A group of GPS vendors and users has asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to permanently block LightSquared from using the upper band of its licensed radio spectrum for a cellular data network.

LightSquared wants to build an LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network using frequencies near the band used by GPS (Global Positioning System). The FCC has said it can only do so if interference between the two systems is resolved. After tests showed strong interference in the upper 10MHz band of LightSquared's frequencies, the carrier said it would start by operating on a lower band, which is also 10MHz wide. However, it holds out hope of using the upper band in the future.

In a filing (PDF) to the FCC on Tuesday, the Coalition to Save Our GPS asked the agency to immediately rule out use of the upper band of spectrum. The group, a longtime critic of LightSquared, said uncertainty about how interference in that block will be addressed is hurting efforts to deal with the lower block.

"The FCC owes it to all concerned to immediately act to ensure that this cloud is removed and that LightSquared is put on clear notice that it will not be allowed to pursue future terrestrial use of the upper MSS spectrum," the filing said. "A prompt ruling responsive to the Coalition's request will also create a much more constructive and solutions-oriented process for completion of consideration of LightSquared's proposed lower band operations."

Though there is no dispute that engineers from both sides have cooperated on interference tests and continue to do so, there has been a vicious war of words over LightSquared's plans to use either of the frequency bands. LightSquared maintains that an LTE network operating in the lower band would only affect high-precision GPS receivers and that there are already filters available to solve that problem. The GPS group still questions whether those filters will work and has balked at LightSquared's proposal that GPS vendors and users should pay for much of the proposed retrofitting for privately owned receivers.

In its filing, the Coalition said the GPS industry is worried about an even more expensive and time-consuming retrofitting effort for the upper band later, should LightSquared again go after that band for additional capacity. Tests in the upper band, conducted earlier this year, showed strong interference affecting a wide range of common GPS receivers.

Also in the filing, the Coalition said that the earlier tests showed a harmonic effect caused specifically by using both bands at the same time. If LightSquared eventually had its LTE network use both the upper and the lower band, this "intermodulation" would create signals inside the GPS band itself, separate from LightSquared's own licensed spectrum. This argument is different from most of the debate so far, which has focused on interference that takes place without any signals being transmitted outside an assigned band. Instead, the conflict has focused on GPS receivers scanning for weak satellite signals across a wide range of frequencies and being overpowered by strong LTE signals that are within LightSquared's band.

LightSquared attacked the Coalition's filing on Monday and repeated its call for GPS vendors to stop their receivers from using any of LightSquared's frequencies. "Now the industry is demanding that the government formally expropriate part of LightSquared's spectrum -- worth billions of dollars -- and turn it over to the GPS industry in perpetuity," LightSquared said in a written statement. "Today's filing is little more than a land grab designed to reward spectrum squatters who have failed to innovate their technology."

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The Garmin Approach G5 is simply amazing and it will shake the Golf GPS market in several ways. One of the most remarkable advantages is the usage of the large color touchscreen. Due to its high-sensitive GPS receiver Garmin Approach G5 measures individual shot distances and show exact yardage to fairways, hazards, and greens with high accuracy.

When you slide your finger on the screen, the yardage changes instantly. And the unit also gives you a distance-to-the-green from your current position readout at all times. You may also manually move the pin position for accurate to-the-pin distances.

Another very cool feature of this Garmin Approach G5 is the fact that Garmin does not charge for the golf course maps or map updates. This is very nice since the majority of other manufacturers charge significant fees for for initial course map databases and for ongoing map updates.

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Global Positioning System companies remain split on the best way to contend with LightSquared. Representatives from three GPS-based companies spoke alongside LightSquared Executive Vice President Martin Harriman during the two-hour panel discussion, which was part of a National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Advisory Board meeting in Alexandria, Va. The Reston, Va.-based startup company wants to develop a nationwide network of 40,000 cell towers that would provide broadband access across rural America, but opponents claim the network would interfere with existing GPS receivers. The Federal Communications Commission currently is looking into the matter.

"We love LightSquared," said Javad Ashjaee, chief executive officer of Javad GNSS, which manufactures GPS receivers. Ashjaee presented his own findings showing that LightSquared's towers could coexist with and even complement high-precision GPS operators.

Ashjaee said LightSquared's filtering creates a strong "fence" that separates its signal from his company's receivers. "No signal analyzer can do as good as this," he stated. Javad maintains that interference problems stem from the fact that most manufacturers didn't pay enough attention to other devices operating in frequencies near the GPS bands, or develop adequate protective filters in the antenna section of their devices. To prove his point, Ashjaee brought several dozen boxes of his company's receivers, inviting any interested parties to perform their own tests.

But others at the meeting disagreed. Both Scott Burgett, software engineering manager at Garmin International, and Jim Kirkland, vice president of Trimble Navigation, said LightSquared's towers would interfere with their companies' GPS products. Trimble and Garmin both sell devices that work on lower frequencies than Javad's high-precision units, and therefore remain exposed to LightSquared interference, Burgett and Kirkland said.

"It is almost impossible to design new products compatible with LightSquared's proposed system without knowing its technology's end state," Burgett said. He estimated it would take 10 to 15 years to properly retrofit Garmin devices so they could coexist with LightSquared.

"There is no doubt" that LightSquared causes mass interference to precision location technology, Kirkland said. He asserted that a solution would have to involve either retrofitting or outright replacing existing receivers to prevent such interference, which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Kirkland added that LightSquared should pay for such costs since it is a new player in the market.

Both Trimble and Garmin are members of the Coalition to Save Our GPS, which has been vocal about its strong opposition to LightSquared since the company unveiled its plans.

Harriman said LightSquared wants to coexist with GPS. Though he stated that his company "can provide the missing link that GPS has been looking for," he did not provide clear answers as to whether LightSquared would be prepared to pay to retrofit existing receivers to avoid interference, saying only that the company would be able to meet the standard of noninterference expected of it.

Harriman added that LightSquared has made an offer of $50 million to the federal government to offset the costs associated with replacing or retrofitting receivers used by the Federal Aviation Administration and other federal agencies.

LightSquared over the last few years has been securing deals with retail customers, such as Cricket and Best Buy, interested in tapping into the potential of a nationwide broadband market. Harriman said the company currently has 300,000 satellite terminals in the United States, and launched "the most sophisticated communications satellite ever" in 2010.

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Have you ever wished that there was an ultimate GPS that could direct you perfectly in any situation. I can’t even tell you how many time my GPS has led me astray. Of course on the back roads of Montana that is probably to be expected. If only there was a GPS that could help direct us through life and all the major decisions that we are required to make on a daily basis. If only we could just punch in a destination like ‘great paying job’! Or how about ‘Big Family’, ‘The Best Place to Live’, or ‘The Lost Dutchman’s Mine’? Or what about ‘Loving Marriage’, ‘Strong Relationship with Heavenly Father’, or maybe the ultimate destination; ‘Happiness’? Have you ever wanted to travel there?

The other day when visiting a family I had a wonderful epiphany. We first started talking about my GPS (and how sometimes is leads me astray and doesn’t receive signal in buildings) and then we started talking about the Book of Mormon. I remembered this quote I had in my Scriptures by President Ezra Taft Benson, “It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called “the words of life” (D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance.” In the book of Mormon there is a Prophet named Nephi who absolutely loved the scriptures with his whole soul. Right before he passed away he gave his family (and everyone) this advice;

“Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” (2 Nephi 32:3). The ‘Words of Christ’ are the scriptures; Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and modern day prophet’s counsel. All of these our words of Christ words from Christ. All of them help lead us and guide us to different destinations in our lives. The scriptures are the ‘GPS of Life’! Now they may not directly lead you to a great paying job, but maybe they will help you see that a great paying job doesn’t guarantee happiness. They can however, lead us, show us, and direct us in how we can have a loving marriage or a strong relationship with our loving Heavenly Father. The scriptures invite the holy ghost, which is another great way to know what to do or where to go next. The ultimate destination is eternal life with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ; true happiness. The scriptures show us how to get there. So when life gets you down and you’re not quite sure what to do next, flip open the ‘GPS of Life’. You never know what you might just  find…….

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The next time you’re on a commercial airliner, think about this: The GPS navigation unit in your car is more advanced than the technology used by air traffic controllers. The radar-based air traffic control technology used today is almost 60 years old. While it worked well with fewer, slow-moving aircraft, today’s modern jetliners can fly more than a mile and a half in the time it takes for a radar beam to sweep across the screen.

Because of that, planes must be kept three to five miles apart. Airplanes forced to fly in wide arcs waiting their turn to land burn excess fuel and add several minutes to the length of the flight. That may seem trivial until you multiply those losses by more than 18 million flights a year.

Congestion and weather delays tied to the limitations of radar; cost airlines and consumers almost $10 billion in 2010, a cost that’s projected to grow to $22 billion a year by 2022 and $40 billion by 2033.
Much of that cost would be eliminated by switching to a GPS-based air traffic control system.

Global positioning systems are space-based global navigation satellite programs that provide precise and real-time location information in all weather conditions anywhere on earth. By utilizing GPS, airliners would be able to safely fly much closer together and take direct routes to their destinations rather than being redirected into holding patterns waiting to land. The ability of GPS technology to provide real-time weather information will also reduce weather-related delays and diversions.

Congress approved a new GPS air traffic control system known as NextGen in 2003, but it will cost taxpayers and the airline industry more than $40 billion to implement — a daunting task, especially in this era of massive deficits and shrinking profits. Nevertheless, it’s an investment worth making especially because the size of the world’s passenger aircraft fleet will double over the 20 years.

NextGen would greatly improve the efficiency of airline travel, reduce costly delays, cut fuel costs and reduce air pollution. The program enjoys broad support on Capitol Hill and in the White House.
So, what’s the problem? The cost — and concerns about the federal bureaucracy. NextGen will cost taxpayers an estimated $22 billion for the government portion of the system and another $20 billion for the airline industry through 2025. Before it appropriates the funds, Congress wants detailed budgets and specific timelines from the Federal Aviation Administration for each phase of implementation. Commercial airlines are also wary.

JetBlue and Southwest Airlines have installed some of the GPS technology on their planes, thanks in part to government incentives and grants. But only 11 of Southwest’s destinations are set up for the new procedures. According to the Associated Press, the FAA hasn’t yet approved new procedures for the remaining airports, and there’s no timetable for when they will happen. The AP reports it can take the FAA as long as two years to approve the new procedure for a single runway.

Adding to concerns, the FAA has been slow to set technical standards for the required equipment, and the agency must still develop a program to retrain more than 15,000 air traffic controllers. Because GPS technology advances from one year to the next, airlines are worried that a slow-moving federal bureaucracy could leave them saddled with outdated technology.

Still, some airlines are moving ahead. Alaska Airlines is using GPS precision landing procedures at Juneau International Airport, where mountainous terrain and bad weather routinely cause delays and cancellations. Alaska estimates the new system prevented 729 flight cancellations into Juneau last year.
This is an opportunity for the FAA to demonstrate that it understands the importance of efficiency, precise information and a timely response — in our air traffic control system and in our federal bureaucracy.

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This Sunday, a Fareed Zakaria GPS primetime special – “Restoring the American Dream: Fixing Education”. The show airs at 8p and 11p ET/PT. While America was once tops in education, we are now ranked 15th in reading, 23rd in science, and 31st in math.

What happened? How can we dig ourselves out of this deep hole?
For inspiration, we go to South Korea and Finland – two nations that consistently rank highly on education. Interestingly, the two have very different approaches. South Korea has long school days and school years with a strong focus on standardized testing. Finland is much more lackadaisical – except in its approach to teachers and teaching. In Finland, teachers are revered; it’s tougher to get into masters programs for teaching than it is to get into higher education for medicine and law.

So what can we learn? We talked about the priorities of teachers, testing, and technology with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates whose foundation has given $5 billion to education so far; we speak with former DC schools chair Michelle Rhee, and education activist Diane Ravitch. We look at a novel way of teaching, started by a former investment manager who stumbled upon a formula for student success: Sal Khan is the creator of the Khan Academy, a YouTube-based “classroom” that so far has gotten over 80 million hits - and reports of success using it in real classrooms. Finally, Fareed offers his take on what will fix our troubles.

Here are some excerpts:
The secrets of Seoul
Welcome to Seoul, South Korea – capital city of one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. There are many reasons to be impressed with this Asian tiger that rose from the ashes of a civil war. But South Korea’s crown jewel is its education system. Thanks to a militant drive for success, this nation’s students have outperformed the rest of the world for the better part of a decade. On the most recent Pisa exam, the benchmark international test, South Korea ranked first in reading and second in math among all nations.
President Obama has noticed, singing Korea’s praises on a regular basis. On a visit to Seoul in 2009, he asked South Korean president Lee Myung-bak what his biggest challenge was in education. The president’s reply? Korean parents care too much about their children’s success. We visited the Cho family on a typical day for their son, Sung-do. He gets up every day at six a.m., jumps rope as the sun comes up. Then eats a massive breakfast his mother has prepared. She says a healthy meal helps his concentration. Sung-do goes to school from eight a.m. to four p.m. on most days – much longer hours than most American students. There are about two hundred and five schools days in the South Korean calendar – twenty-five more than the typical U.S. schedule. Over the course of their academic careers, South Korean children will spend almost two more years in the classroom than their American counterparts.

Fareed Zakaria: If you were the secretary of education, well, let’s say you have - even more powerful than the secretary of education. So suppose you could change something about the structure of American education, the, you know, the system, what would it be?

Bill Gates: If I was in charge of a school district, it would be about hiring the best teachers. And how do you get them to learn from each other and how do you make sure you’re bringing the really good ones in. So the basic research about great teaching, that’s now become our biggest investment. It could be a very smart investment. One study says that if students had a top teacher for four years straight, the achievement gap between blacks and whites would disappear. The Gates foundation has launched a massive effort to figure out how America can foster great teaching – collecting data from thousands of educators and even videotaping their lessons.

Fareed Zakaria: What do you think makes a good teacher?

Bill Gates: Clearly, there's something about engaging the student. As I've watched the videos of great teachers, they are constantly looking out and seeing that the kids are starting to fidget. They're bringing up the energy level. They're calling on this kid. They're using examples.

Fareed Zakaria: But Gates’ research is not only about identifying great teachers. His team is also figuring out how to grade the teachers – just like they grade their students. They’re looking at different ways to reward and motivate good teachers – like adding to their paychecks based on a principal’s evaluation or their students’ performance.

Bill Gates: Why is teaching going to be better 10 years from now, 20 years from now, than it is today? Well, partly because we’re going to have these feedback mechanisms. Now the way you weigh the different elements, how much tests weigh into that, how strong the other elements are, that’s what we’re investing in.

And that’s where things can get controversial – because when it comes to education policy, the politics are nasty.

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Garmin’s auto GPS business is still challenging, but the company’s move to diversify into fitness and even dog tracking is paying off nicely.

Don’t look now, but Garmin has gotten up off the mat, delivered a better-than-expected quarter and has diversified its way out of what looked like a smartphone-powered train wreck.

A year ago, the storyline behind Garmin went like this:

Garmin makes GPS systems.
These GPS systems are increasingly found on your smartphone.
Standalone GPS systems are dead.
Garmin may be dead too over time.
Couple those moving parts with Garmin’s unfortunate move into smartphones with the now defunct Nuviphone and it you didn’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out the GPS company was in trouble.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the GPS cemetery. Garmin started growing its fitness line and now is a staple for runners, biking enthusiasts and even golfers. Now the company is seeing strong demand for its Astro 320 dog tracking system (right, credit Garmin).

Garmin has crammed its GPS knowhow into every category it could find. And it appears to be working. Garmin’s auto/mobile products represented 58 percent of third quarter revenue, down from 64 percent a year ago amid growth from emerging categories such as fitness, outdoor and aviation.

The company’s third quarter results were still down from a year ago, but Wall Street analysts were way too pessimistic. Garmin reported third quarter earnings of $150.4 million, or 77 cents a share, on revenue of $667 million, down 4 percent from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were 71 cents a share.

Wall Street was looking for earnings of 50 cents a share on revenue of $618 million. Simply put, Garmin blew away estimates and even raised its outlook for 2011. Garmin projected pro forma earnings of $2.30 a share to $2.40 a share on revenue of $2.6 billion. Wall Street expected earnings of $2.09 a share on revenue of $2.56 billion.

How’d this happen? Garmin diversified well and has offset declining sales in automotive. Auto/mobile revenue fell 13 percent from a year ago to $384 million in the third quarter. However, fitness revenue jumped 29 percent from a year ago to $69 million. Aviation revenue was up 18 percent to $71 million. In addition, Garmin grew its third quarter revenue 19 percent in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

On a conference call with analysts, Garmin’s Clifton Premble, chief operating officer, said that the fitness market surged. Garmin also has a new cycling device called the Vector that will ship in March 2012. Premble said:

While we are aware of the large number of competitors that have recently entered the fitness market, we believe we have successfully demonstrated our leadership in the GPS-enabled fitness category. We intend to keep our position through continued innovation, a broad range of product offerings that appeal to a range of customers from the casual to elite athlete, and by offering our products through a well-developed distribution and retail network.

Garmin’s business may ride shotgun with a bevy of athletes. However, TomTom and Motorola are also targeting athletes now too. Garmin executives noted that the company has a good reputation with athletes as a go-to brand.

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Previous chips and global positioning systems (GPS) have only been able to pinpoint location reliably to within around 50m, and have rarely worked well indoors - a holy grail for chipmakers. However, CSR, a specialist in GPS, bluetooth and Wi-Fi chips used in cars and smartphones, claims to have combined various technologies to create SiRiFusion, a new "location platform" that will work regardless of whether it is in or outdoors. It will launch in the SiRFstarV family of chips next year. By working indoors, the chips will allow people to use their mobiles to track friends within shopping centres, and enable retailers to target customers with offers or adverts as they enter the store.

Blake Bullock, product manager, said it would fuel a lucrative new advertising market, as well as sales of devices with the chip embedded. "Whenever people use their smartphones to search for something, or check in on Facebook, location is pivotal. But GPS doesn't work indoors and Wi-Fi positioning is spotty and inaccurate, which means people often get frustrated. This will bring all those experiences indoors," he said. Last week CSR posted a $7.8m (£4.9m) third-quarter loss, blaming the macro economic environment and the one-off cost of its integration with Zoran, the US rival it bought last year.

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Japan-based Sony has launched a new in-car handy GPS system, called the NV-U2. With an internal memory of 2GB, the NV-U2 is capable of holding Japanese maps along with 10 million telephone-directory entries. It also offers the PetMap collaborative mapping service for the user to load up the user-generated routes of interest through USB connection or on a memory stick.

The features of the NV-U2 GPS unit include: A 4.8-inch in-car PND with a 480 x 272 pixel touchscreen
MPEG-4 video file support G Position Plus chipset The device also has the ability to playback MP3 audio files through internal speakers or headphones. It gains power from a cigar-lighter socket. No more details of the slim and sleek Sony NV-U2 have been revealed. However, the price of the in-car unit is ¥59,800 (approx. Rs. 10,000).

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A total of 67 individuals living in transitional housing at Wacol will be fitted with the new devices.  The introduction of GPS trackers followed a community campaign in which more than 10,000 Queenslanders signed a Courier-Mail petition calling for the State Government to roll out the technology as soon as possible.

Corrective Services Minister Neil Roberts announced the State Government would spend $13.7 million over four years to introduce the new GPS systems. The Courier-Mail revealed in May there were 152 breaches of monitoring conditions by 53 pedophiles released from custody, including one who tried to abduct a boy from a skate park.

It also revealed electronic monitoring under-performed when it came to supervising sex offenders and their physical movements away from home or after hours.

Mr Roberts said the GPS technology would enhance existing radio-based monitoring systems but would not replace the vigilance of staff in the field. Abakus Elmotech won the contract to supply the trackers earlier this month, following a successful trial of the devices by 30 staff from the Department of Corrective Services in August.

Tagged volunteers went to the beach, the gym, up mountain ranges and through tunnels as part of the week-long trial of the technology. Under the scheme, a total of 67 "high-risk" offenders convicted under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act will be fitted-out with GPS trackers.

One will be serial pedophile Raymond Yeo, 66, who was released in July, and has a criminal history dating back to when he was 13. Douglas Brian Jackway, 32, who was jailed for raping a nine-year-old girl in 1995 and is due to be released from the Brisbane Correctional Centre at Wacol in February, is also expected to be fitted with a GPS tracker upon his release into transitional accommodation.

Mr Roberts said he expected all 67 serious sex offenders would be fitted with the GPS trackers by early 2012. "All sex offenders fitted with GPS will be tracked on a 24/7 basis, with a specialist surveillance team working around the clock to monitor their movements," he said.

Several high-profile Queenslanders, such as Olympian Susie O'Neill, hairdressing icon Stefan Ackerie, rugby league legend Darren Lockyer and child rape victim Sharon Tomlinson, added weight to The Courier-Mail campaign.

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