LTE Growth Raises Interference Worries for GPS

The GPS industry continues to voice worries about the growing demand for LTE-based services and the need to protect Global Navigation Satellite System and GPS receivers and services from signal interference. In an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 11-109, Deere, Garmin and Trimble Navigation said they met with FCC staff last week to highlight the protections needed for navigation devices vs. communications ones, and to make clear "that we remain committed to working ... to protect critical GNSS applications from interference while potentially exploring ways that currently underutilized spectrum in adjacent bands can be made more productive." A presentation to FCC staff said LTE band 24 sits closer to the GNSS "receive" band than the usual spectrum spacing for paired wireless broadband spectrum frequencies, meaning GNSS "is expected to tolerate what wireless systems cannot."