{"id":2977,"date":"2011-06-12T09:09:48","date_gmt":"2011-06-12T13:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=2977"},"modified":"2011-09-18T20:26:21","modified_gmt":"2011-09-19T00:26:21","slug":"the-looming-gps-and-smartphone-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=2977","title":{"rendered":"The Looming GPS and Smartphone Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, this blog<\/a> dealt with the situation of the Federal Communications Commission approving LightSquared\u2019s proposal to place a new wireless system into service requiring some 40,000 towers throughout the country.\u00a0 What LightSquared and the FCC neglected or overlooked was the fact this proposal, as petitioned, will have a direct impact on all the GPS units operating in the country.<\/p>\n

As cited in the letter to the head of the FCC from 66 members of Congress, people using GPS to navigate on the ground will not be able to use their GPS units within three to five miles of one of the towers used by the 4G system.\u00a0 This includes motorists, people fishing, surveyors, hikers, and bikers.<\/p>\n

For aviation applications, it is even worse.\u00a0 Any aircraft within 12 miles of a tower will have their GPS receivers jammed by the 4G transmissions.\u00a0 This will give pilots erroneous\u00a0and dangerous position information as they fly.<\/p>\n

Now, it is one thing when a motorist cannot find his way along a road to his or her destination, or an angler cannot find his favorite fishing hole.\u00a0 It is altogether something else when you are talking about an aircraft with passengers and crew onboard who suddenly find themselves unable to navigate the airspace because of the intrusion of cell phone signals.<\/p>\n

This situation is not good.<\/p>\n

And the GPS system is imperative for more than people fishing, motorists driving, and pilots flying.\u00a0 Of those, the aviators are a far more important factor than the former.<\/p>\n

But here is the real kicker: GPS is required for national security<\/em>.\u00a0 We simply cannot do without it.<\/p>\n

Many are going to want their 4G capable phones; there is no question there is a demand for the new phones.\u00a0 However, it is going to boil down to a choice\u2014gadgets, or air travel. Video games on the phone, or aviation safety.\u00a0 Internet on a 4G device or military security.<\/p>\n

Somehow, the wireless industry was able to acquire initial\u00a0approval for development of this system.\u00a0 They made very large and important financial deals with companies in the electronics industries.\u00a0 No one seemed to consider the conflict with the GPS navigational system, which is already in place.\u00a0 The sense\u00a0many have is the FCC did not consider the necessity of air navigation for Life Flight helicopters, other aviation applications, as well as other uses of the GPS system when granting initial approval for the project.<\/p>\n

This was a dire oversight.\u00a0 This oversight will result in conflicts between those who need to use GPS and those who want 4G phones.<\/p>\n

It is probably going to cost the early adopters and initial investors a lot of money.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2011 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, this blog dealt with the situation of the Federal Communications Commission approving LightSquared\u2019s proposal to place a new wireless system into service requiring some 40,000 towers throughout the country.\u00a0 What LightSquared and the FCC neglected or overlooked was the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8],"tags":[80,86,402,478,1067,1201,1369,1370,1371,1372,1580,1608,1623,1693,1694,2194,2504,2526,2769,2890,2924,3009,3229,3422,3660,3761,4044,4116,4264,4300,505],"class_list":["post-2977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-flying-2","category-life-in-general","tag-40000-base-stations","tag-66-members-of-congress-writing-a-letter-to-the-fcc","tag-anglers","tag-aviators","tag-current-gps-satellite-system","tag-drivers","tag-fcc-chairman-julius-genachowski","tag-fcc-international-bureau","tag-fcc-international-bureau-chief-mindel-de-la-torre","tag-fccs-office-of-engineering-and-technology","tag-frequency-band-and-power-output","tag-garmin","tag-general-william-shelton","tag-gps-industry-council","tag-gps-lg4-and-government-woes","tag-lightsquared","tag-navigators","tag-new-4g-technologies","tag-philip-falcone","tag-problems-with-4g-interference","tag-public-safety-and-homeland-security-bureau","tag-refund-of-1-billion","tag-significant-measured-degradation-in-aviation-gps-units-harbinger-capital-partners","tag-surveyors","tag-the-federal-communications-commission-fcc","tag-the-looming-gps-and-smartphone-wars","tag-trimble","tag-us-air-force-space-command","tag-wholesale-4g-lte-long-term-evolution-wireless-broadband-communications-network","tag-wireless-telecommunications-bureau","tag-experimental-evidence-of-wide-area-gps-jamming-that-will-result-from-lightsquareds-proposal-to-convert-portions-of-l-band-1-to-high-power-terrestrial-broadband"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t