{"id":85087,"date":"2011-04-02T23:30:53","date_gmt":"2011-04-02T15:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/aircraft-pilots-group-blasts-fccs-handling-of-lightsquared-gps-interference-issues\/"},"modified":"2011-04-02T23:30:53","modified_gmt":"2011-04-02T15:30:53","slug":"aircraft-pilots-group-blasts-fccs-handling-of-lightsquared-gps-interference-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/aircraft-pilots-group-blasts-fccs-handling-of-lightsquared-gps-interference-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Aircraft, Pilots Group Blasts FCC\u2019s Handling of LightSquared, GPS Interference Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[04-02-11] The <strong>Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association<\/strong> (AOPA) blasted the <strong>U.S. Federal Communications Commission<\/strong> (FCC) for allegedly showing favoritism towards communications network operator <strong>LightSquared<\/strong> in dealing with its potential interference issues with GPS signals.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp; In a March 29 statement to the FCC, the AOPA accused the commission of \u201cfailing to balance a satellite network operator\u2019s claim of public interest against the \u2018massive problems\u2019 that the expansion of its network could cause for the aviation industry and other GPS users.\u201d<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp; AOPA demanded that the FCC reverse a waiver it granted to LightSquared in January, which repurposed a portion of satellite spectrum that neighbors the frequency range used by common GPS applications. \u201cBy granting the waiver, the FCC failed to give proper weight to the \u2018substantial evidence\u2019 in the record that [LightSquared\u2019s] network expansion of 40,000 required ground stations could cause significant desensitization of GPS receivers and massive problems that issue would create for the aviation industry,\u201d AOPA said in the statement.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The debate stems from a report filed in January to FCC by <strong>Garmin<\/strong> Engineers Scott Burgett and Bronson Hokuf, which asserted that the stronger signals created by the LightSquared mobile network base stations and the SkyTerra-1 satellite would, \u201cseriously limit GPS reception, causing widespread GPS jamming and depriving vast areas of the United States of GPS coverage.\u201d<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) also expressed concern to the FCC about LightSquared\u2019s proposed LTE network interfering with GPS satellites and other emergency communications. In reponse, LightSquared formed a working group with the U.S. Global Positioning System Industry Council (USGIC) to study potential interference problems the 4G LTE terrestrial-satellite network might pose on GPS systems.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; AOPA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Melissa Rudinger, however, was not satisfied with the company\u2019s response and called the FCC\u2019s imposed requirements that LightSquared work with users to study effects of its network on GPS \u201cinsufficient.\u201d<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; \u201cThat condition left LightSquared itself in a position to determine whether the relief it had received was technically sound. Such an investigation should have been headed by the FCC International Bureau or a neutral third party, not LightSquared,\u201d Rudinger said in a statement.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <strong>U.S. Department of Transportation<\/strong> and the <strong>U.S. Department of Defense <\/strong>are now working with the FCC to outline a plan that would prevent LightSquared\u2019s network from interfering with critical civil and military government operations.<\/p>\n<h2>\nRelated Stories-<\/h2>\n<p><b class=\"titlelink\">FCC Chairman Receives Harsh Warning over Broadband Plan s Shortcomings<\/b>&nbsp;<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"14\" height=\"14\" align=\"top\" alt=\"\" src=\"..\/..\/..\/..\/images\/ico_bluekey.gif\">&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tSatellite Today&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tMarch 21, 2011<br \/>\n[03-21-11] If just  half of the new spectrum promised in the National Broadband Plan is made  commercially available, demand will still exceed capacity by 2017,  according to a report filed March 16 with the U.S. Federal\u2026<\/p>\n<p><b class=\"titlelink\">LightSquared, USGIC Form Working Group to Tackle Interference Issues<\/b>&nbsp;<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"14\" height=\"14\" align=\"top\" alt=\"\" src=\"..\/..\/..\/..\/images\/ico_bluekey.gif\">&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tSatellite Today&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tMarch 1, 2011<br \/>\n[03-01-11]  LightSquared has formed a working group with the U.S. Global Positioning  System Industry Council (USGIC) to study potential interference  problems the 4G LTE terrestrial-satellite network might pose on GPS  systems\u2026<\/p>\n<p><b class=\"titlelink\">Harbinger Restructures LightSquared Invest to Expand Investor Support<\/b>&nbsp;<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"14\" height=\"14\" align=\"top\" alt=\"\" src=\"..\/..\/..\/..\/images\/ico_goldkey.gif\">&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tSatellite News&nbsp;&nbsp; \t\t\tMarch 1, 2011<br \/>\n[03-01-11] Harbinger Capital  Director Philip Falcone is restructuring the hedge fund s investment in  satellite 4G-LTE operator LightSquared to  facilitate direct investments  by existing and prospective investors in the master fund\u2019s\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[04-02-11] The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) blasted the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for allegedly showing favoritism towards communications network operator LightSquared in dealing with its potential interference issues with GPS signals. &nbsp;&nbsp; In a March 29 statement to the FCC, the AOPA accused the commission of \u201cfailing to balance a satellite network [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}