FCC Strongly Criticized For Lack Of Leadership On The Issue

The House Subcommittee on Aviation, chaired by U.S. Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) held a hearing Wednesday to review the Global Positioning System (GPS) as a critical part of transportation infrastructure. (The) hearing brought focus on the importance of the Global Positioning System to aviation and the broader economy. Witnesses’ testimony further underscored the vital nature of GPS as an element of transportation infrastructure, ensuring the safe and efficient use of the aviation system,” said Chairman Petri.

Representative Tom Petri

The witnesses, who included a diverse group of government officials from the Transportation Department and the United Nations, as well as representatives from airlines, general aviation, and the GPS industry, took the FCC to task for allowing LightSquared’s plans to advance as far as they have.
 
GPS is at the center of FAA’s Next Gen air traffic control modernization program, which will optimize air traffic controller performance, consolidate obsolete facilities, enhance safety improvements, and improve operational efficiency of the national airspace system. The Honorable John Porcari, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, testified to the benefits of NextGen, saying “The FAA and industry have invested as much as $8 billion into NextGen. The FAA conservatively estimates that the benefits of NextGen will total $23 billion by 2018 and over $120 billion by 2030. In addition to the transportation applications I mentioned, GPS is essential for the operations of first responders, search and rescue, resource management, weather tracking and prediction, earthquake monitoring, national security, and critical infrastructure such as dams and power plants, financial transactions, surveying and mapping, and industries such as precision agriculture, where the ability to fertilize plants with centimeter-level accuracy increases conservation, reduces waste run-off, and saves American farmers up to $14-30 billion, annually.”
 
As important to aviation safety and efficiency as GPS is, and as far a reach as the GPS system has in the economy, the system is vulnerable to interference due to a relatively weak signal broadcast from space. Since current aviation operations, as well as NextGen, are dependent on GPS, some in the aviation community have pointed to potential negative impacts GPS interference may have on aviation safety, air traffic control modernization, and job creation within the aviation industry.
 
“Efforts must be made to ensure aviation safety and efficiency benefits made possible by GPS are preserved,” said Chairman Petri. “I was pleased to hear Deputy Secretary Porcari’s announcement this (Wednesday) morning of the proactive plan the Department will pursue to protect GPS safety and efficiency benefits. We will work with the aviation community, the Department of Transportation, and our colleagues to find the best path forward to achieve that goal.”

“We propose to work with [the National Telecommunications and Information Administration] to draft new GPS spectrum interference standards that will help inform future proposals for non-space, commercial uses in the bands adjacent to the GPS signals, to strengthen existing national policy protection of adjacent band spectrum," Porcari said. "We will ensure that any such proposals are clearly communicated with stakeholders and are implemented without affecting existing and evolving uses of space-based PNT services vital to economic, public safety, scientific, and national security needs.”

"GPS is critically important to the millions of customers who airlines fly every day, and is the heart of a multibillion dollar system to modernize the air navigation system," said A4A Senior Vice President for Safety, Security and Operations Tom Hendricks, who testified before the House Aviation Subcommittee. "The stakes are too high for passengers, shippers and communities that rely on air service to leave to chance our ability to utilize GPS to the greatest advantage."

A4A urged the government to develop its GPS policy in coordination with international, as well as domestic, authorities in order to reflect the importance of protecting the GPS spectrum throughout the world. In an encouraging first step toward a wider national policy, the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, on Jan. 13, stated that it intended to draft new GPS spectrum-interference standards.

The FCC, which was not represented at the hearing, has blocked LightSquared from activating its network until the issues have been resolved. But that is not enough according to John Foley, representing GPS manufacturer Garmin. “In short, Garmin and other manufactures like it have had their business greatly disrupted by the failure of constituent parts of the government to coordinate effectively among themselves,” he said.

LightSquared says the problem lies with GPS receivers, many of which were designed under the assumption that the neighboring spectrum would not be used for ground transmission.
 
Petri has publically sided with the GPS industry against LightSquared, suggesting that LightSquared was using the spectrum in “inappropriate” ways. LightSquared has formally asked the FCC to require GPS devices to be compatible with other transmissions.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, LightSquared spokesman Terry Neil said the testimony was not unexpected. “Their information is provided by the GPS industry,” he said. “It would not be surprising, since the government relied on the GPS industry to devise the tests and conduct them in secret using a standard that does not reflect real-life conditions.”

Asked whether LightSquared would withdraw its application, Neal replied: “That’s absurd.”

FMI: http://transportation.house.gov/subcommittees/aviation.aspx