GPS World

Tag: Federal Communications Commission

  • Mapping Upheavals, Indoor Location Headway, FCC on LBS Privacy

    Big changes. Apple finally ended its long time dependence on Google Maps. As part of its latest operating system upgrade to iOS 6, Apple is launching its own, home-grown mapping service. It is an impressive offering. In a very different move, Microsoft is replacing its own Bing maps in all Windows Phone devices. Nokia maps, previously Navteq, will replace Microsoft’s home-grown Bing Maps. Micello has a new indoor location trial that isn’t just indoor mapping. This month the FCC has something to say on the topic of privacy in LBS apps. ABI Research has high expectations for indoor location.

    Google maps will be demoted to just another app on iPhones and iPads, a blow to Google’s bottom line. iOS device owners account for 28 percent of Google Map users in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, and Spain, reports Analysis Mason. This parting will create additional friction in the contentious relationship between Google and Apple. Many partners are helping Apple produce the offering, but TomTom is the only one acknowledged in the announcement. Apple reports TomTom is “powering Apple maps.” No explanation has been given.

    The new Apple in-house maps built for iOS 6 include 100 million business listings and Yelp recommendations, integrated with real-time, crowd-sourced traffic, navigation, and suggested travel routes. It all works with Siri, Apple’s voice-activated search software. Siri has its critics, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak who has been quoted with derisive, even crude, comments on Siri’s usability.

    Will Location Move Stock Price? Facebook says it’s working on a location-based mobile-advertising product that will allow advertisers to target users based on their real-time whereabouts. Facebook’s shares have dropped by almost 20 percent since the company’s initial public offering, fueled partly by concern that ad-revenue growth isn’t keeping up with a shift by users to mobile phones.

    LBS Is Being Monitored. Ever concerned with privacy, the FCC released a report on location-based services. The agency declined to adopt privacy regulations or best practices, but indicated it would monitor the industry for the following: ensuring privacy considerations are integral to product development, security of data from unauthorized access, timing and frequency of location privacy notices to consumers, and minimization of data collected and time period for which it is retained. The FCC warns it will take additional steps if not satisfied with privacy implementation for LBS.

    Indoor Fortunes. Indoor location is positioned to save retail brick and mortar, says ABI Research. I wouldn’t go that far, but it will certainly have a positive impact. Major U.S. retail brands will launch indoor location technologies in 2012 and 2013, says ABI. “Revenue will come from multiple sources, including advertising, infrastructure deployment/service fees, and application management,” says Patrick Connolly. The technology will enable advances in customer analytics, proximity advertising, store optimization, couponing, and CRM. Retailers will likely want to control store data, which will be an important consideration in picking partners.

    I Am Here. Micello, indoor mapping creator, has a trial for its new FindMe location application. Users can share their whereabouts in Singapore with anyone in their address book. The app allows users to send a text that includes a detailed map that shows the user’s indoor location. The company is expanding the app to Las Vegas and some college campuses.

    Grapevine. Rumors persist that Amazon is in talks to acquire Jumptap, one of the mobile advertising network leaders. Amazon plans to enlarge its Special Offers advertising platform to the Kindle Fire Tablet, a competitor to Apple’s pricier iPad, reports Ad Age. A Jumptap purchase would make sense. Amazon has a treasure trove of purchase information on individual users on hand that can be used to develop personalized and contextual mobile advertising.

    Timing Is Everything. In Apple’s forthcoming operating system update, all applications will require explicit user permission before accessing personal information, such as location information. Apple made the announcement just after developer Arun Thampi reported iOS social application Path was uploading users’ address books to its servers. A backlash from consumers and legislators followed. Path later acknowledged storing user data and updated its app to enable users to opt out of its contacts database.

    Sad News. Sorry to hear Nokia plans to cut 10,000 jobs by the end of 2013. Remember when Navteq had the mapping world in the palm of its hand? What a fall. Last year Nokia cut 14,000 jobs.

  • FCC’s Future Location Requirements, Apple iPhone 4S

    Update:

    Many press reports recently said that the Federal Communications Commission plans to require GPS in all mobiles by 2018, including LBS Insider (October 12, 2011). However, the FCC said that isn’t quite so, saying that “not before 2019, on a date still to be determined, carriers will have to meet the more stringent location accuracy standards that now apply to those carriers using a handset solution for [enhanced 911], and they may choose which solution to use.”

    FCC spokeswoman Lauren Kravetz said that these technology solutions may be GPS chipsets, network-based, or a hybrid. The FCC said, after the conclusion of an eight-year period that ends in early 2019, it will sunset the existing network-based rule and require all wireless carriers to meet “the more stringent location accuracy standards in the handset-based rule. The FCC will then set a specific sunset date for a network-based standard — after further notice and comments.”

    An announcement completely overshadowed by the Apple iPhone 4S rollout may have a major impact on the location-based services industry. The FCC has said that all wireless carriers, including voice-over-IP service and landline providers, are required to integrate GPS into phones by 2018. In other news, Intel bought Telmap, which has made inroads into the LBS market with its partnerships with carriers.

    In a move designed to allow first responders to locate 911 emergency calls, the Federal Communications Commission will require all wireless operators, including voice-over-IP service and landline providers, to integrate GPS in phones by 2018.

    The FCC says the majority of mobile phone users will have GPS-installed devices by the 2018 deadline. The FCC did not set a deadline for phones that do not use GPS-based technology. In addition, VoIP is going toward more mobile applications, rather than its original substitute for landline service.

    Most industry experts agree that the rise of location-based services occurred when the FCC mandated that carriers have location capability during its enhanced 911 rulemaking. Wireless carriers chafed at the deadlines and accuracy requirements. However, the rulemaking did bring market awareness to the carriers to the benefits, and potential new markets, coming from this mandated location requirement.

    While it is too early to tell how much this will help drive LBS markets, the FCC said the decision, which was overshadowed as it was announced the same week as the rollout of the Apple iPhone 4S, was spurred by the desire to modernize 911. This means locating emergency callers quickly, particularly from smartphones and other mobile devices.

    But have the wireless carriers lost their grip on LBS? In 2009, the surge in the number of GPS-enabled smartphones, proliferation of handset and mobile OS application stores, and increased availability and consumer demand for free or low-priced LBS applications has had a huge impact on the traditionally carrier-controlled LBS market, said Dan Gilmartin, Where vice president of marketing.

    “The decreased costs and barriers to entry into the market place and ability to reach consumers through low- or no-cost viral social marketing channels is enabling small application developers to compete with the established LBS developers. The result is a highly competitive landscape that beforehand was dominated by only a few major players,” he said.

    Gilmartin said that Google’s decision to offer free turn-by-turn navigation and acquisition of ADMob for $750 million reinforced the expectation that the viable business models for LBS in 2010 and beyond will include offering free or “freemium” services to consumers through ad-supported and other non-traditional funding models. “That said, the carriers’ subscription model still appears viable, at least for the short term, and consumers are proving to be willing to pay for what they perceive to be high-quality applications both on- and off-deck, navigation being the most prominent category,” he said.

    Go Ask Apple? 

    The rollout of the Apple iPhone 4S may not be the biggest thing for the LBS market, but it does open it further to another tier-one carrier in Sprint. Like other iPhone models, the 4S has GPS embedded, but offers Siri voice-recognition that integrates with its navigation capability.

    When LBS Insider contacted Sprint for comments on the new iPhone 4S and the FCC decision that GPS be installed in all smartphones, we got the public relations brush off to “Go ask Apple.” Ask Apple about GPS and LBS? This is an interesting response, as Sprint was one of the first major LBS market players, particularly their Nextel folks who were very innovative with location technology in the early days.

    Intel Buys Telmap

    At least one company in the LBS market is doing something right when a big company like Intel buys it. As GPS World reported, Intel bought Telmap, the Israel-based LBS company. The deal was announced at the recent Intel AppUp Elements developer conference in Seattle.

    Motti Kushnir, Telmap chief marketing officer, said that since Telmap is a private company, financial details cannot be disclosed. He said the deal will take effect by the end of the year. “Telmap will be a wholly owned subsidiary and will maintain its independence as well as its brand,” Kushnir said in a prepared statement.

    Kushnir said no layoffs are expected, nor will facilities close or be moved by Intel. “On the contrary, we are expected to grow in order to support the growth of our business both in existing and new territories,” he said.

    One of the reasons Intel bought the company is that it is sees mobility as one of its growth engines — and location is a key component, Kushnir said.

    Telmap says it has 6 million users for its IP portfolio that includes mapping, local search, and navigation. This includes a new restaurant LBS initiative in Israel. The company is working with Rest, a large Israel restaurant guide to provide location-based coupons to customers.

    In other LBS industry news:

    • Fierce Wireless made an admittedly subjective list of the worst cell phones of all time. Garmin’s ill-fated Nuvifone G60 made the list. The phone, a partnership between Garmin and Asustek Computer, featured LBS — and had a $5.95 monthly charge for premium service. Fierce Wireless says that it was a failure in part because of Google’s free location services.
    • Nokia will be closing down its operations in Bonn, Germany, and Malvern, Pennsylvania, with an expected loss of more than 1,300 jobs in the Location and Commerce divisions. According to published reports, operations will consolidate in the Berlin, Boston, and Chicago offices. Another 2,200 layoffs will come from its European manufacturing operations.
    • This column has admittedly neglected traffic markets lately, but will be running more stories and interviews soon. With that, some big news has come out of that market, namely Google’s recent deal with INRIX to power its navigation and mapping applications. INRIX traffic information will be integrated in Google’s online products and services and on mobile phones.

    Meanwhile, INRIX competitor TomTom is launching a Traffic Foundation that brings together stakeholders from academia, industry, and policy-making to help reduce traffic congestions. The company also rolled out its Custom Probe Counts at the ITS World Congress, that allows government and business markets to assess traffic density. The company also expanded its coverage from 14 to 18 countries.

  • LightSquared Prospects; FCC Chair Wants Interference Cleared, Hits Back at GPS

    LightSquared Prospects Dimming. Concerns by government and the private sector about GPS interference from LightSquared’s proposed wholesale LTE service accelerates. Government experts just reported that interference with GPS occurred in high portions of LightSquared’s spectrum bands and little in the lower spectrum. The National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board’s tests showed that some GPS receivers lost signal strength while others were fully disabled by LightSquared’s signal. FCC Chairman Genachowski, under fire for granting LightSquared a conditional waiver, has reiterated that he will not permit LightSquared to begin commercial service without first resolving concerns about potential interference to GPS devices.

    Genachowski hit back at the GPS community in a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, “It should be no surprise to anyone involved in the LightSquared matter that the company was planning for some time to deploy a major terrestrial network in the spectrum adjacent to GPS.” Members of the National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board have stated that they and the GPS community were not properly notified when the FCC removed the limit on the number of base stations deployed on this spectrum. And so it goes on. (See also LightSquared, FCC Rebuttals Distort Record.)

    Getting Intimate. Mobile phones are the most personal computing devices. How personal? iPass conducted a study of 3,700 mobile employees at 1,000 enterprises worldwide. Sixty-one percent of these mobile workers sleep with their smartphones and 43 percent of those within arm’s reach. It gets worse. 58 percent of those that sleep with their phones at least occasionally, check it during the night. Not surprisingly, almost a third of mobile workers say their relationship with their smartphone causes friction with their partner. I’d say.

    Frienemies. In a newly extended agreement, Google will continue to provide archrival Apple with map and search capabilities. This kills rampant rumors that Apple will have a home-grown mapping database ready in the near term. In March, AppleInsider discovered an Apple job listing for an iOS Maps Application Developer to “radically improve” Apple’s location-based services. Even for Apple, a mapping database will take time to develop.

    App Stores Aren’t the Holy Grail. App developers whose marketing strategy starts and ends with getting onto app store “shelves” need a reality check. With more than 200,000 apps on Google’s Android Market and 350,000 on the Apple store, it is hard to stand out. According to Distimo, 20 percent of free applications and 80 percent of all paid applications have been downloaded less than 100 times in the Google Android Market, worldwide. Ninety-six applications have been downloaded more than 5 million times, with Google Maps the winner, with more than 50 million downloads in the Android Market.

    Traffic Targeted. Navteq will begin delivering its traffic services in Transport Protocol Expert Group (TPEG) standard format to enable location-targeted traffic services with radius search capabilities and user authentication and session management. The format allows more targeted data to be delivered in smaller file sizes.

    Mobile Advertising Flying High. Many of the location content providers are counting on monetizing with mobile advertising, and things are looking good. AdMob is receiving more than 2.7 billion mobile ad requests daily, spanning more than 80,000 mobile applications and websites. Now they are introducing ads for tablet formats. Ad Mob was purchased by Google last year for $750 million.

    Snippets

    • Nokia is ending the confusion of its dual names by killing the Ovi brand. Ovi maps, Ovi e-mail, Ovi music, Ovi store, and other Ovi products will continue to operate under the Nokia brand name.
    • Industry-backed Future of Privacy Forum is launching a new ApplicationPrivacy.org website to help developers create their own privacy policies. Location privacy concerns have so far been focused on the big players like Apple and Google, but app providers have a critical role.
    • Firefox for Android now includes a “do not track” tool that signals all web pages, images and advertisers that the user doesn’t want to be tracked.
    • Taipei officials are ordering Apple and Google to offer free seven-day mobile app trials in alignment with Taiwan’s Consumer Protection Act.
    • Google is raking in more than 97 percent of U.S. mobile search spending. Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing share the remainder.

    Monetizing with Nothing. The Inside Virtual Goods report estimates $1.6 billion dollars was spent by game players on virtual goods last year and is predicting a 40 percent increase in 2011. There is a gender factor. MocoSpace, mobile entertainment provider, reports that although the percent of male players (53 percent) is only slightly higher than female, men account for 90 percent of all virtual goods purchased in their games. Can you lend me your sword, sir?

     

  • LightSquared, FCC Rebuttals Distort Record

    A claim frequently made by LightSquared spokesperson Jeff Carlisle, and recently by FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, that the GPS industry knew long ago about LightSquared’s plan for powerful terrestrial transmitters, would be a telling point — if it were true. But it is not. The verifiable fact is that the GPS industry knew about and agreed to a plan by a previous version of the company, for a different purpose, with a different business concept, and employing a completely different technological approach, one that would not have harmed GPS transmissions and disabled GPS users the way the current plan does. Calling the 2010 LightSquared plan the same as the 2003 Motient plan is running a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

    The GPS industry worked cooperatively with previous incarnations of LightSquared, known variously as Motient, Mobile Satellite Ventures Subsidiary LLC, and SkyTerra, to facilitate the provision of ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) service: a terrestrial service authorized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as an ancillary component of an integrated satellite offering.

    [Definition of ancillary: Providing necessary support to the primary activities or operation of an organization, institution, industry, or system.]

    The Record. Since at least 2003, the FCC has contemplated terrestrial operations as an ancillary supplement to a primarily satellite-based service. And since 2003, the GPS industry has been aware of this, and cooperated with it. The plan involved no foreseeable harm to the GPS signal or millions of GPS users. In fact, its very design to protect its own satellite signals also protected GPS signals from interference.

    LightSquared’s predecessors — Motient, MSV, and SkyTerra, in succession — presented a series of technical proposals in limited proceedings, and the FCC accepted a series of incremental modifications of its technical rules, all against the backdrop of the fundamental requirement: that the terrestrial operations would be ancillary to and fully integrated with a primary satellite service. The GPS community evaluated changes in the technical rules in this context and did its best to cooperate in technical modifications that would apply to terrestrial operations subject to these fundamental constraints.

    More to the point, those predecessor companies had to protect their own primary satellite operations from interference. The protection that their own satellite operations required was also sufficient — at that time — to protect GPS receivers. Because of these companies’ self-interest in protecting their own satellite signals in-band, the GPS industry focused its efforts on limiting out-of-band emissions from the anticipated ATC operations to GPS reception in the adjacent spectrum band, as evidenced by the agreements reached between the parties involved.

    Ring in the New. The present situation is completely different. The current owners of LightSquared — entities affiliated with the New York hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners — took over SkyTerra in March 2010.  That’s when everything changed.  A new senior management team, a new business plan, and a new technological implementation: 40,000 powerful terrestrial transmitters adjacent to the L1 band in which GPS operates. Nothing previously seen by the FCC or the GPS industry even hinted at this approach.

    LightSquared now proposes an extensive deployment of terrestrial transmitters, operating independently of its satellite offering, which will create interference to GPS far beyond what was contemplated by prior FCC policy and applicable rules. GPS operators understood and agreed that satellite operators in the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) band could deploy terrestrial service on an ancillary basis to complement satellite-based services in areas where satellite reception was weak. But there was never any agreement to, nor awareness of, the kind of dense and very powerful terrestrial network that LightSquared now seeks to install.

    LightSquared spokesperson Carlisle paints his organization as involved in prior communication to and negotiations with the GPS community in connection with the ATC rules. This disguises an essential point. That was a different organization, with a different ownership and leadership, a different business plan, and a different technology to back it up.

    Carlisle himself says so in a November, 2010 update letter to the FCC, which is when the rumbling really began.

    “In the six years since LightSquared’s [initial terrestrial] application was granted, control of the company has been transferred and its business plans have evolved.”

    FCC chairman Julius Genachowski picked up the ball in a recent letter replying to Senator Charles Grassley’s concerns about LightSquared interference. “It should be no surprise to anyone involved in the LightSquared matter that the company was planning for some time to deploy a major terrestrial network in the spectrum adjacent to GPS.”

    If an untruth is repeated enough times in enough different places, it begins to pass itself off as the truth.

    Two to Ponder. The evolution of LightSquared’s business model involves two key elements, both of them at odds with established FCC policy, not to mention GPS viability — and thus not reasonably anticipatable by anyone.

    First, LightSquared’s proposed terrestrial broadband operations cannot be described as ancillary to the primary purpose for which its predecessors, Motient, MSV, and SkyTerra, received their spectrum and licenses — that is, to provide a service that was primarily a mobile satellite service.

    Second, a requirement for the ATC service in the MSS band was that any terrestrial service be integrated with the satellite service. LightSquared’s new business model contemplates no meaningful integration of terrestrial service with satellite service.

    The deviations from established policy and rules required to accommodate LightSquared’s new business model were not mere technicalities. They represent a fundamental change to a complex and interrelated set of rules and policies that were carefully designed to protect GPS users from interference.

    On Its Head. The November 2010 Lightsquared letter to the FCC described a new business model that turns the original concept on its head. LightSquared for the first time revealed plans to build a “nationwide network of 40,000 terrestrial base stations,” and stated that “the capacity of its fully deployed terrestrial network across all base stations will be tens of thousands of times the capacity of either of [its] satellites.”

    Under the only combined satellite/terrestrial service plan described in the letter, an end user would be provided with basic usage (that is, usage before additional charges apply) of one gigabyte of terrestrial wireless broadband usage but only 500 kilobytes of satellite date usage, less than what is needed to send a single email in many cases.

    It appears that the purpose of Lightsquared’s satellite service is, now, to provide ancillary service in remote areas not covered by the ubiquitous primary terrestrial network, or in the event that the terrestrial network is destroyed — exactly the opposite of what the FCC authorized and the GPS industry had understood and agreed to.

    In 2003, the FCC stated that: “We will authorize MSS ATC subject to conditions that ensure that the added terrestrial component remains ancillary to the principal MSS offering. We do not intend, nor will we permit, the terrestrial component to become a stand-alone service.”

    LightSquared now claims, and at least one FCC commissioner wants Congress to believe, that the GPS industry should have anticipated that what was bedrock when the FCC adopted its ATC rules would become quicksand by 2011. But there is no language in prior Commission orders that might have put the GPS community on clear notice that the rules of the game were likely to be changed in such a fundamental way.

    The Distortion. LightSquared has mischaracterized the GPS community’s earlier cooperation as permission to extend the technical rules, without further consideration, to the fundamentally different, new and far more threatening mode of operation now proposed by its 2010 re-incarnation.

    When the FCC first authorized ATC, it made it clear that in the event that services in bands adjacent to ATC operations, like GPS, suffered harmful interference, it would be the responsibility of the ATC operator, not the GPS provider, to cure that interference. If LightSquared cannot demonstrate that it will not cause – or that it alone will ameliorate – harmful interference to GPS operations, it must not be permitted to initiate service.

    A cursory examination of Carlisle’s and Genachowski’s backgrounds reveals nothing pertaining to engineering or technical knowledge. Both are lawyers. Such professional experience has proven to go far in Washington D.C., of course. That and a line of talk.

    Interestingly, Carlisle served as deputy chief and then chief of the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau from 2001 to 2005 — the period during which the earlier, less harmful ATC agreement was reached.  Carlisle managed the development of FCC policies on broadband and competitive entry into the local exchange market, and was the architect of FCC policies on bankruptcy of common carriers.

    Genachowski has a long-term and reportedly close relationship with President Obama, who appointed him to the FCC chairmanship.  His background as a Supreme Court law clerk has led some to speculate that he may play a strong role in determining legal strategy on FCC court cases. His official bio states that “Prior to his FCC appointment, Genachowski spent more than a decade working in the technology and media industries as an executive, investor, and board member.”

    The GPS industry is amply on record as supporting the goal of ensuring that all Americans have access to broadband services, and President Obama’s goal to make more spectrum available for wireless broadband operations. However, pursuit of those goals cannot jeopardize the many critical functions performed by GPS in the national economy, security, or defense, and the overall U.S. infrastructure.

  • The System: First GPS Intereference Report Sent to FCC

    First Overload Interference/Desensitization to GPS Receivers, Systems, and Networks Report to FCC

    The joint working group co-led by the U.S. GPS Industry Council and Lightsquared, investigating potential problems of LightSquared/GPS interference, delivered its first monthly report on March 15 as directed by the FCC. The report (PDF) lays out a schedule for receiver selection and testing and names 34 members, two working group co-chairs, and four information facilitators of a technical working group (TWG) supervising and analyzing the assessment of GNSS receivers operating under conditions of a dense national network of high-powered cell-phone transmitters. “TWG members represent a diverse group of interested parties including equipment and chipset manufacturers, aerospace/aviation companies, wireless providers, engineering firms, public safety, and various federal agencies. Additionally, several individuals have volunteered to be advisors to the TWG,” said the report.

    The TWG held its first meeting on March 3 in Arlington, Virginia, and via a conference bridge for members around the globe who were unable to attend in person. In that and subsequent teleconferences, the TWG focused on the first seven items from the Work Plan:

    Establish pertinent analytical and test methodologies and assumptions underlying the test regime: definition of harmful interference, relevant information regarding terrestrial broadband network, interference analysis assumptions, and evaluation of potential test methodologies.

    • Select categories of receivers and receivers to be tested.
    • Develop operational scenarios.
    • Establish methodology for analyzing test results.
    • Derive test conditions based on the established operational scenarios.
    • Write test plan and procedures.
    • Identify and engage appropriate test facilities.

    LightSquared provided technical details to the TWG regarding the equipment planned for its terrestrial broadband deployment, including the channelization plan, output power, out-of-band emission (OOBE) characteristics, and emissions mask.

    The GPS community is concerned that desensitization/overload due to strong signals outside of the GPS band may cause GPS receivers to operate in a non-linear mode with reduced gain (that is, gain compression) for the desired GPS signal. Other receiver impairments may also arise as a result of the nearby strong signals.

    The TWG has agreed to move forward with a combination of laboratory-based and field-based testing programs. Field testing will be performed at outdoor test locations using transmitters, filters, and antennas similar to those that LightSquared plans to deploy in its commercial operations.

    Other items of interest in the report:

    Definition of Harmful interference at the GPS/GNSS/Augmentations/L-Band Receiver. “The TWG members have discussed a number of receiver parameters related to the definition of harmful interference. In the FCC Rules, harmful interference is defined as ‘interference which endangers the functioning of a radionavigation service or of other safety services or seriously degrades, obstructs, or repeatedly interrupts a radiocommunication service operating in accordance with [the ITU ] Radio Regulations.’

    “Harmful interference affects different types of receivers in different ways. The key factors that pertain to the functioning of GPS receivers and/or whether service is degraded, obstructed, or interrupted are accuracy (position, velocity, time), availability (ability to perform a given function), coverage (within what space can a function be performed), integrity (what is the probability that the results are correct), and continuity (what is the probability that a given function can be completed). Metrics for harmful interference are developed from an understanding of the consequential relationship between negative impacts and receiver parameters, which include effective C/N0, PVT accuracy, time to first fix, loss of lock, cycle slips, etc. The signal conditions to be taken into account are defined in the GPS Standard Positioning Service (SPS) Performance Standard, 4th Edition, Interface Specifications (ISs), GPS policy, and both the present and planned future signal environments will be considered.Environmental and field conditions in which GPS receivers operate will also be considered.

    “It should be possible to assess interference impact, up to that which includes harmful interference, using metrics in terms of receiver parameters that include measurable changes in effective C/N0 as well as position accuracy, time to first fix, loss of lock, cycle slips, etc. Related to this discussion is whether there is any margin that could be budgeted for terrestrial broadband operation, and if so, what that amount could be. When considering systems guaranteed for safety-of-life operations, there may be very little or no margin.

    “There is general agreement within the TWG that the device testing protocols should include changes in effective C/N0 and degradation of other key performance measures so as not to exclude data that might be relevant for the post-testing analytical phase using operational scenarios.

    Overload interference/desensitization at the GPS/GNSS/Augmentations/L-band Receiver. “Desensitization/overload due to strong signals outside of the GPS band may cause the GPS receiver to operate in a non-linear mode with reduced gain (i.e., gain compression) for the desired GPS signal; there may also be other receiver impairments caused by strong signals outside the GPS band. The TWG will consider these mechanisms further after testing is underway and sufficient samples are available to adequately assess such mechanisms.”

    Evaluation of Potential Test Methodologies. “The TWG has agreed to move forward with a combination of laboratory-based and field-based testing programs. Laboratory tests are repeatable, allow for the creation of a fully controlled environment and the ability to test multiple scenarios and many devices in an efficient, repetitive manner. Field tests expose devices to a real-world environment where measurements can be performed at various distances and morphologies from terrestrial broadband network sites in order to gauge the effects of distance and physical environments on terrestrial broadband signal strength and potential interference. One advantage of field testing is that it captures a complete, live test environment comprehensively and helps develop keener testing or analysis insights that modeling cannot offer. The major disadvantage or concern is that field testing uses the present environment, not the environment that might exist at some future or past time. Interference testing analysis has to consider worse-case assumptions, and not only the current test reality.

    “Laboratory testing will be performed either using conducted testing, where devices are connected directly to transmission sources via 50 ohm connectors, or through radiated testing in anechoic or other radiated emissions chambers. While conducted testing is the preferred laboratory methodology, anechoic chambers will be used where conducted testing is not practical, is not recommended by the manufacturer, or where connectorized devices cannot be made available within the established test timeline.

    “Field testing will be performed at outdoor test locations that will utilize transmitters, filters, and antennas similar to those that will be deployed by Lig
    htSquared in its commercial operations.”

    The TWG identified seven categories of receivers that it considers representative of non-military GPS user equipment operating in the United States: aviation, cellular, general location/navigation, high precison, timing, space-based receivers, and networks.

    Seven sub-teams are focusing on these receiver categories. The sub-teams are responsible for determining device selection and prioritization criteria, defining operational scenarios, listing testing conditions and test plan procedures, and recommending appropriate test facilities.

    Save Our GPS Coalition Forms

    Representatives from a variety of industries and companies have formed the Coalition to Save Our GPS to resolve what it terms a serious threat to the national positioning, navigation, and timing service: the FCC conditional waiver to Lightsquared allowing expansion of terrestrial use of the satellite spectrum immediately neighboring that of GPS, potentially causing severe interference to millions of GPS receivers.

    “GPS is essential to Americans every day — it’s in our cars, the airplanes in which we fly and the ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks that help keep us safe. It’s also used in many industrial applications and even synchronizes our wireless, computer, and utility networks,” the group stated. “LightSquared’s plans to build up to 40,000 ground stations transmitting radio signals one billion times more powerful than GPS signals as received on earth could mean 40,000 ‘dead spots’ — each miles in diameter — disrupting the vitally important services GPS provides.”

    The Coalition (www.SaveOurGPS.org) includes representatives from aviation, agriculture, transportation, construction, engineering, surveying, and GPS-based equipment manufacturers and service providers.

    Initial members of the coalition are the Aeronautical Repair Stations Association, Air Transport Association, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Case New Holland, Caterpillar Inc., Edison Electric Institute, Esri, Garmin, General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Deere & Company, National Association of Manufacturers, OmniSTAR, and Trimble. More members are expected to join in the near future.

    The following is from a statement issued by the coalition:

    “[In] The unusual waiver granted in January to LightSquared by the FCC . . . the usual FCC process of conducting extensive testing followed by approvals was not followed. Instead, the process was approve first, then test. Additional safeguards are needed, so the coalition recommends:

    “The FCC must make clear, and the NTIA must ensure, that LightSquared’s license modification is contingent on the outcome of the mandated study. The study must be comprehensive, objective, and based on correct assumptions about existing GPS uses rather than theoretical possibilities.

    “The FCC should make clear that LightSquared and their investors should not proceed to make any investment in operating facilities prior to a final FCC decision (or at least make it explicit that they do so at their own risk). While this is the FCC’s established policy, it failed to make this explicit in its order.

    “Further, the FCC’s, and NTIA’s, finding that ‘harmful interference concerns have been resolved’ must mean ‘resolved to the satisfaction of preexisting GPS providers and users.’ Resolution of interference has to be the obligation of LightSquared, not the extensive GPS user community of millions of citizens. LightSquared must bear the costs of preventing interference of any kind resulting from operations on LightSquared’s frequencies.

    “This is a matter of critical national interest. There must be a reasonable opportunity for public comment of at least 45 days on the report produced by the working group.”

    WAAS Official Again

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on March 18 that WAAS PRN 135 has resumed normal operations. “The WAAS team recently received the final report from Lockheed Martin on the failure of Galaxy 15,” reported FAA GNSS program manager Leo Eldredge. “After a review of that report, the team determined that the satellite was ready to be returned to operations.”

    The FAA said that PRN 135 is currently located at ~120°W and enroute to its final destination of 133.1°W, but is now broadcasting operational corrections that can be used by both aviation and ground users, including those in Northwest Alaska.

    In April 2010, satellite operator Intelsat reported it had lost contact with PRN 135 (named Galaxy 15) and it was drifting uncontrolled. At that time, the FAA reported that it would drift out of WAAS service within a few weeks. Instead, PRN 135 remained within a usable condition/location, although drifting east, until December 2010, when it ceased operating. On December 23, Intelsat reported that the power from the Galaxy 15 battery completely drained during its loss of Earth lock and the baseband equipment command unit reset, as it was designed to do. Shortly thereafter Galaxy 15 began accepting commands, and Intelsat engineers began receiving telemetry in the operations center.

    Intelsat determined that static electricity charge caused the initial failure, and has uploaded new software to prevent the event from occurring again. There are now three operational WAAS GEO satellites:

    ◾ PRN 133 located at 98°W.

    ◾ PRN 135 located at 133.1°W (currently at ~120°W); will arrive at 133.1°W on or about April 4, 2011.

    ◾ PRN 138 located at 107.3°W.

    EGNOS SOL Operational

    The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) was declared operational for safety-of-life (SOL) services on March 2. The service consists of GPS corrected signals intended for transport applications, particularly aviation, where lives could be endangered if the performance of the navigation system is degraded.

    The SOL coverage area, expected performances, and conditions of use are described in the EGNOS Safety-Of-Life Service Definition Document (SDD, see env-gpsworld-integration.kinsta.cloud/egnosSOL). The two operational EGNOS satellites — Inmarsat-3-F2/AOR-E at 15.5 degrees west longitude using PRN code 120, and Artemis at 21.5 degrees east longitude using PRN code 124 — now transmit Message Type 2, indicating that the signals are available for safety-critical purposes.

    Air-navigation service providers can now publish SBAS precision approach procedures, localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV), based on EGNOS. On March 22, EGNOS operator European Satellite Services Provider published the first EGNOS LPV approaches for use at Pau Airport, near the Pyrénées in southern France.

    EGNOS improves accuracy and provides integrity to the GPS signal over most of Europe and parts of North Africa. The system uses a monitoring network of 40 ground stations to provide the corrections with 99.9 percent availability over the core service region. Accuracy is measured by GPS user equivalent range error typically about 4.2 meters after EGNOS corrections for GPS signals from satellites at a 5-degree elevation, and 2.4 meters for satellite signals arriving from a 90-degree elevation. If reliability falls below a minimum level, EGNOS users are alerted within six seconds.

    Russian SBAS Satellite Passes Transponder Tests

    The Luch-5A geostationary communication satellite under construction has successfully completed a cycle of transponder tests. The satellite includes a transponder for the System for Differential Correction and Monitoring (SDCM), the Russian satellite-based augmentation system. SDCM will provide integrity monitoring of
    GPS and GLONASS satellites and differential corrections and analyses of GLONASS performance: real-time differential corrections with horizontal accuracy of 1–1.5 meters, vertical of 2–3 meters.

  • The System: Test Data Predicts Disastrous GPS Jamming by FCC-Authorized Broadcaster

    Representatives of the GPS industry presented to members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) laboratory evidence of interference with the GPS signal by a proposed new broadcaster on January 19 of this year. The meeting and subsequent filing did not dissuade FCC International Bureau Chief Mindel De La Torre from authorizing Lightquared to proceed with ancillary terrestrial component operations, installing up to 40,000 high-power transmitters close to the GPS frequency, across the United States.

    The document describing the testing states that the Lightsquared initiative “will have a severe impact on the GPS band” and “will create a disastrous interference problem for GPS receiver operation to the point where GPS receivers will cease to operate (complete loss of fix) when in the vicinity of these transmitters.”

    On January 26, the FCC waived its own rules and granted permission for the potential interferer to broadcast in the L Band 1 (1525 MHz–1559 MHz) from powerful land-based transmitters. This band lies adjacent to the band (1559–1610 MHz) where GPS and other GNSSs operate.

    The FCC called for further testing to be led by LightSquared and completed by June 15.

    Prior to the decision, representatives of the U.S. GPS Industry Council and GPS manufacturers Garmin and Trimble presented “Experimental Evidence of Wide Area GPS Jamming That Will Result from LightSquared’s Proposal to Convert Portions of L Band 1 to High Power Terrestrial Broadband,” to five members of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology, including its chief, two members of the FCC International Bureau, one from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, and two from the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

    A full PDF of “Experimental Evidence of Wide Area GPS Jamming” is available.

    The document conveys results of testing on a common portable consumer automotive navigation device and on a common general aviation receiver. The consumer GPS device began to be jammed at a power level representing a distance of 3.6 miles (5.8 kilometers) from the simulated LightSquared transmitter. The consumer device lost a fix at 0.66 miles (1.1 kilometers) from the transmitter.

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-certified aviation receiver began to be jammed at a distance of 13.8 miles (22.1 kilometers) and experienced total loss of fix at 5.6 miles (9.0 kilometers) from the transmitter.

    During the laboratory testing, GPS signals were simulated by a Spirent GSS6560 GPS simulator, representing a constellation of 31 GPS satellites, the current configuration. LightSquared’s signal was simulated using a Rhode and Schwartz SMIQ-03S signal generator with digital modulation, amplified to achieve the relevant signal strengths. Full technical specifications and parameters are described in the Experimental Evidence document linked above.

    The industry report concludes: “The proposed LightSquared plan . . .  will deny GPS service over vast areas of the United States.”
    In its decision document on January 26, the FCC not only authorized LightSquared to proceed, it turned up its nose at assertions that the entire process had been conducted in near-stealth mode as well as on an accelerated track.

    LightSquared was established in mid-2010 by “an experienced team of global telecommunications executives and investors.” From 2001 to 2005, Lightsquared executive vice president Jeff Carlisle served as deputy chief and then chief of the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau.

    See also “Act Now to Protect GPS Signal.”

    and

    “The FCC’s Decision on LightSquared: High-Precision Users Would Be Affected Most.”

    Galileo’s GATE Opened

    The Galileo Test and Development Environment (GATE) in Berchtesgaden, Germany, officially opened on February 4. The system operator, IFEN GmbH of Poing, Germany, jointly with the German Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Development, announced the opening for use by commercial and organizational entities seeking to test equipment with the coming Galileo signals. GATE was developed on behalf of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) with funding by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

    The test area extends across a valley of approximately 65 square kilometers, southeast of Munich, where antennae atop surrounding peaks broadcast the various Galileo signals. Technical details and specifications of the test environment are at www.gate-testbed.com.

    The GATE infrastructure is capable of transmitting the Galileo Open Service, the Safety-of-Life Service (functional, with certification as a next step), the Commercial Service, and a Public Regulated Service  dummy signal.

    The GATE system upgrade has been further extended to also support user integrity testing, simulating simple alarm-triggering events on the system/satellite level, supporting GPS and GATE/Galileo dual-constellation receiver-autonomous integrity monitoring (RAIM), individual user integrity test scenarios, and tests of receivers with different RAIM functionalities.

    Next-Generation GLONASS

    As this magazine goes to press, a Soyuz rocket carring a new GLONASS-K1 satellite has moved to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome launch pad for a scheduled blast-off on February 24. Assuming all goes well, the satellite’s eventual transmissions will include Russia’s new CDMA signal on a GLONASS L3 frequency. Further information and photos will be posted to env-gpsworld-integration.kinsta.cloud/glonassk.

    In Other Developments. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said it lost contact with a military satellite launched on February 1, a painful incident following the failed launch of three GLONASS-M satellites in December.

    The Geo-IK-2 satellite, designed for geodetic studies, remains in its transfer orbit because the upper stage failed to restart for its second circularizing burn. Based on the GLONASS-M bus, Geo-IK-2 carries laser reflectors, GPS/GLONASS receiving equipment, and an altimeter. Communications with the satellite have been re-established but it is not clear how useful it will be in its current orbit.

    Galileo IOV August Launch

    The European Space Agency announced that the first two Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites will rise on August 31. They will ride aboard a Soyuz-ST-B rocket from the Kouros, French Guiana, Space Center. There was no word about the third and fourth IOV satellites, which had at one point been scheduled for an October launch, at a time when the first two were penciled for a June launch.

    JAVAD Receivers Track Compass B1 Signal

    JAVAD GNSS has announced that, with modified firmware, all of the company’s receivers can now track the Chinese Compass B1 signal. The company states that Compass is the sixth GNSS system that its receivers can track, joining GPS, GLONASS, Galileo (the two GIOVE in-orbit validation experimental satellites), SBAS (the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service or EGNOS), and Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).

    JAVAD GNSS made available several plots, shown here. One is a log file, collected on JAVAD’s TR_G3TH board in Moscow during the last weekend in January, reporting up to 26 satellites from the various systems, locked simultaneously. Also provided below are several other plots showing the new capability.

    The company further stated that it will add Compass tracking to almost all receivers in near future, as a firmware upgrade.