LightSquared has been under fire for the fact that tests have shown that their proposed hybrid LTE/satellite network interferes with GPS signals. LightSquared has proposed several low cost antenna solutions they claim could fix the problems (at the GPS industry's expense). The company's problems were compounded this week by a new report by a Federal Advisory board that there is "no practical solutions or mitigations" that will solve the GPS issues. Fighting for their network's life, LightSquared this morning held a press conference in which they effectively argued the entire testing process was rigged:
LightSquared said today that the process used to test GPS devices by Air Force Space Command on behalf of the Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee (PNT EXCOM) was rigged by manufacturers of GPS receivers and government end users to produce bogus results, and revealed details of the testing to document its accusations.
To help prove their claims, the company trotted out Edmond Thomas, who was formerly the chief engineer at the FCC but is now a paid consultant for LightSquared. Thomas and LightSquared claims that the testing conducted by Air Force Space Command on behalf of the Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee (PNT EXCOM) was conducted in total secrecy, involved selectively choosing discontinued hardware with limited to no filters for testing, and that the process selected an "extremely conservative definition of failure" unrelated to real world GPS performance intended to increase failure rates.read comment(s)