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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: axial who wrote (39010)	7/7/2011 6:57:48 PM
From: fred g	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

I actually read the LightSquared report, so the 200,000 receiver number is a bit clearer. By moving to only the lower 10 MHz band, for at least a few years, ordinary GPS receivers will continue to work. There is enough spacing so that only the worst cases will have desense, and rarely any to matter. The upper band would have caused massive desense, though LightSquared points out that the FCC authorized terrestrial ATC on L band MSS in 2003, so it's not as if the GPS industry hasn't been on notice. The lower band is used at present for augmentation signals. These are satellite signals that add to the precision of a GPS receiver. They are separate from the main GPS, which isn't quite so precise. Augmentation doesn't come from the GPS satellites, but from adjacent L-band satellites. Two satellites provide this, one being LightSquared's own, the other being Inmarsat's. LightSquared has made arrangements to move its augmentation signal to a different frequency and modify its customers' receivers, and they're offering to pay for Inmarsat to move. Augmented GPS is mostly used for farming and mining. Since these tend not to take place in the urban areas where LightSquared's network will initially roll out, interference will not happen quickly even to those who don't upgrade. So their plan sounds sensible, though for them to have enough long-term capacity, they'll want the upper band too. That's going to be contentious.