Image: UK Aircraft Accident Investigations Branch Blog Editor's Note: We are not sure the drone and autonomous community have really come to grips with this issue.  The article mentions interference with a display involving hundreds of drones. There have been other...

Blog Editor's Note - Toward the end of the article, Bob Poole discusses FAA's failure to refresh the aviation terrestrial navigation system consisting of VORs and DMEs.  He also suggests the Department of Transportation should focus on, not just a backup system for...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: A disturbing Op-Ed discussing China's dominance in rare earths and progress on 5G, quickly suggesting that the score might already be 0-2. Or maybe 0-3 if you throw in AI. However you are scoring, the U.S. is another point down...

Image: University of Texas at Austin Radionavigation Lab The Department of Transportation's Virtual Workshop on GPS Jamming and Spoofing in the Maritime Environment was held on the 3rd of December. Over 200 attended the afternoon session that had a recurring theme of...

Images: NASA and Shutterstock It's never a good idea to bet against Mother Nature. Though it looks like we might have won this time. Solar flares have always been a threat to technology. In 1859 and 1921 flares (more correctly - coronal mass ejections, or CMEs)...

Image: US Coast Guard, Petty Officer John Masson Blog Editor's Note: It was a dark and eerily calm night. The worst-case scenario for a helicopter rescue of someone from the water. On dark and stormy nights at least the pilots can at least see the waves. That night...

Image: European Space Agency "LEO is an orbital space junk yard. There are millions of pieces of space junk flying in LEO. Most orbital debris comprises human-generated objects, such as pieces of space craft, tiny flecks of paint from a spacecraft, parts of rockets,...

Vessels from around the world report they are off Pt. Reyes and sailing in circles in newest location spoofing phenomena. Image: Skytruth Blog Editor's Note: This is a repost of Guy's excellent article on Linkedin. We are reposting on all our social media to help...

Image: Space Weather News, Millersville University (State University of Pennsylvania) Blog Editor's Note: Last year saw the sun reach solar minimum, the period of the least amount of activity (sunspots, flares, coronal mass ejections),  We are now heading toward solar...

RNT Foundation Image: Existing Loran service areas in eastern hemisphere with recently announced expansion of Chinese system. Blog Editor's Note: The paper cited below was published three months after another Chinese paper in the same journal that discussed China's...

Image: South Korea Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Blog Editor's Note: The author of this article is President of the RNT Foundation.   South Korea partners with broadcaster on eLoran and 10-cm GPS “Fourth industrial revolution and advanced technology” for all...

Image: Spoofed AIS signal tracks off (and on) the coast of California (illustration courtesy Skytruth) Blog Editor's Note: The author of this article is President of the RNT Foundation. U.S. DOT, MARAD Convene Panel on GPS Jamming and Spoofing BY DANA A....

Image: Qascom Authentication seems to be the challenge of the age. Can you trust information you find on line?  What political "leaders" are saying? Or how about those signals from space? The folks over at the EU's Galileo program are trying to do something about the...

Image: US Department of Defense Blog Editor's Note: An interesting interview by Steve Forbes with Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett.  In the interview Secreatary Barrett discusses the importance of GPS and says, quite correctly: "And I would put forward the GPS...

Image: South Korea Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Blog Editor's Note: The author of the below article is President of the RNT Foundaiton. South Korea discusses decision to combine GPS and eLoran By  Dana A. Goward  11/17/2020 Citing requirements of the evolving...

Image: NASA Blog Editor's note: Interesting interview with Guy Buesnel from Spirent.  Readers may find this bit from the article particularly interesting: "With spoofing, even if a system is not a target, even if the attack does not fully succeed in taking over a...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Co-author Dana A. Goward is President of the RNT Foundation. Solution to GPS Hacking Space-Terrestrial Hybrid Navigation Combats Security Threats By RAdm Nick Lambert, Dana A. Goward In March 2017 NATO’s Exercise Joint Viking in...

Image: European Commission - JRC Ipsra Italy Test Site Blog Editor's Note: The author is President of the RNT Foundaiton Europe seeks alternative PNT services, deadline Jan. 13 November 10, 2020  - By Dana Goward “In some specific cases, e.g., for critical...

Image: Septentrio from tech paper at https://www.septentrio.com/en/apme-multipath-mitigation-technology Blog Editor's Note:  An interesting blog post from Spirent that was also a paper and presentation at the recent International Timing and Synchronization Forum. ...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: The author is President of the RNT Foundation. Timing is Everything: To Protect Geospatial and the World, We Need Bullet-proof Time A resilient national timing architecture will do more than just making today’s GNSS systems more...

Blog Editor's Note:  The United Kingdom is far ahead of some other countries with PNT resilience. It has taken a while, though, and still things are moving slowly.   Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were added to the UK risk register in 2012. CMEs like the Carrington...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: No category of user is immune from interuptions to GPS/GNSS.  Signals are attractive targets because they are so important and widely used. They are easy targets because they are so weak and most receivers are unsophisticated. ...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note:  OK, we get it.  Everyone sees things through their own lens.  And if you specialize in hammers, you see nails everywhere you look. We have been doing a lot of work recently with timing. But it is REALLY easy to see the need for...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Thanks to RNTF member Omer Sharar, CEO of InfiniDome, for calling this item from January of this year to our attention. Several interesting things about the below article from "El Economista." First that folks in Mexico are...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: A relatively recent paper from the University of Texas Radionavigation Laboratory (Peter A. Iannucci and Todd E. Humphreys) on leveraging a communication constellation in low earth orbit (LEO) for positioning, navigation and...

RNT Foundation Image: Historic High Accuracy Clock on Display at NIST Blog Editor's Note: Interesting two-in-one press release from NIST.   First they are looking for comment on their draft cyber security profile for PNT users. This document seeks to identify: Gaps in...

Shutterstock Image: Flatiron range near Boulder, CO. Blog Editor's Note - Most of our readers are already saying to themselves "this is about Lightsquared/Ligado."  Yes. Yes it is. Couple things to remember about "evidence based": Different people can look at the same...

Blog editor's note: RNT Foundation member DR Pat Diamond, and foundation president Dana A. Goward were two of the co-authors for the paper discussed below. Precise time for all: Paper calls for resilient national timing October 19, 2020  - By Tracy Cozzens A new white...

Blog Editor's Note: Interesting arrticle on the challenges facting use of OneWeb for LEO PNT. We have heard others suggest the best path could be to modify future OneWeb payloads rather than try to leverage existing on-orbit assets. Note that the on-line version of...

Image: Russian Jamming Signal Detected by Norwegian Communications Authority Blog Editor's Note: Interesting article co-authored by RNTF Advisor Guy Busenel (his employer, Spirent, is also a corporate member of the RNT Foundation).  From the Merriam Webster on-line...

Blog Editor's Note: The European Space Agency (ESA) is worried about GNSS jamming and spoofing. So it established the Navigation Innovation Support Programme (NAVISP) to foster innovations in satellite navigation and terrestrial forms of PNT.  We were priviledged to...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: This is a really interesting idea that could add greatly to a comprehensive PNT architecture. The key will be ensuring the foundations upon which 5G infrastructure is built, things like timing, are rock solid. Right now a lot of...

Blog Editor's Note: The author is President of the RNT Foundation. China expanding Loran as GNSS backup October 12, 2020  - By Dana Goward An August 2020 paper published by the journal Sensors revealed China’s plans to expand coverage of its terrestrial Loran...

Blog Editor's Note: Good thought piece from our friend and former colleague Jules McNeff.  Hard to disagree with him. And it is understandable that the DoD PNT Strategy says they plan for future PNT development to be increasingly classified. Yet if someone is now in...

Image: NASA Blog Editor's Note: A good article by David Hambling with whom we have worked. Not only a high level overview, but some good insights into additional technologies to augment GPS/GNSS. Also some good quotes from our friends Todd Humphreys and Charles Curry....

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Two items below from The National Interest's Kris Osborn outling another example of how a COMMUNICATIONS Commission might be making decisions on SPECTRUM issues with only the desires of communications concerns in mind. The FCC...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note:  Passing along the below from the Keep GPS Working Coalition. media advisory Sep 29 KEEP GPS WORKING COALITION TO HOST CONFERENCE CALL HOW THE FCC’S LIGADO DECISION HARMS AGRICULTURE: A CONVERSATION WITH INDUSTRY LEADERS AND...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Notes: Good to see ever-increasing focus on this important area.   Many see the CMOSS effort as a lynchpin to realizing DoD's vision of ingesting, validating, prioritizing, and integrating all kinds of PNT information so as to...

Image: UK Government Blog Editor's Note: The author is President of the RNT Foundation. With new space program, UK continues march to more holistic PNT September 25, 2020  - By Dana Goward News from the British government Thursday appears to be a part of the United...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: As noted in the article, unlike previous warnings, this one is global vs specific to a region. Probably appropriate as research has found GPS disruption in virtual all phases of maritime operations around the globe. It is also...

Odd Sveinung Hareide, Photo credit Norwegian Coastal Administration UPDATED INFORMATION: Here is some information we received from CAPT Odd Sveinug Hareide that clarifys the below article - and checkout the cool video: The translation from Norwegian to English has not...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note:  Doug MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official, who, while he has a flair for the dramatic, is not overestimating the problem and is not saying anything wrong. We don't normally go in for the really sensational...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note:  Yup, we added the question mark to the headline. The Army's Mounted Alternative PNT System (MAPS) is certainly helping soldiers in challenging GPS environments, but it doesn't come close to what most would call an...

Blog Editor's Note: An interesting article about the inner workings of one of these devices.  Written for hands-on technologists, but many others might find it interesting also. Two notes: The author mentions he did not investigate its effective range. Authorities in...

Blog Editor's Note:  Last week we saw a notice that the UK Ministry of Defence would be doing jamming trials for the next several months.  Fortunately for users, the jamming is not going to exceed 2 minutes in length, and not more than 5 times an hour. We asked if we...

Blog Editor's Note: The author is President of the RNT Foundation. Opinion Differences in technologies could have led FCC astray Dana A. Goward “Astounded,” shocked,” “and “dismayed” were some of the adjectives used by a vast array of experts to describe the Federal...

1976: The first military GPS five-channel receiver built in one of several programs that studied the feasibility of GPS. The receiver weighed more than 270 pounds and had seats for two operators. (Photo: Rockwell Collins/Smithsonian) Blog Editor's Note: Excellent...

Vulnerabilities of GPS is a big concern: Dana Goward By Anusuya Datta 09/05/2020 Satellite systems have become an integral part of our businesses for precise navigation and timing services. Yet GPS/GNSS jamming, spoofing, and other forms of interference appear to be...

Image: Shutterstock RNTF Report Very few people know how to report problems with GPS reception. And few of those take the trouble to do it. So the listing that the US government maintains of GPS disruption reports really represents the tip of the iceberg. Likely only...

NASA Image Blog Editor's Note: An excellent article from the NASA website below. And another example of how difficult it is for people to learn from the past and prepare for the future.   As we are fond of pointing out, the US knew aircraft hijacking was a problem...