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Resilient PNT Supporter, Former FAA Administrator Langhorne Bond – Obituary in Fauquier Now
Blog Editor's Note: The Hon. Langhorne Bond was a supporter of resilient navigation and timing long before establishment of the RNT Foundation. In addition to the mentions in this obituary, he was one of our founding members. And, as part of his generous support, he...

Positioning, navigation and timing becomes essential in the digital and green transition – VIEIRA DE ALMEIDA
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: The headline of this the below short post by a leading Lisbon law firm is right on target. Yet the text speaks only to PNT from GNSS. Nothing about nascent commercial efforts in LEO, or mature fiber, and terrestrial broadcast...

Russia refuses Israeli demand to stop jamming GPS of flights into Tel Aviv – Middle East Monitor
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: No surprise here. Russia has always been justifiably proud of it's impressive electronic warfare capability. Their famous boast is "Our EW makes aircraft carriers useless!" Might be a bit overstated, but certainly not an idle...

A Chinese Satellite Just Grappled Another And Pulled It Out Of Orbit – The Drive
Image: Youtube/3 Arts Entertainment Blog Editor's Note: This is a much smoother, even more menacing, demonstration of power in space and the ability to disrupt GPS/GNSS and other systems than Russia's blasting a satellite to bits last year. It shows much more...

LOST ON THE NEXT BATTLEFIELD: THE NEED TO REPLACE GPS – Army War College Article
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: We do NOT AGREE with everything in this thought provoking article. Though, it is thought provoking. We DO AGREE with: The need for alternative systems The need for DoD leadership to engage and make things happen for the entire...

Navigation Leadership Award for RNTF President Goward
Guest Post by Hon. Martin C. Faga Chairman of the Board, RNT Foundation The Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation is pleased to announce that the Institute of Navigation’s (ION) Norman P. Hays Award was presented to its President, Mr. Dana A. Goward, at a...

In-Car Jammers are Killing GNSS Integrity – GPS Patron
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Another reminder post from GPS Patron, folks who are really in a position to know. And we appreciate them linking to one of our posts in theirs! Thanks to member Mitch Narins for pointing this one out! In-Car Jammers are...

The “Ligado Situation” – How did we get here? Where do we go?
Blog Editor's Note: Last week, RNTF President Dana A. Goward spoke to a study group at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. The study is a congressionally mandated effort looking at the FCC's decision to allow Ligado Networks to broadcast in a...

Buyers Beware Ligado Spectrum – Forbes (Telecoms beware of the FCC also?)
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Another thought provoking set of insights by RNTF member Diana Furchtgott-Roth. We wonder if perhaps companies seeking spectrum from the FCC ought to "beware" also. As Diana points out, during the last administration the FCC...

GPS Spoofing: History and Prevention – Assoc. of Old Crows Video
Image: Skytruth Blog Editor's Note: Once a year RNTF President Dana A. Goward does a presentation on this topic for the world's largest electronic warfare organization - The Association of Old Crows. Advances in ways to deceive GPS receivers and otherwise falsify...

5G & Aviation, France vs U.S.
Image: FAA Blog Editor's Note: This issue is not in the center of our lane. It is a good example, though, of the need for careful leadership and spectrum management by the FCC. Something that we did not see in their decision on Ligado Networks. Interesting that the...

British Columbia Moves Against Jammers
Image: Chronos Blog Editor's Note: We were glad to get a link to the below article from member Chuck Schue. It is always good to see law enforcement authorities taking action against jamming devices. We have reported before about police in Scotland, and Hampshire...

‘Authentication Doesn’t Eliminate Spoofing Threat’ – EU Space Program
Blog Editor's Note: A recent post about Galileo's Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA) by the EU Agency for the Space Programme provided an good overview of the service and how it works. It pointed out, though, that while OSNMA is a help in combating...

Right on time: Protecting critical infrastructure against threats – GPS World
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Interesting article building upon the idea of a national resilient timing architecture. We have published two white papers on this idea - "A Resilient National Timing Architecture" in 2020, and "A Resilient National...

Honda Clocks Are Stuck 20 Years In The Past And There Isn’t A Fix – Jalopnik
Image: RADM (ret) Dave Glenn's 20210 Honda CRV at 12:22 on 11 January 2022 Blog Editor's Note: Another surprise GPS week rollover issue, it seems! Just goes to show how careful we all need to be about the quality and maintenance of our devices. Thanks to RNTF member...

China Besting U.S. in Nav Warfare, Now Leading World – eLoran Latest Example
Image: Shutterstock Here is the first sentence in a Chinese research paper on eLoran we saw the other day: "The eLoran system is an international standardized positioning, navigation, and timing service system, which can complement global navigation satellite systems...

Parkinson Speaks to National Academies on FCC Ligado Order
Image: Dr. Brad Parkinson presenting to a National Academy of Sciences study group. The FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act required the Department of Defense to contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to conduct “an...

Are we ready for the next big solar storm? – Astronomy
Images Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Just a reminder there are more threats to GPS/GNSS satellites and signals than just the Chinese and Russians. Scientists are divided as to whether or not an especially large Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) would destroy GPS and...

NSC director: GPS ‘Still a Single Point of Failure’ – GPS World
Image: MS Caitlin Durkovich, Director for Resilience and Response, National Security Council Blog Editor's Note: The author of this article is President of the RNT Foundation. NSC director: GPS ‘Still a Single Point of Failure’ January 4, 2022 - By Dana Goward...

GNSS Jamming: An Omnipresent Threat – GW Prime
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: An interesting overview article that also includes some tech details and several case studies. We especially like case studies as they are a good way to make what "might happen" real. We note that folks who jam and spoof...

“Sit tight and assess.”
Just sayin'... Happy New Year, yall! https://youtu.be/Op_v2PHDn-0

Threats to GPS – 2021 Year in Review, GPS World Special
Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: We subscribe to GPS World's "Navigate!" weekly newsletter." You should too. This week's newsletter was a 2021 Year in Review and led off with a section on "Threats to GPS." December 28, 2021 Threats to GPS With rising global tensions,...

Art Predicts Life – China Disables US Satellite on “Space Force”
Image: Netflix/Youtube The 1997 James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies" the evil-doer spoofs GPS and lures a British warship into violating Chinese territorial waters sparking an international incident in which the ship and a pair of Chinese fighter jets are lost. It...

“The impact of a long lasting, widespread GPS outage on mobile phone networks would likely be staggering…” – NIST
Image: Shutterstock Yet another government report detailing bad things that will happen because of our foolish over reliance on GPS for timing. We understand, by the way, that in the terms of this report a "long lasting" GPS outage would be "24 hours." Government and...

5G: Bringing precise positioning to the connected intelligent edge – Market Screener
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: This item about Qualcomm is part of the recent buzz about the possibilities of using 5G for location services. Lots of potential there, we are sure. Yet our telecommunications system has a critical dependency on GPS-derived...

GPS Jammer on Amazon only $14.98! Great Stocking Stuffer!
One of our members spied this for sale. What a great, useful, and inexpensive gift for the holidays! And we are glad to see that it is "Made of environmentally friendly materials." We are not sure about the "will not cause harm to people" statement, though. Traffic...

Furuno navigation & communication equipment (incl GMDSS) – GPS week number rollover
Image: UK Merchant Marine Ensign - Shutterstock Blog Editor Note: We thought GPS week rollover problems were all done with... Passing this along as part of our public education and "protecting GPS/GNSS users" missions. Guidance Safety Bulletin 24 – Furuno...

Bei Dou & China’s Rise – GPS & America’s Decline?
Image: XinhuaNet Blog Editor's Note: The below article got us thinking again about how a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is an instrument of national influence and power. In addition to being a very useful tool for a nation's civil and military use, it is a...

Video: National Resilient Timing Architecture @ PNT Advisory Board
RNT Foundation Dana A. Goward spoke to 25th meeting of the President's National Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board last week. Citing cases like Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 attacks, his thesis was that, despite knowing about a problem...

From downed drones to stolen quad bikes: a review of GNSS vulnerabilities in 2021 – Guy Buesnel on Linkedin
Image: UK Aircraft Accident Investigations Branch Blog Editor's Note: We love these 'year end reviews' Guy publishes. He and his LinkedIn group are great sources for information on jamming, spoofing, and interference of all kinds. While we try to keep close track of...

GPS vs the Upstarts – A Comparison
Image: US Air Force US GPS folks are justifiably proud of the system. It is incredibly reliable and well maintained. First designed to "put five bombs down the same hole," folks have figured out how to put its ultra precise timing signals to innumerable uses. The Air...

GPS, Unintended Consequences, & War – Mr. George Beebe @ PNT Advisory Board
The National Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board concluded its first in person meeting in 18 months yesterday. Agendas for the two day public meeting, copies of presentations, and video of the proceedings are available on the group's website...

Following Russia threat, Locata and Ursanav partner for resilient PNT – GPS World
Loran tower image: UrsaNav Blog Editor's Note: We are seeing more and more consolidations and partnerships within the PNT community. We have also seen larger companies that formerly did not have a strong PNT presence acquiring, or perhaps "absorbing" would be a better...

PNT Advisory Board Livestream Info and Agendas Posted for 9 & 10 December
Image: NASA The President's Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board will meet Thursday and Friday at the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. Attending for the first time will be new members: Lt Gen Michael Hamel (USAF, ret.)...

U.S. Satellites Are Being Attacked Every Day According To Space Force General – The Drive
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: America has more satellites in space than any other country. And we are more reliant on satellites for everyday services than any other country. Why wouldn't our adversaries across a broad range from disgruntled hacker to "we...

NIST Recommends Steps to Boost Resilience of U.S. Timekeeping – NIST News
Image: J. Sherman/NIST Blog Editor's Note: Good to see NIST weighing in on this issue. The high level recommendation that the nation needs a coherent timing architecture that involves space, terrestrial broadcast, and fiber assets is consistent with numerous other...

Heading off grid disaster: it’s about time – Power Grid International
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Power grids are not one of the things folks first think of when discussing dependence on GPS. And some grid engineers don't like to admit it. We have heard them say "We don't need GPS to operate the grid, just to manage it." -...

Russia issues threat to GPS satellites – GPS World
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Perhaps this is a prelude to an invasion of Ukraine. Regardless the Russians are not bluffing. Our intelligence and Space Force folks here in the U.S. say the Russians (and Chinese) can do it. What's the best way to protect...

Space debris: More storm clouds ahead in orbit, experts say – Space.com
Image: 2010 Space debris damage to SolarMax satellite. NASA Blog Editor's Note: OK, we have probably banged the space debris drum enough recently. But this article has the best visuals we have seen anywhere. And, of course, it makes the really good points about the...

(A Sputnik Moment?) Hyten’s Parting Shot: U.S. Must Step Up Response to Chinese Space Weapons – The National Interest
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Everyone likes to talk about tangible problems. We certainly do enough of that in this space each week. It is often interesting to also discuss root causes, because often the problem you are discussing is just a symptom of a...

GNSS Spoofing – New Threat to Critical Infrastructure – Video, GPSPatron at Kaspersky
Image: Kaspersky Blog Editor's Note: An interesting overview video. The presentation was given at September's Kaspersky Industrial Cybersecurity Conference in Sochi, Russia. The presenter is Maxim Borodko, CEO of GPSPatron. As he points out, they have a lot of...

‘Lack of GPS Alternative Invites Attack’ – Expert Panel
Image: Shutterstock Domestic Preparedness Journal and RNT Foundation sponsored a webinar last week discussing the geo-political implications of what panel member George Beebe has called a "technology resilience gap" between the U.S. and its primary adversaries, China...

DHS Weighs How to Protect Increasingly Critical Space Systems – Via Satellite
Image: NASA Blog Editor's Note: We are heartened to hear that DHS is reevaluating its sector structure and thinking about other ways to look at keeping things safe. We are even more encouraged to read about a White House official discussing a more holistic, less...

U.S. Leaderless in Space? – INSA Paper & SpaceNews OpEd
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Notes: Two different items on the same underlying theme popped up on our radar recently. The first, an INSA proposal to designate space a critical U.S. infrastructure. The second an OpEd in SpaceNews by two highly respected analysts...

In first, Russian test strikes satellite using Earth-based missile – Washington Post
Image: US Department of Defense Blog Editor's Note: There are lots of reasons folks who care about GPS and other GNSS should worry about this. It shows Russia is practising taking out satellites. Space Force and DIA have warned about hunter-killer satellites,...

OneWeb LEO PNT: Progress or Risky Gamble? – Inside GNSS
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: A very interesting article by Ramsey Faragher and Marek Ziebart. We have written before about the differences between radionavigation and radiocommunication in conjunction with the Ligado controversy. This is a very...

PNT Advisory Board to Meet Dec. 9-10: GPS World
Image: NASA Blog Editor's Note: All RNT Foundation members are invited to a reception at 5:30 8 December at the same venue as the Advisory Board meeting, and the Foundation's annual meeting and lunch at noon on the 10th of December at the same location. Both events...

What Happens If Time Gets Hacked – Dark Reading
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Interesting report from Black Hat Europe. While this is the first media report we have seen of a low frequency time signal being spoofed/hacked, it is not surprising. Open systems and signals are vulnerable. Period. Next gen...

An object is now orbiting alongside China’s Shijian-21 debris mitigation satellite – SpaceNews
Image: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Blog Editor's Note: America used to think space was a safe place, so we put a lot of our most important assets there. We thought GPS was particularly safe because attacking a satellite was hard, and destroying...

Experts Call for a U.S. National Technology Strategy as Competition Heats Up with China – NextGov
Image: Senator Michael Bennet, Colorado (Shutterstock) Blog Editor's Note: Well, China is way ahead of us in hypersonics, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, 5G... anything else? Oh, yeah - where we have one satellite system for PNT, they have three. Where we...