Posted on 09/17/2011 9:10:30 PM PDT by dickmc
“GPS receivers were quite purposefully designed to operate in a portion of the radio frequency spectrum deliberately maintained as a “quiet neighborhood,” with neighboring frequencies primarily occupied by signals of comparable power levels, all based on widely accepted understanding of previous FCC rules and intent. The proposed LightSquared transmitters will produce received signal strengths five billion times stronger than the GPS received signal.”
"Some have suggested GPS equipment can be redesigned for greater filtering to mitigate the interference, but even if this is possible, we believe it would involve substantial financial cost and likely degrade the accuracy of high performance receivers, which is critical to many key GPS users."
“We believe the signal strength proposed as 'lower power' is actually the same as in the originally published LightSquared plan—and was the power level upon which the NPEF (these) tests were based....”
“Emperical test results indicate the originally planned LightSquared network does not preserve existing GPS service in representative environments for most users.”
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The pdf of this Shelton testimony is at http://www.gpsworld.com/defense/shelton-testimony-12083
The link to the related GPS World article is here.
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(Excerpt) Read more at gpsworld.com ...
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has uncovered information that Obama was an early invester in LightSquared. Morrissey has request O’s financial disclosure forms. Also, apparently O did not have a blind trust . . .
Re Sanjiv Ahuja - The name is not Muslim that I know of.
It sounds quite conventionally Hindu.
Do you have more information about him ?
I don’t see this in the same context as SatinDoll upthread. There is a National Security implication, but IMO it is not a deliberate act of sabotage. It is arguably a stupid, greedy, Chicago thuggish act with sabotage as a byproduct.
IMO it is just a variation on the Solyndra deal...payback for early or late favors. The difference here is that Solyndra was just money. This would (not could, WOULD) cost lives. And thus it is even more scurrilous than Solyndra (and Solyndra’s four or five fraudulent compadres)
I like the idea behind LightSquared - establish a wholesale-only nationwide 4G LTE network, one that could be used to provide unique wireless services like television or what have you, as well as establish a competitive landscape for MVNOs (which are usually doomed to fail via contracts with AT&T and VZW).
No, I don’t believe the CEO set out to create a network that would intentionally disable GPS. Things like that aren’t good for publicity. However, now it appears that once they found out it did, they used their political influence to try to bury the story. That’s detestable and I hope we can get to the bottom of it.
A. Aviation receivers operating as far as 7.5 miles from LightSquared transmitters completely lost GPS and were degraded out to distances of more than 16.5 miles. For two representative receivers tested by the FAA, results also showed GPS would be completely unusable for an aircraft 500 feet above the ground in an area spanning Stafford, Virginia through Washington and Baltimore, and out to Frederick, Maryland.
B. High precision GPS receivers such as those used for surveying and geological study requiring precise measurements were adversely affected out to 213 miles and totally lost GPS out to 4.8 miles.
C. Based on testing performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a class of receivers used in space to conduct certain types of atmospheric measurements would be unusable up to 12% of the time while in their typical orbits.
D. The State of New Mexico E-911 Program Director, who sent several GPS-equipped emergency and police vehicles to the test, stated in a letter to AFSPC that their equipment showed “the LightSquared network will cause interference to GPS signals and jeopardize 911 and public safety.”
~~snip~~
GPS receivers were quite purposefully designed to operate in a portion of the radio frequency spectrum deliberately maintained as a “quiet neighborhood,” with neighboring frequencies primarily occupied by signals of comparable power levels, all based on the widely accepted understanding of previous FCC rules and intent. The proposed LightSquared transmitters will produce received signal strengths five billion times stronger than the GPS received signal.
From the conclusions:
Empirical test results indicate the originally planned LightSquared network does not preserve existing GPS service in representative environments for most users.
This group must be stopped before they destroy the technological benefits brought by GPS systems. Many of us use it in our everyday occupations and new uses are coming online (e.g. positive train control to prevent collisions like the 2008 one in California between a passenger train and a freight on the same track that killed 28). Obama's lackeys don't seem to give a damn as long as their campaign contributors are protected at the expense of the greater population.
The General Aviation community has been warning pilots about this LightSquare fiasco for months.
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This is simple enough, and effects enough people, to be a real problem for Obama.
The short story is that the administration is letting $90K in political contributions override the concerns of the military, and every business or individual that uses a GPS.
Anybody who has popped for a GPS unit is going to get screwed, all so Obama could grant an unethical in to somebody who as willing to pony up. Lightsquared has too much money in this scheme to just walk away, so they aren’t going to throw in the towel. They are saying that it’s just “business as usual”, and with this administration, they are right.
Obama wants to tax the rich with one hand while he grants special favors to billionaire donors at the expense of the little people and National Security with the other.
The Tea Party and conservatives need trumpet this loud and long. The Republicans won’t have the stones to call him on it in the media, they’ll just make some noise in hearings that only CSPAN addicts catch.
LightSquared says its all the greedy GPS manufacturer's fault even though Lightsquared proposes to operate 40,000 terrestrial transmitters in a previously --purposefully maintained-- quiet neighborhood satellite band!
You’re talking about spending billions of dollars to duplicate what is free to the private sector today. It’s not going to happen. The European attempt to charge for Galileo went nowhere (note - my Dad, Roger Easton, played a major role in the invention of GPS).
...LightSquared is owned by the Harbinger Capital hedge fund, headed by billionaire investor Phil Falcone. He visited the White House and made large donations to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Soon after, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted LightSquared a highly unusual waiver that allows the company to build out a national 4G wireless network on the cheap.
Is LightSquared the New Solyndra? The Case of Air Force 4-Star and White House Pressure
...Obama himself was an early investor and came to the presidency a firm believer in expanding broadband. He remains close to other early investors, like Gips and investment manager George W. Haywood, inviting some to luxe social events at the White House and more intimate gatherings like a night of poker and beer....
Why hasn’t Lightsquared done a long-term trial test to see if this would interfere with GPS?
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.
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