Army Looking to Build NGA Data Center

The US Army has put out feelers for companies that may want (and be able) to build a data center for the Department of Defense’s agency that provides geospatial intelligence support to the military.

The Army has issued a “sources sought” notice for a potentially US$10m-plus project to convert a 30,000 sq ft room in the National Geospacial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) campus in Springfield, Virginia, into a Tier 2 data center, according to official government documents.

- Data Center Dynamics

LightSquared Update - 1/5/12 - 2012 Defense Spending Act May Kill Any Chance of LightSquared Launch

The 500-page-plus National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 details what LightSquared must do get the OK from the FCC to move forward on its its satellite and terrestrial based Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wholesale data service.

The provision, which appears under the Space Activities section of the defense funding bill, prohibits the FCC from permitting any operations that interfere with the military use of GPS in any way. The NDAA, which was signed into law on Dec. 31, 2011, by President Obama, is best known for the controversy surrounding the detention of suspected terrorists.

eWeek goes on to note the very strict requirments for the ok and the reporting requirements to Congress. The cost related to those for the FCC and DoD may shut down the whole thing.

Note that there's a cost factor in the reporting requirement. What this means is that if interference is found, then the military must determine how much it will cost to either fix all of those GPS units in use or find some other way to eliminate the problem. Considering the limitation on the defense budgets with the end of the Iraq war and the war in Afghanistan winding down, it's unlikely that the Defense Department will have the money for a massive repair or swap of GPS receivers.

Said another way, this Act is making it look even worse for LightSquared's network ever getting off the ground.

- eWeek

LIghtSquared Update - Fed Report Conclusions Released, House Bill Passes to hold Approval, More 12/15/11

An official statement on the report (not yet public) on testing of LightSquared interference leaked and reported on last week was made public on Wednesday. In short:

Government tests showed that "LightSquared signals caused harmful interference to the majority of…general purpose GPS receivers," said Anthony Russo, director of the National Coordination Office for Spaced-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing, a government and industry advisory board, in a statement late Wednesday.

- WSJ

The Dept of Defense and Dept of Transportation issued their own statement, including this text.

However, the testing did show that LightSquared signals caused harmful interference to the majority of other tested general purpose GPS receivers.  Separate analysis by the Federal Aviation Administration also found interference with a flight safety system designed to warn pilots of approaching terrain.

- press release

The testing found no interference with cell phones. The House passed a bill stating FCC could not approve LightSquared use of spectrum until the Dept of Defense cleared its concerns. 

In addition, language passed by the House in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) contains a provision that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) shall not provide final authorization for LightSquared operations until Defense Department concerns about GPS interference have been resolved. That language was authored by Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces.

- PC Mag

In perhaps related news FCC chief of staff Eddie Lazarus resigns, though the sense is that had more to do with net neutrality and the recent mergers in the telcom arena.

- WaPo

In response to the leaked report info (and presumably the official statement), Javad Ashjaee, Ph.D.m CEO of Javad (the first company to offer a filter) suggested other low end GPSs would fail when near FM signals. He asked the FCC to establish guidelines for GPS receivers, including that they include details of their signal to noise ratios.

- Letter to FCC/press release

And of course, LightSquared offered its response:

While we are eager to continue to work with the FAA on addressing the one remaining issue regarding terrain avoidance systems, we profoundly disagree with the conclusions drawn with respect to general navigation devices.

 

LightSquared has had the legal and regulatory right to use its spectrum for eight years over two administrations. The testing further confirmed that the interference issues are not caused by LightSquared's spectrum, but by GPS devices looking into spectrum that is licensed to LightSquared. 

- press release

Private Equity Firm Acquires ObjectFX

I can't say I'd heard much from ObjectFX in recent years and frankly has pretty much forgotten about the company. No word on the price, but the plan seems to be to grow the company via its continued service to the defense arena among others. The company has a CRADA with NGA.

... significant investments are underway for continued enhancements to SpatialRULES®, ObjectFX’s geospatial decision-support engine for analyzing massive streams of spatial and temporal data. “Both our commercial and government clients have asked for these advancements,” said the company’s new Chairman, Tim Fleischer. “We are excited about releasing the new features later this year.”

Also interesting to note: "With the acquisition and new ownership, ObjectFX becomes a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business" which may open more government contract doors.

- press release

LightSquared Update 6/15/11

It probably comes as no surprise to those following the story, but the report expected today by the industry working group tasked with exploring the possible interference of LightSquared wireless solution with GPS to the FCC will report it does interfere. The issue will be how and if it cam be fixed. LightSquared maintains it can be, using technology and GPS companies and GIS users including DOD argue they should not be burdened with such efforts. In other news, GM's OnStar chimed in about the impact on its system.

- WSJ

- Bloomberg