GPS World -- Ashton Carter, U.S. deputy secretary for defense, and John Porcari, deputy secretary for transportation, have written an official letter to the assistant secretary for commerce, stating that "there appear to be no practical solutions or mitigations that would permit the LightSquared broadband service." Carter and Porcari are co-chairs of the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing. This represents the strongest intra-government statement to date on the issue.
Their letter further states that "both LightSquared's original and modified plans for its proposed mobile network would cause harmul interference to many GPS receivers. Additionally, an analysis by the Federal Aviation Administration has concluded that the LightSquared proposals are not compatible with several GPS-dependent aircraft safety-of-flight systems."
"No additional testing is warranted at this time," the authors conclude.
They further propose 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."
