LIGHTSQUARED VS. GPS
LightSquared Promises GPS Mitigation Plan for Skeptical House Members
[GNSS SIGNALS exclusive] Would-be cellular broadband company LightSquared promised a Congressional subcommittee on June 23 that it would scale back its proposed wireless system and help pay to find a way to mitigate the network's adverse effects on users of the Global Positioning System. (more)
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$96 Billion Annual GPS Commercial Losses from LightSquared Interference?
Interference from LightSquared transmitters could cost manufacturers and users of commercial GPS technology - not including consumers or aviation users - up to $96 billion in annual losses, according to a study by a Washington, D.C.-based economic consulting firm presented on June 22. (more)
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Senate Proposals for GPS Receiver Standards Won't Solve LightSquared Issue
[GNSS SIGNALS exclusive] The U.S. Senate is considering mandated standards for GPS receiver designs that could withstand interference from services using nearby frequencies. The hope: more users packed into swaths of the spectrum. The fear: more expense, and it still wouldn't solve the LightSquared problem. (more)
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OTHER SYSTEMS
GLONASS, Galileo Finances Star at Paris Air Show
Europe's Galileo system got good news on June 22 at the Paris Air Show: program savings have freed up enough funds to support acquisition of at least six additional spacecraft by 2014. Meanwhile, the Russian Space Agency's new chief, Vladimir Popovkin, said he is seeking 402 billion rubles ($14.35 billion) to fund the GLONASS program through 2020. (more)
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U.S. CONGRESS
Appropriators Cut $98 Million from FY12 GPS Program, Add $40 Million for Block IIF
The House Appropriations Committee approved its version of the 2012 Department of Defense Appropriations Act on June 14, cutting funds from the next-generation GPS space (GPS III) and operational control segments, while adding money to the current GPS IIF satellite allocation. (more) |
House Cautions FCC on LightSquared GPS Interference
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can't spend any money furthering the LightSquared effort until everyone is satisfied that it won't mess with GPS. That's the gist of a unanimous action of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations committee on June 23. (more) |
A TECHNICAL WORD
Intermodulation Effects: Another Perspective on Wireless Broadband Interference to GPS
[GNSS SIGNALS exclusive] Concerns about the proposed cellular broadband transmissions near GPS L1 focus on the high power of terrestrial base stations and how they saturate the front end of GPS receivers. In this article, an engineer with a long history in broadcast digital television takes a look at the likely effects on GPS receivers of third-order intermodulation products created by LightSquared signals. (more)
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