Image: GPSJam.org What's New: Researchers at Virginia Tech provide some insights to the event. These include: It seems to have been two 12 hour events and jamming was intermittent. It is likely the jamming was likely from a directional antenna pointed upward (no/few...

Image: Chinese Academy of Sciences What's New: We did a short post about this last week. The below article discusses more of the tech and strategic aspects of the project. Why It's Important: Time is fundamental to virtually all tech. China is far ahead of the U.S....

Image: Shutterstock What's New: A meditation on the importance of PNT to a nation's ability to control its own destiny. Why It's Important: Nation's usually want to be able to sustain themselves at some level without relying on another country. Would a country really...

Image: IATA and EuroControl What's New: A report by EuroControl to the U.N. International Committee on GNSS that found wherever commercial aircraft go, they find GPS/GNSS interference. Why It's Important: Interference with GPS can cause accidents and kill people.  The...

Image: China National Timing Service Center What's New: Recent announcements of China establishing two new terrestrial timing centers as part of its national network. Why It's Important: China is increasing its tech lead over the U.S. and the rest of the world by...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Two announcements about government research entities working with commercial LEO PNT companies: The Air Force Research Laboratory, which also supports Space Force, awarded Xona Space Systems $1.2M to examine how "...future defense...

Image: National PNT Architecture, 2008, US DoD & DOT What's New: Opinion piece about how adoption is as important as systems. It doesn't matter how many systems are out there if they aren't used. Seat belts don't do any good if folks don't use them. Why It's...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: We got a letter Friday from the Dept. of Defense. It was about our Aug 2021 request under the Freedom of Information Act. Their letter said 'we haven't gotten to it yet. Do you still want the info?' Why It's Important:  If you wait long...

Image: Xona Space Systems What's New: Space Force touting expanded collaboration with industry and leveraging commercial capabilities. See this June press release about their Commercial Space Office. And at a Space Force Commercial Space Office presentation last year,...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: A workshop in Helsinki 23 - 26 October about GNSS applications, that will include discussions of Resilient PNT and LEO systems. Why It's Important: Inclusion of these topics in a GNSS event might show the community opening up to these...

Image: Shutterstock What's New:  Dept of Energy published best practices for timing and the electrical grid. Why It's Important: Electrical grids use timing in at least 8 critical applications. See image from Mitre presentation below. What Else to Know: Timing from...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Space Force announced a new standing targeting (offensive) unit. Why It's Important: The DOD has long considered space a warfighting domain. The head of Space Force declared it publicly in 2020. Establishing this unit and announcing it...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Interesting article about the ripple effect in agriculture of GPS disruptions. Why It's Important: Well, food is kinda important. Eating seems to be real popular at the moment. 😉 The quantity and price of food produced in the U.S. is...

Image: GPSJam.org What's New: The middle east, long a hot spot for jamming, has seen a significant increase since the end of May. Why It's Important:  It is a symptom of the changing nature of conflict. More drones and other electronic systems are being used, and more...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Commentary by our friend and colleague Doug Taggart discussing the difficulties training w/o GPS. Why It's Important: So many civilian applications, including aviation, rely on GPS, it is difficult for the military to disrupt and deny...

Image: NASA What's New: A seemingly counter-intuitive finding, as described by the headline, and the first discussion that we have heard about "killer electrons." Why It's Important: Understanding when and how critical systems, like GPS can fail, is essential to...

Image: Royal Institution What's New: An upcoming presentation - and you can join virtually! Why It's Important: The UK has a project to establish a network of atomic clocks around the country to enhance resilience. What Else to Know: It is not clear to us if the...

Image: NTS-3 USAF, 2d Lt Jacob Lutz, AFRL What's New: Two signature Dept of Defense PNT programs are delayed yet again. OCX, the new, more secure ground control segment for GPS is delayed until next year. IF it is delivered as promised it will be 8 years late and cost...

Image: DVIDS, Staff Sgt. Jonathan Shaw What's New: The National Guard's NITRO project is establishing a national resilient timing network for the Guard and state first responders. But it is stuck in a bureaucratic and budgetary no-man's land. Why It's Important: NITRO...

What's New: The newest edition of the United Kingdom's National Risk Register includes loss of PNT. The intro to the PNT section says: "A loss of PNT services, either due to technological failures or malicious activity, would have catastrophic and cascading effects...

Image: beidou.gov_.cn What's New: The idea that the U.S. can easily counter China's efforts here, if we have focused leadership. Why It's Important: China has surpassed the U.S. and is eroding our influence. It also has a strategic and tactical advantage in PNT as it...

Image: Russian jamming truck from www.mil.ru What's New: Interesting article about the back and forth electronic warfare between Ukraine and Russia. Why It's Important: It is especially important when GPS/GNSS gets jammed (denied), or spoofed (hacked). On both sides...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Article/advertisement by navigation receiver manufacturer Trimble discussing their cost effective (GNSS based navigation solutions. The thesis is that for a mass market such as autonomous vehicles will be, cost is the driving (no pun...

Image: Shutterstock, RNT Foundation What's New: A paper from the Universities of Tokyo and Sydney examining PNT policies around the world. Why It's Important: Papers on PNT technology are easy to come by. No so much for ones on PNT policy, the area in which RNT...

Image: GPSIII by Lockheed The author of this OpEd is president of the RNT Foundation.   \   Opinions: Let’s celebrate a half-century of GPS by catching up to China By Dana Goward Earlier this year, a Presidential Advisory Board recommended that the Biden...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Revived interest in celestial navigation, but with a very high tech bent. Why It's Important: GPS/GNSS is easy to disrupt through denial (jamming), hacking (spoofing), or with accidental interference. And there are both natural and...

Image: CNBC/YouTube What's New: Growing concern that China's BeiDou is technically superior to GPS and serves much of the world better. Why It's Important: China is actively marketing and subsiding use of BeiDou over GPS for infrastructure around the world China has a...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: An article by several authors from the European Commission discussing test results for technologies from seven different companies.  Why It's Important: PNT services in use today are: Essential to most every technology. Sourced from...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: A new report on China, Russia, space and great power competition by the Center for Naval Analysis working for the Air Force's Air University. No surprise, Russia and China have traded places in their lead-follow relationship for space...

Image: Covert Shores www.hisutton.com What's New: St. Petersburg, Russia has seen a significant increase in GPS, perhaps GNSS, disruption since the first of June (as observed and tweeted by GPSJam.org). The Covert Shores blog has posted an image of a Russian warship...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: A media item about multiple jammers disrupting operations at a French airport. As soon as the authorities found one, they found another, then another! Why It's Important: Disruptions to GPS at airports can cause flight delays. Many...

Image: Iridium Commuications What's New: Article about Satelles time and location services. Part of the GPS World series on non-GNSS PNT. Why It's Important: Satelles is broadcast from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) meaning the signals are stronger, less likely to be...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: 350 or more drones were lost during a show in Malborne, Australia. Why It's Important: The likely cause was interference with GPS signals. The drones would have automatically landed when signals were lost. It is a demonstration of: How...

Cover Image: Shutterstock, Diagram below: Prof. Todd Humphreys, UT Austin What's New: We responded to a U.S. Dept. of Transportation request for information about Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) with eight recommendations for achieving safe and efficient navigation....

Image: Spirent Labs What's New: Article about the importance of simulation, especially for new GNSS and other PNT systems, before deployment. Spirent's work with Xona is used as an example. Why It's Important:  Technical - Helping ensure things will work as the...

Image: Versa PNT by Safran Federal Systems What's New: In our view, the highlight of this article in the GPS World series is Safran's focus on sensor fusion. Why It's Important: Users need multiple sources of PNT to ensure robust and resilient service. The different...

Image: Sculpture of what happens to gear that does not comply with ICDs.  RNT Foundation Image What's New: The new ground control system for GPS, called OCX, is nearing completion. Space Force wants to update manufacturers and users about new technical features so no...

Image: Xona Space Systems What's New: Interesting discussion of Xona Space Systems' business aspirations and a bit about their technology. Why It's Important: LEO PNT satellites offer greater accuracy and power. The added power and potential for frequency diversity...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: The media outlet "GPS World" looking at non-GPS and non-GNSS systems. This because governments have long recognized that GPS/GNSS is not enough to support mission critical and safety of life applications. Why It's Important: One of the...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: An article by our colleague Dave Hughes who observes the primary challenge with GPS and greater resilience is a lack of government focus and action (i.e. leadership). His focus on the government's seeming inability to change outdated...

Image: Locata system at White Sands missile test range. Locata Corp. What's New: GPS World has published a series of interviews with PNT providers with systems that complement and/or can be alternatives to GNSS. We will be featuring each over the next several weeks....

Image: US Air Force What's New: A commentary published by the UK's Royal United Services Institute. We have previously posted press reports, though this commentary is a more systematic discussion. Why It's Important: This item discusses various ways that Russian...

Image: NASA What's New: Many scientists predicted this would be a relatively quiet solar cycle, but it is turning out to be one of the most active.  Why It's Important: Solar activity can disrupt GPS and other GNSS signals, potentially for days. If strong enough they...

What's New: A recent talk given by RNTF President Dana A. Goward to the Rhode & Schwartz seminar at Assoc. of Old Crows Space Symposium, MITRE, Bedford, MA 21 June 2023. Why It's Important: China, Russia, Europe, the U.S. and U.K., India and others are all...

Image: Shutterstock - IBM System One Quantum Computer 2020 Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas What's New: Increasing investment in quantum technologies could result in PNT devices that sense gravitational and magnetic fields at the atomic level. These could be much...

Image: GPSJam.org What's New: Recent tweet from John Wiseman about a disruption incident at the Panama Canal last August. Why It's Important: We could report nearly every day about GPS interference of some kind. Why go back to August and look at this one? It lasted...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: A relatively recent paper from the International Telecommunications Union reinforcing the essentiality of time and synchronization. Why It's Important:  Time and sync are fundamental to almost every technology. Most tech uses GPS as its...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Another way to get location (but not time or sync). Why It's Important: New methods like this fill niche requirements. This one seems to address particularly difficult environments. What to Know:  There are many technologies and ways to...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: India establishing a regional navigation satellite system that will cooperate with, but operate independently of, GPS and other GNSS.  Why It's Important: This is another instance of: PNT being an essential but invisible tool / weapon...

We were very pleased to see our colleague from the U.S. President's National Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board, Matt Higgins, appear on this year's King's Birthday Honours List receiving the Public Service Medal. Matt is one of three...