Despite constant claims by LightSquared that they've developed low-cost solutions that will mitigate their planned network's interference with GPS, a Federal Advisory board has declared that that there is "no practical solutions or mitigations" that would allow LightSquared and GPS to peacefully co-exist. Back in June LightSquared proposed utilizing a 10 MHz swath of L-band spectrum in the lower portion of the company's spectrum assets to avoid interference. The company then proposed several antenna solutions high-precision GPS users could implement at their own expense to resolve issues.
The National Space-Based Positioning Navigation and Timing Committee last week issued a statement saying that none of these solutions were acceptable:
Based upon this testing an analysis, there appear to be no practical solutions or mitigations that would permit the LightSquared broadband service, as proposed, to operate in the next few months or years without significantly interfering with GPS. As a result, no additional testing is warranted at this time.
LightSquared is responding to the report by claiming a conflict of interest by one of the panel's members, insisting that Bradford Parkinson, the vice chairman of a board, is also a director of GPS vendor Trimble Navigation.read comment(s)