Attach to Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Information about Schedule O (Form 990 or 990-EZ) and its instructions is at| Return Reference | Explanation |
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| FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION B, LINE 11 | THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS HAS DELEGATED REVIEW OF THE FORM 990 TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE COUNCIL. |
| FORM 990, PART III, LINE 4 | The year 2013 brought with it continued issues and challenges to protecting and preserving the stable and quiet radio spectrum environment in which GPS and other satellite navigation services operate. In addition, we faced several issues of working to ensure the compatibility of new and emerging satellite and wireless services with GPS and satellite navigation both in the US and to a growing degree outside of the US. USGIC continued its ongoing dialogue with the US Government on the evolution of the management and regulatory structure governing GPS, as well as on technical aspects of designing and implementing new signal structures for GPS satellite signals. - UGSIC participated in workshops with the GPS Independent Review Team, which reports to the Commander of Air Force Space Command on factors affecting various type of interference to GPS receiver equipment. - USGIC provided comments and technical insights to Air Force Space Command and other US Government agencies on the utility of introducing pre-operational CNAV navigation messages on the GPS L2C and L5 signals, On the Congressional and legislative areas, activities during 2013 included monitoring federal and state legislative and regulatory policies related to Global Positioning Systems ("GPS"), including bills before the US House and Senate, state legislative bodies, and proceedings at all relevant federal and state agencies. Also during 2013, the USGIC met with policy makers to provide educational information and advocate for the GPS industry and user community. Briefed Congressional offices regarding legislative provisions related to GLONASS in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. Researched possible impacts of geolocation privacy legislation. Analyzed funding levels for GPS programs in the FY 2014 Department of Defense Appropriations bill. Analyzed funding levels for GPS programs in the FY 2014 Department of Transportation Appropriations bill. Monitored GPS related provisions in the FY 2014 Financial Services Appropriations bill. Educated Congressional offices regarding GPS spectrum issues and advocated for spectrum policies that would best support the long-term success of GPS. As a consequence of the continuing regulatory issues related to US spectrum management policy via the FCC and other Federal agencies, USGIC engaged in a larger effort than previously encountered to monitor these developments and prepare specialized filings within these agencies On the international front, two prominent issues continued over from last year, each with the potential to introduce interference to the reception of GPS signals in critical safety of life applications such as air traffic management, and along the entire range of civilian and commercial applications. The first of these is an ongoing proposal in Europe to allow the deployment and use of outdoor and indoor pesudolites (substitute land-based transmitters that mimic actual GPS or other navigation satellites). Uncontrolled use of pseudolites can, in effect, introduce what appear to be false GPS signals to GPS receivers in use, and lead to erroneous position information. The signals from pseudolites can also, in some circumstances jam or prevent reception of legitimate GPS signals. To address this issue, USGIC has maintained a constructive dialogue with the European Commission and other European regulatory agencies of our concerns, and have proposed that any such pseudolites use signals in radio spectrum that is distinct and separate from the L-band spectrum currently used by GPS. A second source of concern over interference to GPS signals in the international arena arose from a proposal from Japan to launch a new generation radar imaging satellite, the ALOS-2 satellite. This satellite posed the potential to interfere with high-precision GPS receivers used in applications such as commercial vehicle tacking, precision agriculture, land survey, etc., as well as with some components of GPS-based air traffic management systems. USGIC members attended a technical workshop along with US government and Japanese government representatives to discuss and more fully understand the interference potential posed by ALOS-2 in an effort continued to identify reasonable and workable solutions. There were also several issues raised during meetings of various committees of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that had the potential to affect GPS. These issues included potential interference sources to GPS. Working in conjunction with US government and industry delegates to ITU working group and other meetings we were able to review the proposals and provide constructive input to help guide discussion and decision making. On the European front we continued to monitor and work with European government and industry groups, as well as US government agencies towards what appears now to be some final resolution of a patent claim issue brought originally a UK firm to collect royalties on patents they claim to hold affecting emerging GPS signals. The firm, Ploughshare Innovations Ltd., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD). During the course of the year, it appeared that the Ploughshare claims were largely resolved with respect to US patents, although there is some lingering issue on the European side of the issue. We continue to monitor the issue and engage in discussions with the European Commission on this issue. In Japan, the passage of the New Space Basic Law and establishment of the new Office of National Space Policy has placed the Japanese satellite navigation program - QZSS -- as an essential program for national infrastructure as well as for national security in Japan. As a result, QZSS was given a boost in importance and acceleration of schedule, as well as reinvigorated funding levels. We are continue to work closely with Japanese authorities to synchronize visions for QZSS/GPS compatibility and coordination in the years ahead, and with the development of future QZSS satellites. There is also an emerging vision at the GoJ policy level for an enlarged and enhanced QZSS-type system, which again would been to be coordinated with GPS interests. We also faced continued and developing concerns about potential interference from another development on the Japanese side, the proposed IMES system which can provide indoor location capabilities by using a series of repeater transmitters. Originally devised as a limited system for controlled indoor applications only within Japan, information from Japan indicated the possibility of efforts to expand QZSS applications to outdoor applications, as well as into markets outside of Japan. This raised our concerns over the potential for interference to GPS and other satellite navigation systems. We are continuing to monitor developments and to work closely with the Japan GPS Council to address any issue continuing or emerging issues in this area. Further activities included: - Continuing approaches to Japan to point out potentially damaging interference from a proposed re-radiation system (IMES) to be used for indoor location techniques. - Participated in plans to organize the annual Munich Satellite Navigation Summit conference, hosted by the technical university of the German military. When the conference was cancelled due to unforeseen administrative factors, we worked with the organizers to devise a program for the following year conference. - Monitored the activities and reports of two European telecommunications regulatory groups - ETSI and CEPT - noting the need for strict regulation of GPS re-radiators in order to avoid damaging interference to regular GPS users and applications. - Worked with the US State department sponsored International Committee on GNSS (ICG) to provide background information on technical characteristics of commercial GPS receivers and overall market information. - Arranged extensive series of private meeting in Japan with industry and government officials to discuss scope of New Space Basic Law, new directions of Japanese vision on satnav capabilities, and areas of potential US-Japan cooperation and coordination using GPS, the Japanese QZSS system and other satnav systems emerging in the Asia/Pacific region. - Arranged for private meetings with key Japanese political leaders to consult on formation of new Office of National Space Policy under the Cabinet Office to oversee and direct coordinated overall Japanese space policy, including Japanese satellite navigation project, QZSS, which works in conjunction with GPS. - Conducted a series of meetings with senior level Japanese government officials to provide background information on GPS technical requirements and operational sensitivities in order to help guide Japanese initiatives with the US and other nations to provide coordinated supplements to GPS via QZSS. - Continued dialogue with heads of the Galileo program at the European Commission (EC) to address issues regar |
| FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION C, LINE 19 | ANY RELEVANT DOCUMENTS SUCH AS GOVERNING DOCUMENTS, FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY, EXPENSE REPORTING, AND TAX RELATED FILINGS SUCH AS FORM 990 ARE AVAILABLE AT ANY TIME UPON REQUEST TO OUR OFFICE FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW. |
| FORM 990, PART III, LINE 2 | BEGINNING IN 2013, THE COUNCIL BEGAN LOBBYING ACTIVITIES. |
| FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION B, LINE 12 | THE COUNCIL BYLAWS PROVIDES THAT ANY MEMBER MAY RECUSE THEMSELVES FROM PARTICIPATION IN ANY SPECIFIC COUNCIL ACTIVITIES AND/OR ISSUE IN WHICH A CONFLICT OF INTEREST ARISE. IN ADDITION, THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS IS SMALL AND MEMBERS WORK CLOSELY TOGETHER AND WOULD BE AWARE OF MANY CONFLICTS OF INTEREST. THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, UPON INFORMATION MADE KNOWN TO IT BY ANY SOURCE, MAY ALSO REQUIRE RECUSAL ON SPECIFIC ISSUES OR SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES BY ANY MEMBER. WE HAVE NEVER HAD AN INSTANCE WHERE SUCH CONFLICTS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED OR RECUSAL HAS BEEN REQUIRED. |
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