The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine has issued a report on Ligado Networks’ plan to deploy terrestrial services and its potential impact on the Department of Defense’s GPS capabilities and mission execution.
The NASEM study has found that Ligado’s network will interfere with DOD’s GPS receivers, DOD said Friday. According to the report, Ligado’s user terminals may also interfere with Iridium Communications’ satellite communications network.
The study also considers the Pentagon’s testing measure based on signal-to-noise ratio as a comprehensive approach to interference assessment.
DOD said it looks forward to collaborating with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Federal Communication Commission and Ligado on the issue.
NASEM released the report in accordance with a provision of the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.
In April 2020, FCC approved Ligado’s application to use the L-band spectrum to field a low-power terrestrial network in support of 5G and internet-of-things services.
