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Cedar Rapids, Iowa | For those of you interested in this mess, here is some recent info:
http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system/lightsquared-goes-global-glonas...
A webinar on the technical details: (1 hour long)
http://www.gpsworld.com/wireless/market-insights-webinars-8423
Summary: Light Squared wants to use two frequency bands, both located between GPS L1 and L2. Their latest proposal is to not use the one closer to L1 right away. The other is almost directly on top of the frequencies used by OmniStar and StarFire, which would kill those services if you're close to a LightSquared cell tower. Amusingly, the company that owns LightSquared also owns the satellites that OmniStar and StarFire go through.
L2 is a bit farther away, and might be usable with the right filtering, but L2 isn't usable for civilian use without L1 data.
L5 wouldn't have interference, but it will be ~8 years before L5 is usable.
The LightSquared phones will transmit on a different frequency than they receive on. The transmit frequency happens to be right next to Glonass L1, so the phones effectively become short range Glonass jammers. No phones have been made, so they can't test this to determine what distance they would jam to.
LightSquared already has a satellite for this project in orbit, and those aren't cheap. The US House just passed a bill that puts the project on hold until the DoD is happy. US Senate needs to pass that bill too. Stopping this project in the US means LightSquared's investment is wasted, and they really want to make some money on it. Their lawyers are now appealing to the International Telecommunications Union, which is above the FCC. Maybe they want to use the technology in some other part of the world.
-Lance | |
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LightSquared interference update
