LightSquared GPS Protection Garners Public Comment

By Doug Lung
published


Documents have started appearing in the FCC Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) in response to the FCC's invitation for comments on LightSquared's request for declaratory ruling concerning resolution of GPS interference concerns about its terrestrial use mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum near GPS bands.

(Comments can be found on the FCC's ECFS Full Text Search by entering "10-142" in the "Proceeding" box.)

A typical filing comes from Anthony Rumpca who states, "I belong to a search & rescue unit that uses GPS's to help in finding missing people. GPS's have aided in many searches and while I cannot say that without them it would have resulted in loss of life, I can say that GPS's have reduced the amount of time it would have normally taken to locate the missing person. Please don't allow LightSquared to degrade the efficiency of the tools we need to help aid the public."

Michael Mable, in his more detailed comments addressed LightSquared's contention that manufacturers of GPS devices susceptible to interference from LightSquared's proposed terrestrial transmitters are at fault because they did not provide sufficient filtering:

"This is not due to 'poor design' of existing receivers, it is due to those receivers being designed for the present operating environment, where the L-band is kept 'quiet' and reserved for low-level satellite to earth transmissions," said Mable. "It is possible that receivers could be built today with better rejection of high-level out-of-band signals, and maybe that is something for the future, but for the present, installed user base of receivers are not so designed. Some of these receivers could, possibly be retro-fitted with filters (at whose expense?) but the majority of receivers could not be. So far as I know, there has been no truly independent testing to demonstrate the efficacy of any of the filter solutions proposed."

The deadline for filing comments is Feb. 27, 2012. I do not expect to see filings from companies and nationwide interested organization to appear in ECFS until closer to the deadline. Reply comments are due March 13, 2012.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.