Galileo Operability With U.S. Receivers Sees Satellite Opposition
A European Commission (EC) request for a waiver of FCC licensing requirements to allow nonfederal, receive-only earth stations in the U.S. to operate with signals of the Galileo Radionavigation-Satellite Service system is getting some pushback from satellite operators. Galileo serving U.S. devices would open the door to more-precise GPS, but first the EC has to do a better job proving compatibility with adjacent operations, Ligado said in a Wednesday filing in docket 17-16. Tuesday was the deadline for comments on the EC request, with replies due March 23.
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The EC request "is overly broad" and doesn't make clear what kind of services Galileo would provide in the U.S., Inmarsat said in a filing posted Wednesday specifically about Galileo's E1 signal. The company also said it's concerned Galileo's Public Regulated Service signal in the E1 spectrum could be within a few dBs of the PRS maximum level if it isn't filtered, but the waiver request doesn't address filtering. It also said its analysis shows an unfiltered Galileo PRS signal could interfere with the company's mobile earth station terminals.
Ligado, with a mobile satellite service license for operations in the 1525-1559 MHz band adjacent to E1, also said the waiver request is overly broad, saying the EC needs to show electromagnetic compatibility of Galileo-enabled devices with adjacent band devices. Ligado said the FCC also needs similar data from device manufacturers.
A small amount of E1 signal inevitably will enter the adjacent band, the EC said, but it has transmitted its E1 PRS signal since 2006 and not received any interference complaints from operations below 1559 MHz. It also said it considers Galileo signals compatible with services operating in the same and adjacent bands.
Numerous non-satellite commenters in the docket said they see no new interference concerns coming from Galileo signals, and multi-service receivers don't need any more protection than GPS-only ones do.
Trimble and Deere, in joint comments, laid out a long list of benefits to the waiver request, including the creation of a "more robust GNSS ecosystem" through augmenting GPS at no risk of additional interference. They said U.S. recognition of Galileo and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) will speed international acceptance of GPS. They also urged the FCC and NTIA to look at how they consider permitting reception of non-U.S. GNSS signals, calling the current route "complex and lengthy," and said the FCC should re-evaluate its treatment of GNSS receivers as satellite receivers.
Approving the waiver request would boost availability and reliability of alternative GNSS signals, improve caller location and call routing system performance and cut "geopolitical uncertainty" about 911 positioning technology, the National Emergency Number Association said. Combined GPS/Galileo receivers aren't more susceptible to degradation from adjacent or nearby band operations than GPS alone, GNSS chip maker Broadcom said in a filing. It also said well-designed Galileo/GPS receivers don't need a change in RF path. Hexagon, the parent of GNSS receiver and antenna maker NovAtel, said its commercial GNSS receivers already track Galileo E1 signals alongside GPS, E1 and GPS are electromagnetically compatible and interoperable, and designing a receiver that supports E1 doesn't require material changes to design or performance. Also backing the application were Qualcomm and Airbus.