LONDON�An error with the Global Positioning System network has been blamed for causing problems with digital radio broadcasts around the UK last week, reportsBBC News. �
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Networked DAB transmitters must broadcast at exactly the same frequencies and, in order to synchronize, they lock on to GPS satellite signals.� This is typical of communications systems around the world.�
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The problem occurred after a decommissioned satellite caused software problems which affected several other satellites. The U.S. Air Force confirmed that the removal of the satellite precipitated the issues.
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A BBC spokesman confirmed that the decommissioning of the GPS satellite led to difficulties for listeners receiving digital radio signals. In a response to the reported issues, the BBC said: “The outages were caused by a rogue GPS satellite (SVN23), which was taken out of service in the evening of 26 January.”�
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“While the core navigation systems were working normally, the co-ordinated universal time timing signal was off by 13 microseconds which exceeded the design specifications,” said the U.S. Air Force in astatement.In fact, as a result of the problem,some�GPS positioning would have been thrown off by nearly 4km.
