LightSquared Files Petition for Declaratory Ruling, Asks FCC to Confirm Its Rights as Spectrum Licensee
http://machinecontrolonline.com/content/view/7780/

A lot of thinking happened in a short time after seeing the bones on the ground. “Was the cause of death natural? How long ago did this happen? Am I gonna hang for this?” he thought to himself. Time to slow down and figure out what was going on here. No need to be alarmed, this was an unknown mining claim and these remains could be over a hundred years old. Looking around, Rodney found a couple scraps of cloth and a gold button. Not much to go on, but this may help him identify what this was all about.

With that done, Rodney got up and walked around. This “room” was the size of a house and had the usual remnants of mining activity; old dynamite boxes, pick handles, dull drills and tobacco tins. With nothing much left to see, Rodney decided to get out of the cave. It was dark outside and he felt like he was pressing his luck not being discovered yet.

He made his way to the rope, not looking forward to the climb up. He would use a device that grabbed the rope and using two of them he could climb like a ladder and make the ascent less work. The quiet of the cave was broken by a small rumble that came from the tunnel that ran downhill; it got louder by the second. Before he knew it, Rodney was balled up in a corner of the cave while a rush of hot steam flew by him on its way through the room to a tunnel that continued uphill. He was pinned for an hour, when the steam geyser ceased; he made a bee line to the rope and got out of there.

Tony Valenzuela, the project super had things under control on the site. That was a good thing because Rodney had plenty of office work that needed doing. Lars, the owner had done something stupid that required some scrambling on Rodney’s part. Lars went out and bought a blade at the equipment  auction. It was an older CAT 14H blade, but the fifty thousand dollar hit to the checking account meant that Rodney had to get money in the account to make payroll this week.

“All you had to do was tell me you wanted to buy a blade.” suggested Rodney. “I don’t need your permission to spend MY money!” bellowed Lars. Rodney knew it was a losing battle but hoped that someday Lars might actually think before acting. With that exchange out of the way, it was time to get to work and find some money. Rodney called the General Contractor on a shopping center job they were working on.

Hanna Combs was realistic and smart. Rodney did not take advantage of her good nature, if she felt you were going too far she would cut you off at the knees. “I need to get out ahead a bit on the shopping center billing.” said Rodney. “Lars went out and blew a bunch of money on a motor grader we don’t need and left me short for payroll this week.” Hanna thought for a moment, the longer the silence, the worse the deal would get for Rodney. “I will pay you for the rest of the mass grading and the building pad” said Hanna. “But you need to have that blade outfitted with GPS and use it to finish the parking lot.” She said.

Good news and bad news. Rodney would get plenty of money to make payroll and have a cushion for anything Lars may see and buy. The downside was Rodney needed to outfit the blade with GPS and get that parking lot done for Hanna. This would only take a few days but cost almost as much as the grader to fully set up. Rodney sighed and picked up the phone to call his GPS salesman, Robert Crane. Robert was about to have Rodney make his day.

A few weeks back, I began reading about the release of a new type of camera. This new camera creates images using light fields. Light fields are a fundamental representation of light. They are a  function that describes the amount of light faring in every direction through every point in space. The cool feature of the camera I was reading about, the Lytro, was that you could refocus on the image after the picture was taken. Being a bit of a photographer hack I could something like that.

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Either knowingly or unknowingly, Steve Jobs was describing himself amongst kindred spirits.

Steve’s vision empowered and continues to inspire my ability to create.
RIP
- Randy Noland

The hardest thing to do was figure out how to get back to the cave discovery without letting anyone else know. It’s not that Rodney was trying to make it a big secret; he just didn’t know the extent of the cave. He imagined the ribbing he would take if the entire find was the size of a steamer trunk.

The 20 mile long water main project had several sites designated as staging yards where equipment and trailers could be locked up nightly. Rodney had the crew move the yard to the next location down the line. While he was at it, he called Robert Crane to help him move the GPS base station.

“I showed you how to set up the base two months ago”, said Robert. “It should still be fresh in your mind” Robert Crane was a salesman, but not the usual type. Robert sold GPS and all things technology. He was smart and knew what he was doing. Because of that, he did not have to say things like, “What would it take to put you in this total station today”. Robert came out and helped Rodney get the base station in the new location just as Lars was pulling up.

“I want that 3D GPS system for the excavator.” Bellowed Lars “Install it next week.”

“It will take me at least 3 weeks to get the parts to do the install.” replied Robert. “I told you when I showed you the system two months ago that it takes time to get everything in and installed.”

“I don’t care if you got to drive to the factory and grab the stuff off the shelf yourself, I want it in a week.” said Lars “You talked me into it and I want it next week or I’ll go get it from someone else”

“I’ll get right on it.” said Robert. He looked at Rodney; they did a collective eye roll. Everybody knew it would take three weeks to get the system up and running. Lars would forget this conversation and life would go on. Lars just needed to bow up like a show dog now and then. Robert knew this and let Lars have his fun.

With the equipment yard now 5 miles away, Rodney got back to open the access to the cave he covered up a week ago. It was Saturday morning and he brought a good flashlight to the location where plywood covered with dirt hid the opening. He tied a rope to the bumper of his truck and lowered himself into the hole. Sixty feet later his feet contacted solid rock. He scanned the area and could not believe his eyes.

He was in a room that was flat on the bottom and domed above. There were columns of rock that had not been excavated holding up the roof. He recognized this from old photos; he was in an abandoned gold mine. For some reason, this site was not listed in property records as an old gold mine. Here in Arizona, mining claims were common in the state and shafts, caves and rooms like these were common. The construction documents said nothing about a mining claim on the route to be occupied by the new water main.

Rodney felt warm air coming from a tunnel in the distance, this must be where the heat came from that raised the blade of the dozer. There was narrow gauge rail track for running ore carts from the mine to the surface through a small opening in the rock. These openings to mine shafts were all over the state; somehow over the years this one got covered up and forgotten. Rodney considered that the mine was done off the books by claim jumpers stealing profits from the legitimate owner of the gold rights.

He walked toward the tunnel scanning the area with the bright beam of his light. He wondered why this mine was never listed in public records, when he saw the pile of bones in the corner of the room; he started to get an idea why.

A friend sent me this ad that came from the Washington Post Aug 3 page A5
It is appropriate to offer  all three sides to every story. There is a link at the bottom of this blog with several references supporting the LightSquared initiative. As always, it is important to do a lot of research, think and decide for yourself.

LightSquared and GPS Interference?

We’ll point you to the facts. And to the solution.

LightSquared is building a nationwide broadband network that will provide coverage to every corner of the United States.   Some GPS device manufacturers claim our network disrupts their service.  The facts show the problem is with their design, not our network.  Still, we have been working with several federal agencies and all affected stakeholders to solve the problem.  After months of intensive testing, we have a solution that not only delivers on our promise to bring broadband to all Americans, it also protects over 99.5 percent of GPS receivers.  Our solution has three parts:

1. LightSquared will operate our network at an even lower power than what’s permitted by the FCC, to minimize the risk of disruption to GPS Devices.

2. LightSuared will wait on the use of the portion of our spectrum that is immediately adjacent to the GPS band.  The frequencies there are licensed to us; however, we won’t use them until concerns raised by the federal agencies have been addressed and we receive a go-ahead.  We will also need time to work with the GPS device manufacturers to help them implement design changes that will improve the performance of their devices.

3. LightSquared will begin terrestrial commercial operations only on those portions of our spectrum that pose no risk to the vast majority of GPS users, and we will coordinate and contribute toward a workable design fix for the small fraction of receivers that require one.

Our solution protects the millions of consumers who use GPS systems every day. And, it gives us the ability to unleash an estimated $120 billion * in economic benefits to consumers by bringing much-needed competition and innovation to the U.S. wireless industry.

It’s time for GPS device manufacturers to do their part. Let’s not disrupt this opportunity to bring broadband to all Americans.

Go to www.LightSquared.com/gpsfacts

*According to a recent study by The Brattle Group

More to come…
Randy Noland
Managing Editor/Cofounder
MachineControlOnline.com / Machine Control Magazine

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Monday’s always come too soon, this one was no different. A good weekend of fishing and camping went a long way to help, but not fully remedy the soreness from the previous weeks work. Rodney was on site for a few minutes before the crew started to show up. He almost forgot about the dozer blade lifted off the ground, seeing it brought the puzzle back into focus. He was not going to discuss this with anyone, no sense in getting laughed at by the crew for believing in ghosts.

“I’m going to take the GPS rover and get out ahead of the crew”, said Tony Valenzuela. “Looks like some easy digging ahead according to the boring logs” Tony was a good Superintendent; he did his job and rarely complained. He was also not above a good practical joke on another crew member. It kept everybody on their toes. Thinking about practical jokes, Rodney figured the hot ground and moving dozer blade might be another Tony trick. Tony fired up the rover and verified the localization by checking on several points and was ready to go.

Tony just needed to give the crew a centerline to follow for the rough trench. As long as they stayed within the boundaries of the 200 foot wide easement, they were OK. The surveyor, Dan Jennings would complain they were all over the place, but they would provide the city with a straight well placed pipe to carry water to the edge of town. This line would replace a deteriorating clay pipe installed in the 1920’s.

The day went well with good progress being made on the trench. No breakdowns or calls from Lars, the screaming owner. As a Project Manager, Rodney split time between the office and the field. His ability with numbers and computers made it easy for him to make the transition to the office. As he got older, it was nice to get out of the weather part of the time. Upon entering the yard that housed the shop and office, the mechanic Justin Franz stopped him. “That dozer you asked about, the one that was found with the raised blade?” said Justin. “The covering on the hoses are melted on the bottom of the machine. Never seen anything like it, looks like someone held a torch to the undercarriage.”

Rodney’s inbox was stuffed with the usual invoices to approve, applications from inexperienced workers wanting too much money and a copy of a check written to the local auction house. Lars bought another motor grader, Rodney would not usually care but Lars made him responsible for cash flow and this would mean he would have to go to some owners and try to get money for work not yet done. If he did not do this, he could not make payroll next week.

Leaving the office about six that evening, Rodney was drawn back to the job site. He jumped in an excavator and slowly started to dig in the spot that was hot just a few days ago and still was this evening. In about 3 feet, he hid a hard spot. Some scraping and bashing eventually caused a roof of sorts to cave in. He jumped off the machine and ran to the hole; he shined his light and could not believe what he saw. The discovery left him with two big problems; how to cover up the hole and how to keep it a secret.

The American Society of Civil Engineers recently announced a new book on understanding GPS (please see the press release below).  Although the title suggests it is for engineers and project managers, I think it can be of benefit to many other stakeholders in the project lifecycle.  Estimators in particular, must be able to identify GPS-friendly and GPS-hostile environments before deciding on the type of machine control system to be employed on the job site. I can also recommend a publication, simply titled “GPS” from Trimble.  It is written by my good friend Hank Kirtland and can be easily absorbed by even  those with no background in GPS.  It takes the reader step-by-step through the various technologies and applications and is written in a very down-home style.  Both of these publications can be valuable tools in bringing your satff up-to-speed on a technology who’s presence on the construction site is growing daily.

ASCE Introduces Book on GPS Application for Civil Engineers

Washington, DC — August 8, 2011 — The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is pleased to announce the publication of its new book Applied GPS for Engineers and Project Managers, by Dr. Clement A. Ogaja. Valuable for all civil engineers interested in benefiting from the use of GPS technologies, this book introduces civil engineers—especially those who are not already licensed surveyors—to the fundamental principles of global positioning technology (GPS).

Applied GPS for Engineers and Project Managers covers GPS basics, including positioning and measuring principles, techniques to improve accuracy, and an analysis of low-cost versus high-precision systems. Subsequent chapters explain the considerations for selecting and implementing a GPS system and then demonstrates specific applications of GPS in a variety of engineering situations, including monitoring the health of structures, robotics and machine control, maritime operations, material tracking in large construction sites, site control and design, and monitoring geohazards.

About the American Society of Civil Engineers

Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) represents more than 140,000 members of the civil engineering profession worldwide and is America’s oldest national engineering society. ASCE’s mission is to provide essential value to our members and partners, advance civil engineering, and serve the public good.  In carrying out that mission, ASCE:
•  Advances technology
•  Encourages lifelong learning
•  Promotes professionalism and the profession
•  Develops civil engineer leaders
•  Advocates infrastructure and environmental stewardship 

To purchase online visit:
http://www.asce.org/Books-and-Journals/Books—Personify/ASCE-Press-(PAP)/Applied-GPS-for-Engineers-and-Project-Managers/
For more information contact: Kevin Higgins 703-295-6266 khiggins@asce.org