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LightSquared Optimistic At One Year Anniversary
Despite Significant List of Problems and no Network
One year after the company's creation, LightSquared still doesn't have a working LTE wireless broadband network, financing remains uncertain, the company has a growing list of political opponents, and there's still the issue of significant unresolved GPS interference concerns. Still, that didn't stop the company from celebrating the company's one year anniversary with cake and ice cream. LightSquared Chief Executive Sanjiv Ahuja insists he's optimistic, and in fact is so optimistic about the FCC sticking to plans to grease LightSquared's market entry, he's got no backup plan should the FCC back away from promises made earlier this year:
quote:
In fact, Ahuja is so confident he said that he isn't planning for the possibility that the FCC denies LightSquared the waiver when the decision comes out in September. "When you look at the testing and the technical data, there's no reason to believe that the decision should go against LightSquared," Ahuja said. LightSquared filed a proposal with the FCC last month that it claims will get around most of the concerns that the network would cripple farm equipment, navigation devices, and other gadgets with high-precision GPS receivers. The plan consisted of using a different swath of spectrum that is further away from the GPS signals, reducing the risk of interference. The GPS coalition blasted the plan, calling it insufficient.
According to government agencies, LightSquared's proposed plan to reduce interference really doesn't solve the problem, so a swath of this optimism appears to be constructed out of thin air. While Ahuja's remaining positive, he's also got telecom giants AT&T and Verizon likely lobbying overtime behind the scenes to make sure this network never gets built. Still, Ahuja insists the network will be up and running next year at this time, at which point he insists the game plan will be all about "blocking and tackling" and being an aggressive competitor.
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mix
join:2002-03-19
Romeo, MI

mix

Member

Let's get one thing straight...

Cake and ice cream fix everything.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

I Believe Him

quote:
In fact, Ahuja is so confident he said that he isn't planning for the possibility that the FCC denies LightSquared the waiver when the decision comes out in September.
I have no doubt that waiver will be forthcoming in September. The FCC will figure out a way to disregard all the engineering data before it and get LightSquared up and running. It may be up to some other government agency to intercede but by then, they will be lit up and have paying customers making it difficult to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

GPS was nice while it lasted...

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour

Member

Re: I Believe Him

said by n2jtx:

I have no doubt that waiver will be forthcoming in September.

I wouldn't say I have no doubt, but I do believe that unless it's made abundantly clear to the FCC that if they screw this up, heads will roll, I've little doubt they'll do the wrong thing.

I hate to say it--hate to sound like some kind of left-wing, "liberal," "Government is in the pockets of Big Business" whacko (because I'm anything but a "liberal," for starters), but... well... by the way our government agencies have been behaving the last couple decades, in particular, that sure looks to be the case.

Look at all the environmental pollution issues. Where were the regulators? Look at the banking fiascos. Where were the regulators? Look at all the food and drug fiascos. Where've the regulators been? And now the FCC, one of whose primary reasons for existence is to prevent co-interference between services, is about the jeopardize GPS, regularly used by millions, many in critical functions, for the sake of LightSquared?

Broken. Our government is broken. Lousy with incompetents and crooks.

Jim

graycorgi
Premium Member
join:2004-02-23

graycorgi to n2jtx

Premium Member

to n2jtx
I thought that the problem is not that GPS receivers are accepting interference from frequencies outside the GPS band of frequencies. This sounds like a problem the GPS manufacturers need to fix and is not LightSquared's fault. Am I understanding the problem wrong?

GeekGirl1
Premium Member
join:2007-01-28
Morrisville, PA

GeekGirl1

Premium Member

Re: I Believe Him

said by graycorgi:

I thought that the problem is not that GPS receivers are accepting interference from frequencies outside the GPS band of frequencies. This sounds like a problem the GPS manufacturers need to fix and is not LightSquared's fault. Am I understanding the problem wrong?

It's the FCC's responsibility to coordinate the technical side so that interference can't occur. Normally, the frequency range requested by LightSquared is allocated for very, very low power operation - the same power range as your GPS receiver. So, the GPS manufacturers designed their receivers to tolerate very, very low power interference in that frequency range. All is good.

Now, the FCC throws out the rule book and allows someone with thousands of Watts of power in that range. The rule book was thrown out by the use of a waiver that got fast-tracked without adequate public comment. The GPS receivers are getting stomped on and start miscalculating your position (if they can work at all). The receiver won't give you an error, it will just be off.

How does the GPS receiver manufacturer redesign for this problem? There's no way but to make bigger, bulkier, and heavier receivers. Replace every one of the millions of GPS receivers on the hope that you can still fit your GPS cell phone in your pocket. And really hope that the GPS receivers used to navigate your airline flight aren't off enough to fly you into the ground or another aircraft.

r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium Member
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX

r81984 to graycorgi

Premium Member

to graycorgi
said by graycorgi:

I thought that the problem is not that GPS receivers are accepting interference from frequencies outside the GPS band of frequencies. This sounds like a problem the GPS manufacturers need to fix and is not LightSquared's fault. Am I understanding the problem wrong?

Yes you are.
All wavelenghts will red shift or blue shift to lower or higher frequencies as you move towards or away from the source. This is a law of physics and cannot be changed or fixed.

GPS broadcasts at one frequency in the middle of their range in a "satellite only" block of frequencies. The signal will red shift into about half of the "satellite only" frequencies that light squared wants to use for ground transmitters which will jam the very weak satellite signals.

GPS manufactures purposely have GPS units look for and receive the 25 mhz of red shift signals to use for precise GPS calculation of position. If you block the 25 mhz red shift signals than you ruin any precise GPS positioning.
So you make GPS uselss for construction, aircraft, farming, and cars that are in cities with roads very close together or anything else that needs accuracy to less than 1 meter in lenght. The impact to the construction industry alone would be devistating more than anything else. A construction company might have millions of dollars in GPS equipment that will no longer work so they will not be able to do their jobs. It would take forever if they have to go back to manual technologies for elevation and distance measurements.

The only way to fix GPS is to change the laws of physics OR to take away the waiver they gave lightsquared to broadcast powerful ground transmitters on satellite only frequencies.
Take your pick.

graycorgi
Premium Member
join:2004-02-23

graycorgi

Premium Member

Re: I Believe Him

Thanks for the good explanations of the problem!

Although, this certainly sucks for Sprint customers.. we won't be seeing any 4G from Sprint here any time soon if LightSquared doesn't get approval, and it sounds like if they do get approval as it is now GPS is going to be useless... which is an even bigger problem. It sounds like Lightsquared needs to get some better spectrum.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour to n2jtx

Member

to n2jtx
GeekGirl1 has the right of it.

All receivers are susceptible to interference, no matter how well-designed they are. This is especially true when the signal desired is very weak (as are GPS satellite signals) and a nearby transmitter is very strong (as will be LightSquared's signals). Even if a receiver is very well designed, it's sensitive "font end" can be swamped, overloaded, overwhelmed by a nearby strong signal, preventing it from hearing what it wants to hear. This happens prior to the possibility of any filtering.

This LightSquared thing cannot be allowed to happen the way LightSquared currently has it planned.

Jim
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin to n2jtx

Member

to n2jtx
said by n2jtx:

quote:
In fact, Ahuja is so confident he said that he isn't planning for the possibility that the FCC denies LightSquared the waiver when the decision comes out in September.
I have no doubt that waiver will be forthcoming in September. The FCC will figure out a way to disregard all the engineering data before it and get LightSquared up and running. It may be up to some other government agency to intercede but by then, they will be lit up and have paying customers making it difficult to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

GPS was nice while it lasted...

My hope is the FCC will force a spectrum swap and eat the losses. That's the only reasonable outcome.

I don't mind taxpayer money being used to subsidize Lightsquare's spectrum purchase. It's a heck of a lot better than the billions and billions per year that go straight into AT&T's and Verizon's pockets. At least Lightsquare is going to create some real wireless competition.

DaveRickmers
join:2011-07-19
Canyon Country, CA

DaveRickmers

Member

GPS is public property and we should fight for it

It's a little too soon to give up to the porkers.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

big dollars spent, yet not even customer one

let us know when real customers materialize..