FCC Calls for More Testing on Potential LightSquared Interference
September 14, 2011The Federal Communications Commission issued a Public Notice today stating that additional testing is necessary to ensure that LightSquared's broadband network will not interfere with GPS.
The notice states: "Following extensive comments received as a result of the technical working group process required by the International Bureau's Order and Authorization dated January 26, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission, in consultation with NTIA, has determined that additional targeted testing is needed to ensure that any potential commercial terrestrial services offered by LightSquared will not cause harmful interference to GPS operations....
"For more than three months, the technical working group, comprised of more than 120 participants including representatives from the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation and other federal agencies, the GPS community, various telecommunications companies and LightSquared, conducted an extensive set of tests, and LightSquared submitted a final report on June 30, 2011. The technical working group effort identified potential for harmful interference from LightSquared’s originally proposed deployment based on operation of terrestrial transmitters in both the upper and lower 10 MHz portions of its spectrum. The FCC issued a public notice on June 30, 2011, seeking comment on the report.
"LightSquared submitted proposed mitigation techniques to remedy the interference to GPS simultaneously with the technical working group final report. Notably, LightSquared proposed to revise its planned deployment to operate terrestrial transmitters only in the lower 10 MHz of its spectrum. The results thus far from the testing using the lower 10 MHz showed significant improvement compared to tests of the upper 10 MHz, although there continue to be interference concerns, e.g., with certain types of high precision GPS receivers, including devices used in national security and aviation applications. Additional tests are therefore necessary."
Download the Public Notice here.
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