horse and the farmers he represented. One century ago, it would have been difficult to foresee all the modern inventions — harvesting combines, hay-balers, F-150's — that his well-intentioned legislation would have needlessly stifled.

The special interests in Washington are now trying to force a similarly misguided choice on the FCC. This time, the decision pits the old technology of GPS devices against new wireless providers that offer innovation, competition and investment to neglected rural communities.
(Read Complete Story Here)

More from the Coalition to Save Our GPS

Former U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan and former U.S. Reps. George Nethercutt and Charlie Stenholm, all of whom serve on LightSquared’s Empower Rural America advisory board, penned an op-ed for the Grand Forks Herald saying that America can have broadband and GPS. In the piece, the former lawmakers say GPS devices are using LightSquared’s spectrum, and that political hurdles are “proving to be even more daunting” than technical ones. It also notes that LightSquared’s revised plan – and testing of it – will eliminate concern for “99.95 percent” of existing GPS devises and that the company will underwrite a technological fix that addresses the remaining receivers.

Communications Daily reports that the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces rescheduled a hearing for Sept. 15th on the effects of LightSquared's planned wireless service on military GPS.

Open Mobile Media issued a press release announcing that LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja will keynote The Open Mobile Summit San Francisco on November 2nd.

Articles about Sprint in Boy Genius Report and Fierce Broadband Wireless note that Sprint has reached a deal with LightSquared, but that LightSquared’s rollout has been delayed because its network causes GPS interference.  

Global Insight, Telecompaper Americas, M2 EquityBites, and Television Broadcast report that LightSquared has signed a wholesale agreement with Advanta Technologies.

GNSS System
Watching and Waiting. And Questioning. GPS in the Balance

By Alan Cameron
GNSS Design & Test Newsletter, Aug. 2011

The difference between navigation and communication signals — a key point not well or not at all understood in Washington — and an FCC rule that could cause LightSquared to foot substantial GPS refitting bills even if it prevails to interfere, were two of several subjects that came to light in last week’s “LightSquared Watch” webinar. As the Federal Communications Commission goes through its deliberations, two inside-the-Beltway experts joined me to speculate on what may happen, what we might do about it at that time, and the long, strange trip that brought us to this point.
(Read Complete Store Here)

Lightsquared Blasts GPS Equipment Makers

In the latest move between LightSquared, the US start-up carrier which proposes a national 4G terrestrial mobile broadband network, and those who claim its use of the L1 frequency band will interfere with GPS signals, the Virginia-based company has hit out at GPS receiver makers for ignoring agreed "guard band" limits. Its statement reads as follows.
(Read Complete Story Here)

Response to Lightsquared Article (linked above)

By Eric Gakstatter

LightSquared is attempting to muddy the waters with this kind of debate (DoD specs, filtering, etc.). From the high-precision GPS industry perspective, it's actually quite simple.

Three things are really batting against LightSquared.

1. As much as they say they gave fair warning, LightSquared and the FCC didn't communicate with the GPS user community at all on this issue. The U.S. GPS Industry Council (USGIC) doesn't count. They don't represent the GPS user community nor communicate with the GPS user community at all. So, the GPS user community was blindsided by this in Nov 2010.

This was either intentional or sloppy, but it doesn't matter either way. The bottom line is that you can't give nine months notice on obsoleting 200,000+ very expensive GPS receivers that are installed and used in critical infrastructure applications. It would take many years to transition to new equipment. The U.S. Air Force and Dept of Commerce have already been through this drill already and they determined that 12 years was about the right timeframe needed to transition high-precision civilian GPS equipment to new technology. If LightSquared and the FCC really understood this market, they would know it's not a four-year exercise.

2. Even with LightSquared using only the lower spectrum (1526-1536Mhz), it still interferes with $2+ billion dollars worth of high-precision GPS receivers. Who's going to pay that bill? The GPS user community that was given no advanced notice?

They can argue all they want about who's fault it is, new filter technology, DoD standards, etc., but at the end of the day, obsoleting 200,000+ expensive high-precision GPS receivers valued at  $2+ billion dollars would be devastating to American small businesses and Fed/State/Local gov't.

3. LightSquared sells high-precision satellite data communications services to the high-precision GPS industry. Before LightSquared was formed in 2010, its predecessors (Skyterra, MSV) sold the same services to the GPS industry for many, many years.  In the course of business over many, many years, LightSquared and its predecessors have encouraged GPS receiver manufacturers to design receivers that look into the MSS band (1525-1559MHz) in order to access LightSquared’s satellite data communication services. This service has generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue for LightSquared and its predecessors over many years and continues to be a revenue source for LightSquared today.

If LightSquared chooses to stop supplying satellite data communications services to the GPS industry, that’s their choice, but they should not fabricate a statement claiming that only the reason for interference in the “lower portion of its downlink band” is due to filtering technology. It’s just not true. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of expensive high-precision GPS receivers were specifically designed to access LightSquared’s and Inmarsat’s satellite data communications services that they sell to the GPS industry.

LightSquared may state they will continue to offer these services to the GPS industry in the upper portion of its downlink band (1545-1559MHz) to create separation from the lower portion of the downlink band (1526-1536MHz). It’s too late for that. Billions of dollars of expensive, high-precision GPS receivers are already in the market that were designed to look in the entire MSS L-band (1525-1559MHz) for services provided by LightSquared and Inmarsat. Had the GPS user community been given sufficient notice, tens of thousands of high-precision GPS equipment owners could have planned for transitioning their GPS receivers over many years with a manageable financial impact. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The GPS user community was blindsided by LightSquared’s application in November 2010 and the FCC’s waiver granted to LightSquared in January 2011.

Of course, I didn't mention aviation, maritime, military and other safety-of-life applications of GPS. That's a whole other story...

Eric Gakstatter
GPS World

GPS Interference Test Results May Not Slow FCC Decision on LightSquared Deal (Inside GNSS)

Glen Gibbons
July 29, 2011

Despite evidence of the likelihood for harmful interference to nearby GPS and other GNSS L1 signals, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appears likely to push ahead with approval of a revised LightSquared Subsidiary plan to build a dense U.S. network of high-powered ground transmitters for wireless broadband service.

As clock runs down for filing comments on LightSquared’s revised request to begin service using a 10-megahertz chunk in the lower portion of the 1525-1559 MHz band, participants and observers of the controversial plan say that the FCC appears to be trying to issue a decision by Labor Day or mid-September at the latest. The schedule appears to be driven more by LightSquared’s need to meet financial milestones than FCC processes for due diligence, they say.
(Read Complete Story Here)

Marc Cheves, LS
Editor
The American Surveyor
(From American Surveyor newsletter)

LightSquared: Corruption in the highest places seems to be the order of the day according to an Inside GNSS article which states "...political influences, driven by Harbinger’s billions and the president’s desire to lift up expansion of wireless broadband as a feature of his re-election campaign..."

To bring you up to speed, I have asked Gavin Schrock—our GNSS expert and tireless campaigner against that which would remove our ability to make money with GPS—to provide an update: "The public comment period on the FCC File Number: SAT-MOD-20101118-00239 “LightSquared Subsidiary LLC Request for Modification of Its Authority for an Ancillary Terrestrial Component" closed July 30th.
(Read Complete Story Here)