Story ID: 
Javad GPS May Save LightSquared's Bacon
By: Andrew Wood
Caption: Can GPS and LightSquared coexist? Within the civil and military GPS community, the answer has been emphatically and unequivocally
Word Count: 189
Can GPS and LightSquared coexist? Within the civil and military GPS community, the answer has been emphatically and unequivocally, “No.” Until last week, that is. Attendees at the annual convention of the U.S. Institute of Navigation held in Portland, Ore., had been confident that the laws of physics made coexistence of the two impossible. So the announcement during the convention by LightSquared that, to solve the problem, it had teamed with Javad Inc.–a developer of precision GPS receivers–was met with both surprise and skepticism. Javad founder Javad Ashjaae, known as an outside-the-box innovator, is understood to have already developed proof-of-concept precision GPS prototypes that are unaffected by LightSquared’s 4G broadband transmissions. Further, production units are forecast to come out next year with estimated upgrade costs of $300 to $400 each. Since Javad has surprised the GPS industry before, most of those who previously criticized LightSquared’s plans due to GPS interference are reserving judgment until more details are forthcoming. However, the Coalition to Save Our GPS said that if the solution does indeed work, LightSquared should be required to foot the bill for the upgrades.