So, LightSquared. Some say that in some nebulous way, the firm is getting unreasonable and possibly illicit support from the Obama administration. I still don’t see it though, especially after listening in on a briefing of LightSquared’s today.
The briefing discussed in depth the issues LightSquared has had with GPS manufacturers. LightSquared that they’re trying hard to be a “good neighbor” and have worked with the FCC to address all issues, to the point of giving up half their spectrum voluntarily, and standing ready to invest $50 million to help GPS makers fix the issues. Because LightSquared does claim that the only issues left involve “precision” GPS which, by design, listen on LightSquared’s spectrum.
LightSquared points out that this is legal. You can listen to whatever you want. The problem is, legally you have no leg to stand on if you receive ‘interference’ by the legitimate holder of the spectrum you’re listening to. That said, they’re still working on a solution so everyone can benefit.
Now obviously this is their side of the story. If there’s a detailed rebuttal of these claims available, I’d love to hear it and link to it in Tech at Night. I’m interested in finding the truth of this matter. We need spectrum, desperately, but I want to go into this knowing the facts.
Even as our outrageously high unemployment continues to fester, California takes on the vital issue of bookseller privacy. Schwa?
Sprint Nextel lobbies the FCC to go after AT&T, not content to have Eric “I don’t remember” Holder suing AT&T even as Sprint Nextel sues AT&T itself. Overkill? Insecurity, knowing this is actually about preventing, not protecting, competition?
The REINS Act promises to do something about burdensome regulation. With House and Senate efforts underway from Geoff Davis in the House and Rob Portman in the Senate, I do hope the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act passes.
Eric Schmidt can’t seem to make up his mind. Even as he begs for Government to keep out of Google’s aims for Motorola Mobility, he continues to ask for Government to pick winners and losers in the form of fascist industrial policy:
Schmidt also lamented the inability of U.S. politicians to reach compromises and make investments in the productive parts of society like other nations have. He noted many Asian nations are growing faster despite a less sophisticated education and healthcare systems.
This statement is terrible when you consider his own comments about government:
I’ll give you a formula. This is an Andy Grove formula. So I’m sitting at this dinner in 1995—Andy Grove was the CEO of Intel—and he gives this speech, and he says, “This is easy to understand. High tech runs three-times faster than normal businesses. And the government runs three-times slower than normal businesses. So we have a nine-times gap.” And I said, “Works for me.” But all of my experiences are consistent with Andy Grove’s observation.
And so what you want to do is you want to make sure that the government does not get in the way and slow things down. We’ve now all developed an ability to lobby about this stuff. We want the government [to understand] if you want to manage something, manage the outcome you want. Don’t specify the technology. Right? In other words, regulate this thing but don’t tell us how to make it technologically. Because if you do, you’ve locked in an incumbent, a specific technological view, et cetera.
He can’t even keep his story straight. If only he’d stick with this, as he said at the end of this Washington Post interview by Lillian Cunningham:
But at the time, we took the position of ‘hands off the Internet.’ You know, leave us alone. And that’s probably still the general view here. The government can make regulatory mistakes that can slow this whole thing down, and we see that and we worry about it.
Hands off the Internet. Yes. Eric, a government big enough to mess with the Internet is big enough to mess with you. Listen. Learn. Stop pushing for Net Neutrality and other power grabs, because they’ll come back and haunt you. Two words: Search. Neutrality.
Moe Lane
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
Jeff Emanuel
Lightsquared is not the victim here...
ja_ak Tuesday, October 4th at 1:13PM EDT (link)They are using what was originally designated as low power satelite spectrum for terrestrial use.
http://www.pnt.gov/interference/lightsquared/
The problem is not just with “precision” GPS – which by the way would effect the military and weapons primarily (huh?) but with the fact that their signal vastly overpowers the relatively weak GPS signal. This is incompatible use of a critical national resource; allowing them to push forward would cause massive hardship. Something as simple as tractors and combines use GPS technology, and even that is disrupted by Lightsquared’s lower power stations they’ve used to test and “prove” their validity.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/John-Deere-Massive-LightSquared-Interference-114599
Their technology, if it remained satelite based, would be fine – but builidng a terrestrial network in that bandwidth is dangerous.
I'll check on it
Neil Stevens (Diary) Tuesday, October 4th at 1:43PM EDT (link)But it’s just as likely that John Deere goofed and mis-engineered its stuff, as it is that LightSquared did.
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Where'd Deere get their GPS units from?
acat (Diary) Tuesday, October 4th at 1:56PM EDT (link)I mean .. I know they aren’t crankin’ em out on the line in Moline…. they’re sourced, likely from a contract manufacturing shop in China…..
Mew
——
Caveat Suffragator
Most high precision GPS units
evilleramsfan Wednesday, October 5th at 11:07AM EDT (link)are made in the USA. Trimble makes their units in Sunnyvale, CA.
“First make sure you’re right, then go ahead.” – Davy Crockett
Trimble's Response:
evilleramsfan Tuesday, October 4th at 1:51PM EDT (link)Jim Kirkland, Vice President and General Counsel of Trimble, in response to a recent statement by LightSquared General Counsel Curtis Lu:
“Mr. Lu’s statement yet again repeats inaccurate statements that LightSquared has for years been authorized to build a nationwide terrestrial network using mobile satellite spectrum and that the GPS industry and Trimble should have designed GPS receivers differently to accommodate this alleged authorization.
“The statement neglects to mention the crucial fact that high-precision receivers like those sold by Trimble and Deere & Co. are uniquely susceptible to interference from LightSquared’s proposed terrestrial operations because they have been designed to use commercial services provided by LightSquared and Inmarsat in the mobile satellite band, services still being offered today. The receivers were designed to meet contractual requirements of LightSquared and Inmarsat. Trimble finds it very odd that LightSquared now says that these designs are deficient, since it has happily collected revenue for these services in the timeframe the statement describes.
“More broadly, the statement’s account of prior FCC decisions is inaccurate. In 2003 and 2005, the FCC only authorized terrestrial operations in the MSS band to fill in the footprint of a satellite service. The FCC reaffirmed that this was all that was authorized as recently as March 2010 in the National Broadband Plan. FCC rules also did not allow the terrestrial-only broadband services LightSquared now wants to provide. The 2004 FCC filing that Mr. Lu cites was made in the context of what the FCC actually permitted then, not what LightSquared is proposing today.
“The marketplace evidence also shows that permitted terrestrial use of MSS spectrum was very limited. LightSquared’s hedge fund owners bought out LightSquared’s predecessor in 2010 at a fraction of what its MSS spectrum would be worth if it was usable for nationwide terrestrial use. If, as Mr. Lu suggests, everyone understood that mobile satellite spectrum could be used for nationwide terrestrial broadband services in 2003, or 2005, that spectrum would have sold for much more. LightSquared clearly wants to keep that multi-billion dollar spectrum windfall for itself, which helps to explain why it is so busy trying to rewrite history.
“Like everybody else, including the Department of Defense and the FAA, among others, the GPS industry expected the FCC to enforce its historical restrictions on use of the MSS band, and preserve the ‘quiet neighborhood’ in what has been satellite spectrum for decades. Moreover, FCC rules have always prohibited MSS terrestrial operations from interfering with GPS. So calling GPS equipment designed to take into account FCC rules and policies in place at the time ‘deficient’ is self-serving and baseless across-the-board.
“Starting in 2010, LightSquared asked the FCC to change or waive its basic policies, and the FCC has said that LightSquared will not be allowed to operate unless interference is eliminated. The FCC has also said that more testing is required to determine the magnitude of the interference problem, despite LightSquared’s continued claims that it has “solved” the problem. If LightSquared is not able to prevent interference to the hundreds of thousands of existing high-precision or other receivers used by the Department of Defense, farmers and other small businesses, among many others, it will need to pay the costs of replacing those receivers. LightSquared doesn’t get to pick and choose which interference it will solve, or just announce how much it is willing to pay.
“Mr. Lu’s brief quotations from Trimble SEC filings are not relevant to what the FCC did or didn’t authorize LightSquared to do. GPS receivers are potentially affected by many spectrum uses, not just mobile satellite services, and identifying the risks of interference in SEC disclosures is simply good business practice. These disclosures certainly do not mean that Trimble is obligated to accept such interference, and Trimble diligently opposes interfering uses like LightSquared’s.”
“First make sure you’re right, then go ahead.” – Davy Crockett
Thanks
Neil Stevens (Diary) Tuesday, October 4th at 1:59PM EDT (link)Do you have a link for this? Is this online?
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Here you go:
evilleramsfan Tuesday, October 4th at 2:17PM EDT (link)http://www.amerisurv.com/content/view/9208/
Just some background information: I am a licensed land surveyor and if Lightsquard were allowed to proceed, it would decimate our profession by making our high precision GPS equipment (+/- 1 cm horizontal, 2 cm vertical) unusable. We have invested a large sum of money into the purchase of this equipment. The FCC is backing up on the specs they allowed the GPS to be manufactured under and never should have granted Lightsquared to operate under the frequencies in question. As I had mentioned earlier, I have been using this equipment since the mid-1990′s and all equipment has operated under this frequency since it was first manufactured.
“First make sure you’re right, then go ahead.” – Davy Crockett
List of opponents to Lightsquared
evilleramsfan Tuesday, October 4th at 2:08PM EDT (link)This is just those who have joined www.saveourgps.org and oppose Lightsquared’s plans:
Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA)
Ag Leader Technology
AGCO
Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA)
Air Transport Association (ATA)
Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA)
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)
Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA)
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
American Petroleum Institute (API)
American Car Rental Association (ACRA)
American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM)
American Council of Engineering Companies/Council of Professional Surveyors (ACEC/COPS)
American Rental Association (ARA)
American Sailing Association (ASA)
Associated Society of Agronomy (ASA)
Associated Equipment Distributors (AED)
Associated General Contractors of America (AGC)
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI)
Association of American Geographers (AAG)
Association of American Railroads (AAR)
Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM)
Avidyne Corporation
BoatU.S. – The Boat Owners Association of The United States
California Land Surveyors Association
California Space Authority (CSA)
Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA)
Case New Holland
Caterpillar
Deere & Company
Delta Air Lines
Edison Electric Institute (EEI)
Equipped to Survive Foundation, Inc. (ETSFI)
Esri
Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)
Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association (FEMA)
FedEx
Fire Department of New York (FDNY)
Garmin
General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA)
GROWMARK, Inc.
Hemisphere GPS
Inside GNSS
International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America)
Leica Geosystems
MACHINE CONTROL Online
Magellan GPS
Maricopa County Department of Transportation (MCDOT)
Mid-Atlantic Aviation Coalition-New Jersey (MAAC-NJ)
National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA)
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
National Business Aviation Association (NBAA)
National Cotton Council of America (NCCA)
National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA)
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)
National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA)
Networkfleet
New World Systems
North American Equipment Dealers Association (NAEDA)
North Dakota Implement Dealers Association (NDIDA)
OmniSTAR
Orienteering USA
OXBO International Corporation
Payment Assurance Technology Association (PATA)
PeopleNet
PocketGPSWorld.com Ltd
Regional Airline Association (RAA)
Reinke Mfg. Co. Inc.
Southwest Airlines
SurveyorConnect
The Manitowoc Company, Inc.
TomTom
Topcon Positioning Systems
Trimble
UPS
USA Rice Federation
VERIPOS
Abraham Land Surveying
Accurate Services, Inc.
Accurate Surveying & Mapping
Advanced Concepts Electronics
AGPS
Ag Technologies, LLC
AgriService Company
Antares Navigation
Allen Geomatics, P.C
Atrivu, Inc
Aviation For Humanity
AVIDwireless
B & L SURVEYS, P.A
Bailey Land Group Inc.
BHI
BKRADIO.COM
Bowles Farming Company
Bradshaw Consulting Services, Inc.
Brittain & Crawford
Burns Land Surveying, Inc.
Calhoun County Implement
CartoPac Field Solutions
Cain & Barnes, L.P.
CARLILE MACY, INC.
CDK Geomatics, PC
CESI
Charles E. Shoemaker, Inc.
City of Lewiston
City of Westminster
City of Winston-Salem
Cochrane Technologies Inc.
Columbus Consolidated Government
Contemporary Monitoring
Crabtree Land Surveying
Critigen
C & C Technologies Inc.
DBS Productions
Earth Vector Systems, LLC
Eldredge Surveying & Engineering, LLC
ELS, Inc.
Engineering, Surveying & Mapping & G.I.S.
Epoch Professional Surveying, LLC
Erdman Anthony
EricColburn.com
Fairmont State University
Fleming Engineering
Florida Permanent Reference Network
GEODECA LLC
Geoline Surveying Inc.
Global Traffic Technologies
GPS Insight
GPS Source
Halfmile Media
Henderson County Local Government
Henen Land Surveying Co.
Hiway Service
Holmes and McGrath, Inc.
Howard County Government
Huntingburg Airport
Hybrid Propulsion LLC
iGuide Robotics Inc.
Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association
Inland Surveying, LLC
Isthmus Surveying LLC
Jindabyne Aero Club
John Chance Land Surveys Inc.
Jordan Geomatics, PLLC
JS Engineering
Klingner & Associates. P.C.
Land Map, Inc.
LandMark Implement
Land Surveyors United
Light Power Solutions
Lowery and Associates Land Surveying, LLC
Lakeland Aviation
Land-Tech Surveying and Mapping Corp.
MapSync Co.
MapTel
Martinek Leasing
Maryland Society of Surveyors
Mathiesen Marine
Martinek Leasing
McNeely & Lincoln Associates, Inc.
McWhinney
Mesa County
Michael L. Petit PLS
Micronet Ltd.
Mid-Atlantic Aviation Coalition-New Jersey
Mississippi Department of Transportation
mPower Innovations Inc.
Mueller Consulting Land Surveyors
Navigation Electronics, Inc.
NC Geodetic Survey
North Carolina Society of Surveyors
North Line GIS
Northwest Environmental Services
PANBO.com
Pathfinder Surveys
Peak Surveying, Inc.
Pierce County Public Works
Porter Henderson Implement Co.
Preble-Rish Inc.
Productivity Products and Services, Inc.
Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon
Land Surveyors of Ohio, Inc
Providence Land Group
Puget Sound GIS
RF Analytical
Rose Point Navigation Systems
R.H. Batterman & Co., Inc.
Savoy Company, P.A.
SCSPLS
Seiler Instrument
Semi-Local Publications LLC
Shaffer Grain and Hay
Simulcast Solutions LLC
South Carolina Geodetic Survey
Southeastern Lung Care
Southern Engineering Services Inc.
Southern Surveyors Group, LLC
Spatial Data Partners
Spicer Group Inc.
Sprite Island Yacht Club
Stalcup Agricultural Service
Storm King Surveying and Mapping, Inc.
SubCarrier Systems Corp (SCSC)
Team Self Storage LLC
Territorial Boundaries and Mapping LLC
The Sidwell Company
The Sigma Group
Topographic Land Surveyors
Triad Engineering, Inc.
Triangle Ag-Services
Tri-Global Technologies, LLC
United Power
VanRay Cousins
Waters Land Surveying
Waterway Guide
West Central Ag-Air, Inc
“First make sure you’re right, then go ahead.” – Davy Crockett
If Delta's against them they must be doing something right
Neil Stevens (Diary) Tuesday, October 4th at 2:29PM EDT (link)RS contributing editor and “a hardy variety of crabgrass.”
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Unlikely Voter: Poll Analysis, Election Projection.
“I rejoice that America has resisted.” – William Pitt, the Elder
I'd agree with you, but...
evilleramsfan Wednesday, October 5th at 11:09AM EDT (link)the list also includes Southwest….
“First make sure you’re right, then go ahead.” – Davy Crockett