Image: UK Govt.
What’s new: The United Kingdom has published its Space Strategy which also includes significant info on its national resilient PNT plans.
Why it’s important: The UK is leading the West in national resilient PNT architectures using signals from space, terrestrial broadcast, and fiber.
What else to know: We really like that the UK is acknowleding in a space document that PNT is about more than space, and that terrestrial PNT should not be considered separate and distinct from space-based PNT. It all works together!
Excerpt
Building Resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing
Positioning, Navigation and Timing delivers the precise positioning and timing signals that underpin critical national infrastructure, defence operations and everyday economic life – from stock exchanges and telecoms to aviation and emergency services. Yet these systems are increasingly vulnerable to jamming, spoofing and space weather. Over the next decade, the UK will develop sovereign, resilient PNT infrastructure to reduce our dependence on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), layering space, terrestrial and quantum technologies to ensure the UK is never without this essential capability.
Context
PNT is a critical enabler for Defence operations, providing interoperability of networks for communications and targeting, and as a navigational aid. Ongoing jamming (emission of a stronger signal to overpower weaker GNSS signals) and spoofing (broadcast of false GNSS signals to deceive timing and location) in modern theatre environments mean that assured access to GNSS for PNT services must be protected and enhanced. Government will utilise both space and terrestrial means for defence, to ensure a continued supply of PNT data.
GNSS systems are also a bedrock of the UK economy. Telecoms, the internet and stock exchanges rely on precise timing. Transport infrastructure of all kinds, from shipping and aviation to rail and road, all rely on precise positioning signals. Almost every aspect of modern-day life relies on these systems in some way. This dependence is deep; if GNSS failed there would be significant disruption to GNSS-dependent critical national infrastructure and the financial impact of a loss of GNSS for a single day is estimated to be £1.4 billion, rising to £7.64 billion over the course of a week.
GNSS and their signals are exposed to vulnerabilities such as the effects of space weather and interference. They are also susceptible to technical failure, including satellite malfunctions or system outages that can disrupt services. Even localised jamming can have an outsized impact: a jammer near an airport can impact air traffic over considerable distances. Meanwhile, the threats posed by accidental and deliberate interference and cyber-attack are steadily evolving, particularly in conflict zones around the world. As we become increasingly dependent on GNSS for a wider array of capabilities and functions, we must act to ensure the resilience of PNT systems which could lead to greater deterrence of hostile action.
Approach
PNT resilience therefore requires diversification away from relying solely on GNSS, where feasible. The Government Policy Framework for Greater PNT Resilience31 sets out our blueprint for how we will achieve resilient PNT. The UK will develop layered PNT systems that are independent from each other and not vulnerable to the same threats.
Space is one of several layers in the UK’s PNT system-of-systems. Outside of the space domain, the UK Government is investing £248 million in a National Timing Centre (NTC) and £71 million in an Enhanced Long-Range Navigation (eLoran) network. These will be developedalongside military systems to distribute time, and deployable eLoran transmitters that can be rapidly deployed to contested locations worldwide. We are also investing £205 million in R&D for quantum PNT and sensing to catalyse technology development.
These investments in terrestrial and quantum PNT systems will complement investments in space PNT technologies. The UK is developing a system that uses a satellite to perform a two-way satellite time and frequency transfer (through project TOUCAN) between the National Timing Centre and eLoran transmitters. We will develop, validate and assess technology concepts that could fulfil a requirement for GNSS independent global timing. We are developing a world-leading PNT interference monitoring and warning capability that will allow us to detect and act on interference to GNSS and eLoran signals. And we are investing £59 million through European Space Agency (ESA) PNT programmes to catalyse technology development and support UK businesses to commercialise promising PNT technologies.
In line with the Government Policy Framework for Greater PNT Resilience, the UK is continuing to assess options for the most effective approach to augment GNSS signals to deliver high trust, high precision data for safety-critical use cases.
This chapter sets out the “Space” elements of this system-of-systems – investments in space and space-enabled PNT technologies, and investments in PNT via the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency – and how they will support our vision for PNT resilience and PNT-enabled economic growth.
PNT Space Objectives
As part of wider UK ambitions on PNT overall, space and space-enabled PNT technologies will contribute towards the following objectives.
By 2030, the UK will have:
- Secure, stable time transfer via space linking the National Timing Centre to eLoran transmitters across the UK, reducing the UK’s dependence on GNSS.
- Delivered concept studies for GNSS-independent global time transfer and hybrid PNT fusing a terrestrial eLoran segment and a space segment, to support decisions on viable UK PNT architectures.
- A robust, interoperable, and resilient eLoran timing architecture that ensures high-integrity timing generation and synchronisation with national reference timescales.
- A new national capability to identify and monitor PNT interference, to enable the most effective response to threats.
- State of the art facilities and modelling and simulation capabilities to predict, test, and validate the performance of PNT systems under normal and degraded conditions.
- An updated and effective regulatory framework addressing the risks posed by PNT interference and misuse of technologies such as jammers.
- Contributed to an improved International Terrestrial Reference Frame via the Genesis satellite geodesy mission, together with international partners.
By 2035, the UK will have:
- A strong pipeline of innovative PNT technologies spanning low to mid Technology Readiness Levels, supporting the next generation of resilient PNT tech development.
- A competitive and growing PNT sector bringing near-market technologies, including LEO PNT, quantum PNT, and AI-enabled PNT technologies, into commercial deployment.
Key Space Funding Commitments
The UK will commit £76 million in civil funding between 26/27 to 29/30 in delivering our specific objectives for PNT. This will include delivery of:
- ESA NAVISP – £52 million funding to the European Space Agency NAVISP programme to increase the competitiveness of the UK PNT sector and fund the development of resilient PNT solutions.
- PNT Interference Warning Capability – £13 million to develop a UK-wide system to monitor, locate, and react to threats to PNT signals such as jamming and spoofing originating in space and on the ground, with a fully operational world-class facility by 2029/30
The full list of funded activities for PNT is detailed in the technical annex to this Strategy.
*Policy Framework for Greater PNT Resilience, 2023, available at GOV.UK
