Page 37 - Volume 16 Number 4

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LightSquared to deploy portions of its 4G long-term evolution (LTE) broadband network for testing purposes. That approval came despite prior warnings from GPS industry representatives that those signals, utilizing bandwidth adjacent to the spectrum historically used by GPS satellites and receivers, would overpower GPS signals and render those vital navigational systems useless. NBAA was a founding member of the Coalition to Save Our GPS, comprised of over 200 members from in and outside the aviation community, who mobilized to resolve the LightSquared threat to GPS.
As further testing validated earlier interference claims, the Coalition called upon lawmakers to take action on the issue. In May, more than 30 U.S. senators requested the FCC pull its waiver, until the technology could be proven to safely coexist with GPS signals. House officials warned the FCC the LightSquared network could have “devastating effects” on those who relied on GPS, both on the ground and in the air.
Concerns about potential interference with GPS also reached the global stage. In a June 13 letter to the FCC, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) expressed “grave concern” over the conditional waiver, and noted the importance of GPS navigation to both current and future users of the worldwide aircraft fleet. With pressure mounting, LightSquared offered to relocate its signals to bandwidth further away from GPS, though still within the L-band spectrum – a move critics said would do little to solve the issue.
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen submitted written testimony for a congressional hearing held June 23 on the issue by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s subcommittees on Aviation, and Coast Guard Maritime Transportation. “For more than three decades, the GPS ... has been integral part of our nation’s infrastructure,” he said. “We have been carefully monitoring the field testing of the LightSquared system and initial results do indicate the potential for interference with the
satellite transmissions to hundreds of millions of GPS receivers.”
‘No Practical Solutions’ to Remedy Problem
On June 30, LightSquared submitted results of its own tests to the FCC. The company acknowledged its network would interfere with GPS, but then claimed that interference was “...caused by the GPS device manufacturer’s decision over the last eight years to design products that depend on using spectrum assigned to other FCC licensees,” which the company asserted was “a problem of their own making.” The GPS industry vehemently denied that assertion.
The FCC repeatedly delayed its ruling on the LightSquared issue, allowing both sides additional time to determine possible solutions, to no avail. The beginning of the end was a January 13, 2012 ruling by the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which determined there were “no practical solutions” that would allow LightSquared’s network to operate in conjunction with GPS.
LightSquared disputed that finding - alleging the PNT report demonstrated “bias and inappropriate collusion with the private sector” - but time was clearly running out. One month later, the NTIA issued its final recommendation to the FCC, reasserting the PNT’s finding that “there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference at this time.”
The FCC suspended LightSquared’s permit on February 15. The company has since drastically scaled back its operations and seen key personnel resign, though it maintains plans to build its network.
“NBAA Members don’t oppose new technology systems like the one proposed by LightSquared,” Bolen said following the FCC ruling, “as long as they don’t compromise aviation safety by interfering with the GPS systems our Members rely on for navigation and communications.”
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