White House Council Seeks Input on Plan to Invest in Alternatives to GPS – Nextgov

August 11, 2020

Written by Editor

Image: RNT Foundation

Blog Editor’s Note: There are a number of good things about this year’s Executive Order (EO) on responsible use of PNT.  This effort by OSTP is one of them.

We do wish, though, that, in addition to this laudatory R&D effort, the executive branch would establish a more effective plan to ensure additional PNT systems are implemented and available to all Americans.

The EO does make an effort to drive the market by requiring those who contract with the government at some future date to be PNT resilient. Yet what that means is not well defined. And if bidders on government contracts are not able to meet that requirement, it can be easily waived.

Also, it only addresses commercial interests and does little to make governmental entities (local, state, federal), non-profits, or any one else who does not contract with the government (ordinary citizens, for example) safer.

White House Council Seeks Input on Plan to Invest in Alternatives to GPS

The request for information flows from an executive order on the responsible use of positioning, navigation and timing services.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy is asking for ideas on where it should put research and development dollars to avoid disruption to critical infrastructure due to interference—intentional and unintentional—with the open signals used in international satellite-based timing and navigation formations such as the Global Positioning System.

“OSTP requests input from all interested parties on the development of a National Research and Development Plan for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Resilience,” reads a notice published in the Federal Register Monday. “The plan will focus on the research and development and pilot testing needed to develop additional PNT systems and services that are resilient to interference and manipulation and that are not dependent upon global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).”

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