LightSquared Revises LTE/GPS Interference Test in Face of Public Safety Concerns

LightSquared revised its LTE/GPS interference test plan in the face of suggestions that the plan lacked any indication the testing would look at possible impacts to public safety, the company said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 12-340. The revised Roberson and Associates test plan also took steps to ensure wide-area augmentation systems (WAAS) also "are appropriately taken into account," LightSquared said. It said some devices -- such as public safety devices -- might be included in testing at -10dBm LTE power as part of a second round of data collection. Public safety devices also will be included in reacquisition testing in which the devices will be locked onto a GPS signal that then is turned off for several minutes, then restored, with the test then timing how long it takes to relock onto GPS in the presence of a strong LTE signal and without one, LightSquared said. The revised test plan also adds "Time to First Fix" testing with WAAS and some revisions to the test setups for different classes of GPS receivers. The revisions follow criticisms last month by the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council last month (see 1509100013). LightSquared said its details and proposed device list "continue to be refined and are thus subject to further revision."