By Rachel Jewett | September 9, 2022
A report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on Ligado Networks found that Ligado’s network plans will not cause harmful interference to most GPS receivers, but will cause harmful interference to some Iridium Communications mobile satellite services that are used by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
The National Academies released its report on Friday after more than a year of study. The report was mandated by Congress and sponsored by the DoD. The National Academies are private, nonprofit institutions that provide expert advice. This report was prepared by a committee and then analyzed by a panel of expert reviews. Michael McQuade, strategic adviser to the president at Carnegie Mellon University and chair of the committee, presented the findings in a virtual press conference on Friday.
Ligado is working to deploy a terrestrial wireless network in the L-band satellite spectrum, and received FCC approval for the plan in April 2020 — a decision that has been hotly contested. U.S. Department of Defense officials, aerospace and satellite companies and other stakeholders that use GPS signals have sought multiple times to stay the FCC’s decision.