Tests show wireless network could jam GPS systems
New government test results show that a proposed high-speed wireless broadband network being launched by a company called LightSquared could jam GPS systems used for aviation, public safety, military operations and other uses.
The results released this week by a federal working group come amid mounting concern that LightSquared's planned network could cripple GPS systems embedded throughout the nation's infrastructure. And they raise questions about whether the government will allow LightSquared to turn its network on as scheduled next year.
In January the Federal Communications Commission gave LightSquared approval to build a nationwide fourth-generation wireless network that would compete with super-fast systems being rolled out by AT&T and Verizon. The new network will wholesale access to other companies that will rebrand the service under their own names.
The FCC sees the LightSquared network as one part of a broad government push to bring high-speed Internet connections to all Americans. It would cover at least 92 percent of the U.S. by 2015. But the company's plans have set off alarm bells among GPS equipment makers and the many government agencies and companies that rely on GPS systems, because LightSquared's network would use airwaves right next to those already set aside for GPS. They warn that sensitive satellite receivers - designed to pick up relatively weak signals coming from space - could be overwhelmed when LightSquared starts sending high-powered signals from as many as 40,000 transmitters on the ground.
