The FCC’s public comment period regarding the LightSquared/GPS interference issue has ended and the reply comment period is over as well. To date, more than 3,300 comments were entered that the FCC must sift through and arrive at some sort of conclusion. Following are my last comments filed with the FCC as well as my best guess at where this is heading.
You may not have noticed it, but last Friday we experienced the first serious geomagnetic storm in this solar cycle (Solar Cycle 24), which began in 2009. Not all types of solar activity (sun spots, solar flares, solar burst, and solar radiation) affect GPS receiver operations. Geomagnetic storms are the ones that can cause problems for GPS receivers if those storms are powerful enough.
Okay, folks, this is where the rubber meets the road. The FCC LightSquared public comment period ends this Saturday. If you use GPS, it would be very wise to submit your comments today. Don’t expect the FCC to make a rational decision. LightSquared has an amazing amount of political influence, and you can see that in the support they receive from state legislators, mayors, chiefs of police, etc. In this article, I’ll show you how to submit your comments to the FCC in just five minutes. I’ll also show comments I’m submitting to the FCC.
At stake is the high-precision GPS industry as we know it. If LightSquared’s current proposal is approved by the FCC, it will render tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands of GPS receivers obsolete starting as early as next year. The FCC is accepting public comments until July 30 and replies to those comments until August 15. After the public comment period is closed, the FCC can render a decision at any time. Last weekend, I spoke alongside LightSquared and the Coalition to Save Our GPS in a two-hour panel discussion at the Esri Survey Summit in San Diego. Here’s my report.
Originally, the LightSquared/GPS Technical Working Group’s (TWG) report was due to the FCC on June 15. LightSquared requested from the FCC, and received, a two-week extension to submit their report. Three days later, LightSquared announced they found a solution to the GPS interference problem. Their proposed solution is not good news for the high-precision GPS user community.
Tired of hearing about LightSquared? Think it’s a bunch of panicking journalists hungry for something to write about?
Listen, it usually takes a lot to get the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. On the LightSquared issue, they are at full attention. Why?
In late March, I conducted a webinar titled “A Closer Look at L5: The Future of High-Precision GNSS,” in which I discussed the impact that the new GPS L5 signal/frequency may have on high-precision users. Then, in April I was part of a discussion panel-format webinar titled “LightSquared: Our Story So Far.” Many questions and comments arose from both webinars, and I’ll attempt to address those in this column.
The first few months of 2011 have been ripe with technical challenges (LightSquared), technical innovations (Galileo/Compass), and business activity (who is Trimble buying next?).
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