WiLan should look closely and very quickly at this !
This IMHO, would be a splendid place to put into place, their WhiteSpace Technology.
This is a new LTE (huge)Network that is dangerously close to GPS services.
You might want to be aware that an increasing number of Instrument landing approaches..
ie Hundreds of smiling passengers ...... gliding down to a runway in rain and fog) could be relying on
sexy new GPS based Instrument Landing Systems ..
insidegnss.com 
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report on the level of interference
between LightSquared's proposed mobile broadband network and GPS receivers is
due in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the fight over final approval of the system
has rolled into the halls of Congress.
On Thursday (May 26) the House approved an amended 2012 Defense Authorization
bill requiring the Federal Communications Commission to withhold full approval
of the LightSquared 4G-LTE system and disallow operations until interference
issues with military receivers are resolved.The FCC granted LightSquared a
waiver on January 26, allowing the firm to repurpose frequency licenses used to
supplement its satellite-based service for use in a ground-based network. The
frequencies are adjacent to those used by GPS, and final approval of the system
was conditioned on working out interference and power overload issues with the
GPS community.
The new provision, set forth in Section 911 of the authorization bill, is much
stronger than the original measure, which only required the Defense Department
to report interference problems to Congress and submit a plan for addressing
them.
"Our military is heavily reliant on an uninterrupted GPS capability to do their
jobs," said the amendment's sponsor Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio). "The risk to
our forces of the widespread denial of GPS was too great and required action."
The new version also mandates the FCC to make the final report on
LightSquared/GPS testing available to Congress and permit all interested parties
to comment — a requirement that could slow the fast-tracked LightSquared
project. Finally, in a move that may head off future jurisdictional squabbles,
the FCC's decision documents will now go to the two committees in both the House
and Senate tasked with overseeing the Defense Department and the FCC. The Senate
has yet to take up its version of the bill.
Though the measure was substantially stronger than its initial, the real bite
was in the House Report that accompanied the bill. Such reports are meant to
give congressional perspective on the action items within legislation and, in
this case, the message was decidedly frosty.
Underscoring that the FCC did not conduct an interference study before granting
LightSquared a waiver, the committee said it was "disappointed that the FCC
proceeded … prior to any study and resolution of the GPS interference issue."
Moreover, it called on the FCC to "indefinitely postpone final decision until
the harmful interference issue has been resolved, with the full …approval of the
Department of Defense."
The report writers also pointedly reminded the Secretary of Defense that "the
Secretary may not agree to any restriction on the Global Positioning System . .
. that would adversely affect the military potential of the Global Positioning
System."
The defense-focused amendment passed the House less than a week after a third of
the nation's senators signed a letter to the FCC expressing concern "that
LightSquared's proposal places an unacceptable risk to public safety through
interference with GPS receivers necessary for aviation, first responders,
agriculture, construction, maritime navigation, E-911, and national defense
systems."
The bipartisan group of 33 senators, led by Sens. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Ben
Nelson, D-Neb., asked the FCC to rescind the waiver until LightSquared could
"demonstrate non-interference of GPS."
"We fully appreciate the interest of some members of Congress in the FCC's
review of LightSquared's proposal to provide 4G-LTE service in the L-Band," said
Jeffrey J. Carlisle, LightSquared's vice president for regulatory affairs and
public policy. "GPS is a vital service to the United States, and LightSquared is
committed to identifying and resolving any interference issues."
The firm, which took out large color ads in the Washington Post and the Wall
Street Journal underscoring their proposal's advantages, may be facing another
round of congressional ire. A new letter asserting that the FCC "recklessly
fast-tracked the waiver process" is making the rounds in the House of
Representatives. Working to gather support for the letter are Reps. Randy
Neugebauer, R-Texas, Steve Austria, R-Ohio, Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Ralph
Hall, R-Texas.
The FCC, the four say, should "only grant final approval to LightSquared if the
company can indisputably demonstrate that their proposal will not interfere with
GPS technology.
Dee Ann Divis is assistant managing editor – news at the Washington (D.C.)
Examiner and the Washington View columnist for Inside GNSS magazine. |
