Category: Fleet GPS System News

• June 27th, 2011
• Jackson Parker

Lawmakers in a US House of Representatives committee passed a bill last week that would block the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from spending any money granting LightSquared permission to move forward with its proposed network.

Lawmakers were referring to the fact that the FCC had waived certain rules affecting LightSquared’s network plans earlier this year, allowing the company to build a hybrid satellite and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network – as long as it tested for and solved interference with GPS system signals. Since then, members of the GPS industry and some lawmakers have attacked the plan and the consider the FCC’s waiver hazardous to the GPS system.

During the meeting before Congress, representatives of federal agencies and industry groups testified that LightSquared’s current network plan would hobble GPS receivers used for aviation, navigation, agriculture, defense and many other purposes. The U.S. Coast Guard and departments of Defense and Transportation reported that tests showed LightSquared’s current approach caused unacceptable interference with GPS, endangering a system vital to national defense and commerce.

• June 22nd, 2011
• Jackson Parker

LightSquared has been under major scrutiny after FCC tests concluded that the company’s high-speed broadband wireless LTE network was interfering with the global positioning system (GPS). LightSquared has now agreed to change their original plans and will use a different block of spectrum to avoid interfering with GPS system signals in space and on the ground.

The company told reporters that their new plan is expected to reduce the risk of interference to 99.5 percent of GPS devices.

However, some members of the GPS industry are still concerned that the LightSquared interference issues will continue. They believe that testing should continue to ensure public safety, as the GPS system affects thousands of applications that people depend on everyday.

• June 20th, 2011
• Jackson Parker

Sprint and LightSquared have agreed to jointly develop and operate LightSquared’s 4G LTE network. The deal is expected to give Sprint an edge in competing with AT&T and Verizon.

LightSquared executives are scrambling to find a solution for its network, after its spectrum has been shown to interfere with the global positioning system (GPS). The company asked the FCC for an extension on the mandatory GPS system tests. Members of the GPS Coalition called Save Our GPS were outraged the the FCC gave Lightsquared an extension after initially failing the GPS system interference tests.

Sprint’s deal with Lightsquared is an indication that nothing bad is in the near future for LightSquared’s plans to develop their network. Many people are speculating that Sprint has agreed to absorb some of the costs to build out the LightSquared network and as a result it will get privileged rates to become the network’s largest LTE wholesale customer.

• June 20th, 2011
• Jackson Parker

GPS system signals are everywhere and the technology is used for literally thousands of applications, not just navigating drivers on the road. GPS technology is used to land airplanes, control financial services such as ATMs and stock trading, navigate ships and cargo, synchronize data on wireless networks, manage loads on power grids, etc.

Jamming the GPS system can wreak havoc on society in literally thousands of ways. Ways many people are not even aware of.

According to an article recently printed in the New Scientist, a British magazine, a global positioning system outage happened because the Navy accidentally jammed GPS signals in downtown San Diego in 2007.

New Scientist magazine wrote in its March 2011 edition: “It was just after midday in San Diego, California, when the disruption started. In the tower at the airport, air-traffic controllers peered at their monitors only to find that their system for tracking incoming planes was malfunctioning. At the Naval Medical Center, emergency pagers used for summoning doctors stopped working. Chaos threatened in the busy harbour, too, after the traffic-management system used for guiding boats failed. On the streets, people reaching for their cellphones found they had no signal and bank customers trying to withdraw cash from local ATMs were refused.”

The problem with the article in New Scientist is that most of what it reported wasn’t true. Although the Navy did admit to accidentally jamming GPS signals in San Diego in 2007, the outcome wasn’t anywhere nearly as catastrophic as the magazine made it out to be.

• June 17th, 2011
• Jackson Parker

Representatives of a wide variety of industries and companies, including Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) and TomTom, have joined a Coalition called “Save Our GPS” to resolve a serious threat to the reliability and viability of the Global Positioning System (GPS) – a national utility upon which millions of Americans rely every day. The GPS coalition is […]

• June 13th, 2011
• Jackson Parker

A new set of government tests showed that LightSquared’s proposed mobile broadband network disrupted the signal strength to all GPS devices in the test area. The National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board reported yesterday that a series of 32 tests showed significant interference on GPS system receivers used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), John Deer, U.S. Coast Guard, NASA and Garmin (GRMN).

Last week, construction giant Deere & Co. reported that during recent testing in New Mexico, LightSquared’s network hobbled it’s GPS systems more than 20 miles away. Local law enforcement also reported police cars and ambulances lost GPS signals. A separate Federal Aviation Administration-commissioned study found that “GPS operations below 2000 feet (elevation) would be unavailable over a large radius of metro (areas)” for aircraft.

While all global-positioning system (GPS) devices tested were affected, the severity of the loss of service varied, said Deane Bunce, co-chair of the National PNT Engineering Forum, a federal advisory group of engineers that oversaw the government tests, according to the Wall St. Journal. Mr. Bunce said some GPS devices lost signal strength while others were knocked out completely. For example, the government tests found that General Motors’ (GM) OnStar system saw a “significant degradation of service” on most receivers tested.

• June 13th, 2011
• Jackson Parker

The possibilities of GPS technology applications for tracking people and assets are endless. Here is a great example of how GPS technology can be used to help bicyclists make the world a better place.

OnAsset Intelligence Inc. and Push America have come together to provide a location monitoring and tracking system for bicyclists on a 12,000 mile cross-country bike ride called the Journey of Hope, which raises funds for people with disabilities. The cross-country bicycle journey began last week in Seattle, and will start June 12 from San Francisco. Approximately 80 bicyclists are planning to ride into Washington, D.C. this year.

The tracking system will help to keep the bicycle riders safe. For example, if a rider gets lost or loses his riding partner, he can log into the tracking system and figure out where to go. If someone steals his bike along the journey, then authorities will be able to quickly recover the bicycle. The GPS tracking system also gives confidence to donors, whose donations are typically based upon the number of miles completed by the rider, because the donor can monitor the rider’s actual progress.

OnAsset Intelligence Inc. and Push America have come together to provide a location monitoring and tracking system for bicyclists on a 12,000 mile cross-country bike ride called the Journey of Hope, which raises funds for people with disabilities. The cross-country bicycle journey began last week in Seattle, and will tracking softwarestart June 12 from San Francisco. Approximately 80 bicyclists are planning to ride into Washington, D.C.

The tracking system will help to keep the bicycle riders safe. For example, if a rider gets lost or loses his riding partner, he can log into the tracking system and figure out where to go. If someone steals his bike along the journey, then authorities will be able to quickly recover the bicycle. The GPS tracking system also gives confidence to donors, whose donations are typically based upon the number of miles completed by the rider, because the donor can monitor the rider’s actual progress.