[CSEE-colloq] talk: Spectrum Wars: LightSquared vs. GPS, 11:30 Fri 2/2, ITE 231

[Tim Finin]

                          EE Graduate Seminar

                  Spectrum Wars: LightSquared vs. GPS

                        Professor Chuck LaBerge
               Professor of the Practice, CSEE Dept/UMBC

             11:30am-12:45pm Friday, 2 March 2012, ITE 231

The radio-frequency spectrum is a limited resource.  Within the US,
commercial use of the spectrum is administered by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), while government use of the spectrum
is administered by the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration. Currently, the regulatory community is locked in a
battle about spectrum utilization in the vicinity of 1.5 GHz. This
struggle pits millions of users of GPS technology for position and
time information against technical innovators desiring to bring 4G
wireless communications to millions of users in underserved
populations. So who wins the spectrum wars?
   The talk will outline the technologies involved, and provide a
time-line of the regulatory actions to date. There are some innovative
things going on here, and some simple analysis will show why there are
points of contention. A final resolution cannot be provided at this
time, because the issue is currently an open discussion in FCC. And,
as might expected, there are financial and political ramifications as
well.
   This talk will provide an interesting insight into how the 'real
world' works.


Dr. LaBerge is Professor of the Practice of Electrical and Computer
Engineering in the CSEE at UMBC, where he teaches a wide variety of
courses ranging from Introductory Circuits to Error Correcting
Codes. From 1975-2008, he was employed by Bendix, which became
AlliedSignal, which became Honeywell through a series of corporate
mergers.  He retired in July 2008 as the Senior Fellow for
Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance in Honeywell's Aerospace
Research and Technology Center.
   Dr. LaBerge has worked on precision landing systems and a wide variety
of aeronautical radios and applications. He's recognized as an expert
in issues involving interference to aeronautical systems.  His
technical, writing, and editorial contributions have received numerous
citations from regulatory bodies, and he was the winner of the Best
Paper of Conference at the 2000 IEEE/AIAA Digital Avionics Systems
Conference.
   Dr. LaBerge is a Senior Member of IEEE, a member of Tau Beta Pi, and
an inductee in the Order of the Engineer. He received his BES-EE and
MSE-EE, degrees, both with Honors, from The Johns Hopkins University
and the PhD. in Electrical Engineering from UMBC.  His three kids are
older than his students. He's been married to his patient wife for
almost 38 years.

Host:  Prof. Joel M. Morris
See http://csee.umbc.edu/talks for more information