In Fixing GPS, Timing is Everything – EE Times

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April 30, 2021

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Blog

Written by Editor

Image: Shutterstock

Blog Editor’s Note: We couldn’t agree more with the title of this article.

Here is our October 2020 whitepaper that said the same thing (though we took 26 pages to say so):

A Resilient National Timing Architecture

DESIGNLINES

MILITARY & AEROSPACE DESIGNLINE

In Fixing GPS, Timing is Everything

By George Leopold 04.26.2021

Global Navigation Satellite Systems, particularly the vulnerable U.S. Global Positioning System, represent a single point of failure that can be rendered inoperable by unintentional or intentional inference. That reality, along with over-dependence on the nearly five-decade-old satellite constellation, has forged a western consensus to accelerate development of terrestrial GPS backups and other mitigation strategies built around complementary position, navigation and timing technologies.

Known in the industry as PNT, several federal agencies are working on demonstration projects aimed at testing and developing a terrestrial backup system should GPS be knocked out by jamming, spoofing or interference aimed at the satellite constellation’s inherently weak signal.

PNT is the quiet backbone of everything but too many leaders still don't see the risk.

But you do. You understand the systems, the dependencies, the failure chains. That insight is rare — and it's exactly what your country needs right now. Contact your government leaders and industry decision-makers and tell them resilient PNT isn't a feature — it's the foundation everything else depends on.

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