LightSquared, the wholesale satellite and terrestrial carrier at the center of the GPS interference issue signed an agreement with Javad GNSS to eliminate interference issues with high-precision GPS devices imperative for operations of first responders.
The solution? A high-precision GPS device which is said to be invulnerable to the interference created by their nationwide LTE network, designed and sold by the company itself. The military personnel and first responders should be thrilled to spend tax dollars purchasing this new, albeit beneficial, solution - directly from the creators of the problem.
This is just the most recent proposal from LightSquared, a finale to the attempted side-stepping, then spectrum shifts, then the claim of a 10-cent filter that can be installed to eliminate interference.
Phillip Falcone, the billionaire backer of LightSquared, claims that 10-cent filter installed into each affected device would resolve the interference issue, but despite GPS advocates' requests to obtain the device for testing, it has never appeared. Certainly General William Shelton, head of Air Force Space Command, would like to see this simple solution at work. He gave a testimony before the House Armed Services Committee last week, outlining the results of the interference testing.
Shelton claims that he was pressured to give a testimony more favorable to LightSquared, but instead of bowing to the pressure, he expounded the details of adverse effects LightSquared's proposed network has on GPS devices, and it's not pretty.
LightSquared blames the GPS industry for the problem, claiming the manufacturers should have heeded the 2008 Department of Defense recommendation on filtering technology for new GPS devices. Developing filtering standards may be a good idea with or without LightSquared's network in the picture, however at this time there are no filtering standards in place to abide by, only recommendations. Whether or not abiding by these standards will solve the interference problem remains to be seen.
Falcone is now attracting the attention of House Republicans concerned about impropriety of White House interactions for LightSquared to obtain Federal loans. The mogul's $30,400 donation (as well as his wife's and his C.E.O. at LightSquared's matching donations) to the Democratic campaign organizations certainly appear to be unethical, or atleast bad timing, as they were made on the same day as a meeting with White House staffers in 2009.
LightSquared is also catching the attention of Republican Senators wondering how this most recently proposed solution will be funded. In his open letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) expresses his concerns regarding how the FCC is handling LightSquared: "My concern regarding LightSquared’s application to create a terrestrial 4G network is that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appears not to have taken sufficient steps to safeguard the American taxpayer and appears to have let LightSquared off the hook regarding the multi-billion cost to retrofit GPS receivers to block out LightSquared’s terrestrial network."
Sen. Grassley also goes on to question who will be footing the bill for the retrofitting GPS receivers, the answer to which impacts tax payers, the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as other military and Public Safety/Homeland Security agencies.
It should be noted that the House Representative, Ralph Hall (R-Tex.) calling these donations into question receives donations to his own campaign of tens of thousands of dollars from AT&T.
Politics don't belong in public safety, but unfortunately issues such as this one could have a significant effect on operations of our military and first responders. Personally, we don't care who wins the fight as long as it's in the best interest of the public. LightSquared expects to have 25 of their new devices available within the next two weeks, and the investigation into the company's dealings with the White House is well under way.
Read the most recent report on the interference study, straight from the source.
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