September 14th, 2011

Waterloo Technical Society

Cedar Falls Clarion Inn

Light-Squared and GPS Navigation

Topic: 4G is considered the most advance technology in the world for cell-phone and data broadband communications. With 4G you can download movies in seconds. Will there be enough radio spectrum to support it? Find out about the FCC National Broadband Initiative and its sudden waiver of its rules to allow Light Squared to build and operate 4G ground based stations across the entire U.S.

Will it destroy our national global positioning system? Will the GPS in your car lead you to Poughkeepsie when you really want to go to Kalamazoo? Will tractors run amuck in the fields and airplanes be unable to fly safely?

Speaker: Mr. Doug Vernier is currently president of V-Soft Communications of Cedar Falls. He served for seven years as the principal consulting engineer for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's digital radio conversion program.

Doug has authored numerous papers including the chapter on radio propagation in the current National Association of Broadcasters Engineering Handbook. He has served two terms on the Board of Directors of National Public Radio and is a past president of Public Radio in Mid America. Doug is recognized by the Society of Broadcast engineers as a lifetime Professional Broadcast Engineer. Vernier is retired from the University of Northern Iowa where he was Director of Broadcasting Services and assistant professor for many years.

Time: 6:00-6:30pm Social

6:30-7:15 Dinner

7:15-8:15 Presentation

Location: Cedar Falls Clarion Inn, Cedar Falls, Iowa