Image: Spire Global
Blog Editor’s Note: Open source information about the ability to detect GPS/GNSS interference from space has been available for a while. It is good to see several DOD efforts to collect it.
All systems have their limitations, though. Collection from space has a hard time detecting lower power emitters (of course) and pinpointing sources. Using information from systems like AIS and ADS-B can better locate sources, but are still far from sufficient to allow authorities to go to an address and confiscate equipment.
We are guessing it will be a while before space-based assets can provide sufficiently precise locations to help DOD “…readily identify these sources of interference and correct any potential problems before they become a threat.”
It seems to us that things like this are important in terms of DOD developing and displaying a strategic picture. We aren’t sure, though, how they could support tactical military or law enforcement operations.
Spire constellation helps detect GPS jamming in space
Spire Global Inc., a provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, is using its constellation of about 40 geolocation satellites to detect GPS jamming. Spire is collecting data for use by the U.S. Space Force, a particularly important task in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“All of our fellow space companies… everyone is playing a vital role for humanity in this battle for freedom and democracy,” Spire CEO Peter Platzer told analysts March 9 in an earnings call, according to Space News.
