FATHER OF GPS DEFENDS DoT RESEARCH TIES, RAISES UWB CONCERNS

Parkinson has been on Trimble board since 1984 and was interim CEO for one year in late 1990s. He said he remained seriously concerned about authorization of UWB emissions in federally protected bands such as GPS. He said policy decision in that direction would mark “a fairly reckless experiment in authorizing emissions in safety of life bands.” FCC has planned to include UWB item on agenda at Feb. 14 open meeting and DoT research is among govt. and industry studies that NTIA and Commission are evaluating.

Meanwhile, Transportation Secy. Norman Mineta was disclosed in recent watchdog group report to have had past ties to Trimble, although DoT-funded research on UWB began several years before his DoT tenure began in Jan. 2001. Mineta was on Trimble board June 1999-July 24, 2000, when President Clinton appointed him Commerce Secy., according to Trimble news release then. During his tenure at Commerce, Mineta recused himself from UWB policy issues. When President Bush took over White House in Jan. 2001, Mineta became Transportation Secy. Last fall, several cabinet secretaries sent separate letters to Commerce Secy. Donald Evans, raising concerns about potential interference risks posed by UWB technology, particularly in GPS bands.

Sources said Mineta wrote letter to Evans last summer asking that Administration take stance on UWB that provide rules for devices to operate above 6 GHz to protect restricted bands such as GPS from intentional, unlicensed emissions (CD Sept 17 p3). At time, DoT spokesman said department wasn’t releasing letter because it represented confidential communication. DoT spokesman couldn’t be reached Fri. or Mon. on whether Mineta initially recused himself from UWB issues when named to head DoT. Department oversees civilian uses of GPS and some of its concerns have centered on use of GPS for in-flight navigation systems that FAA uses. Center for Public Integrity released report last month on professional economic interests of Bush Administration members in relation to their govt. responsibilities. Before taking Cabinet position, report said, Mineta received $18,000 in compensation for being on Trimble board. Prior to his stints in Clinton and Bush Administrations, Mineta also had served as vp-special business initiatives at Lockheed Martin.

NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory, who joined agency in Aug. from law firm of Wiley, Rein & Fielding, recused herself from UWB issues because firm represents UWB developer Time Domain in proceeding (CD Aug 2 p5). As overseer of federal govt. spectrum rights, NTIA has played different role in UWB proceeding than has DoT, which has been participating along with other federal agencies in providing NTIA with feedback on potential impact. Leading up to Feb. 14 meeting, negotiations have been taking place directly between staffs of NTIA and FCC.

In June 2000, DoT had solicited comments on research it funded to evaluate potential for interference to GPS receivers from UWB devices. Four months later, Stanford’s Dept. of Aeronautics & Astronautics submitted preliminary results of GPS Research Lab on UWB. Besides Parkinson and Enge, filing also was signed by Prof. Donald Cox and Prof. Emeritus David Powell. “Our results will certainly benefit from comparison to the results from our colleagues, and such cross-validation is absolutely necessary when safety is at stake,” letter said.

Parkinson said he had run GPS Lab at Stanford, although managerial duties were shifting to Enge, who was lead researcher on DoT-funded study on UWB. As for his past ties to Trimble, he said company was focusing on commercial applications of GPS and didn’t have same interests as govt. users related to potential GPS interference. During his tenure as acting CEO at Trimble, Aug. 1998-March 1999, Parkinson said UWB never bubbled up to his level, particularly because he was brought in to turn company around and was focusing on bigger picture issues. According to bio information on Trimble Web site, Parkinson took leave of absence from Stanford during brief period as Trimble CEO. “I don’t think that ultra-wideband has ever been discussed at all at the board level,” he added, and company no longer has any aircraft business and has retained only small amount of DoD business. Asked why he co-signed FCC filing if he didn’t conduct research, Parkinson told us: “If ultra-wideband didn’t threaten the GPS system, I wouldn’t be writing a letter.”

In phone interview Mon., Stanford’s Enge said he and colleagues in university’s Dept. of Aeronautics & Astronautics conducted DoT-funded research. “He didn’t have anything to do with the ultra-wideband study,” Enge said of Parkinson’s role. “He didn’t design and conduct it,” he said, and wasn’t involved in any of DoT funding of study. Given international prominence of Parkinson in GPS field, Enge said Parkinson reviewed results of study after they were completed: “He is widely regarded as the father of GPS. It would have been odd for me to do work on GPS and not provide him with an overview of what is going on.”

“Pivotal” concerns on UWB emissions and potential interference don’t center on commercial applications, although they could be affected, as well, Parkinson said. “The Trimble survey equipment relies on very, very sensitive receivers,” he said: “If you are spattering additional energy into that band, it will make that task more difficult.” Of more acute concern are safety-of-life systems that rely on GPS and are used by DoT, FAA and others, he said. “Airlines have a massive stake in this as well as the flying public. The flying public doesn’t have a clue that this is going on,” said Parkinson, who was original program dir. at Defense Dept. on GPS system. GPS is “a fairly weak signal,” he said, and historically has relied on fact “that no one else is allowed to spatter energy into that band.” Govt. policy that allows intentional UWB emissions into restricted GPS bands would create “a bad precedent,” he said: “It is difficult to police if somebody with authorization at a certain level spatters more energy than that allowance.”

Trimble spokeswoman said ultra-wideband wasn’t issue for company’s board. Company is member of U.S. GPS Industry Council, which has been representing GPS companies such as Trimble in proceedings before FCC. Spokeswoman also said multiple tests had been conducted on potential for UWB to interfere with GPS systems, in addition to DoT-financed tests at Stanford. She pointed to other tests that she said showed same results as Stanford research, including DoT-funded tests by Rockwell Collins, U. of Tex. at Austin research analyzed by Johns Hopkins U. and research by NTIA. “All these tests showed interference,” she said.

Washington attorney Raul Rodriguez, who has represented U.S. GPS Industry Council in UWB proceeding, also underscored that to best of his knowledge DoT-funded research was headed by Stanford’s Enge. “Brad Parkinson’s name has never come up in any discussion” related to Stanford research, Rodriguez said.