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The growing problem of jamming and spoofing of GPS satellite navigation signals just keeps getting worse – M&AE
Blog Editor's Note: Our initial response to this article was "Duh!" Aside from stating the obvious, it is a short piece that, initially, doesn't seem to add much to the community discussion. But it does point out that the problem "keeps getting worse." And why...
Trucks Are Winning Automation Race – Forbes
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: And those trucks are going to need rock-solid PNT. Imagine sharing the road with automated semis that don't have it. Great article by RNTF member Diana Furchtgott-Roth. Trucks Are Winning Automation Race Diana...
China’s Beidou system makes great strides in adoption: white paper – Global Times
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: We thought we would offer this article as a follow-on to yesterday's post about GNSS as an instrument of national power. China is particularly good at using Bei Dou for soft power. Also note how they have used Bei Dou as to...
GNSS as an Instrument of National Power – GLONASS Case Study
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: This article is about GLONASS but could be easily about GPS, Bei Dou, or even Galileo. Certainly they are instruments of soft power (economic, political, etc,), And they have the potential for espionage and other national...
‘Space Needs Spectrum & the Laws of Physics Stand’ – NTIA
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: OK, the title of this post is not an exact quote from NTIA. But it does capture the important ideas of this new paper from the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA). For those of you unfamiliar with how...
Spoofing GPS in Indonesia to Make Things Work Better – Vice
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: "Adversarial Interoperability (AKA Competitive Compatibility/comcom), the practice of modifying an existing technology against the wishes (or without permission) of its maker." We were certainly familiar with the practice, but...
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? – Does Anybody Really Care… About Time?
https://youtu.be/n69se2UCy_k Yes, there are folks who know what time it is. And, yes, there are lots of folks who care! In fact, just about everyone cares, though most most folks don't realize it. Precise time underpins virtually every technology from...
GPS at risk: Those signals are more vulnerable than you realize – CNet
Image: NOAA Blog Editor's Note: Interesting article. Some thoughts about the RAND study mentioned, it said: Its not worth the cost to build another GPS-like system as a backup. We agree that duplicating GPS is not needed. (Note, China disagrees and has built GPS-like...
Board of Directors and Annual Meeting Minutes 2021
NOTE: The board has delayed the annual meeting until September or October in the hopes of an in-person event. 1-6-2021 Board Meeting Minutes 3-15-2021 Board Meeting Minutes
Alternate navigation using satellite signals of opportunity – Roke
Image: Roke Manor Blog Editor's Note: We remember about 10 years ago when smart GNSS folks said this likely possible but not practical and wouldn't result in anything worth using. A number also said spoofing was theoretically possible but would never be a practical...
Draper Develops Tool for Evaluating the Military’s PNT Tech – Draper
Image: Draper Blog Editor's Note: The need for this tool and others like it was highlighted in the DOD PNT Strategy, and in the recently released GAO report on DOD Navigation Capabilities. It will certainly provide a good first cut for evaluating technologies....
Many technologies can help GNSS, but few can replace it – GPS World
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: "Yeah, verily" to the author's point that anyone who talks about replacing GNSS is blowing smoke (and probably selling something). Unfortunately when we talk about ADDITIONAL or ALTERNATE sources of PNT, folks often wrongly...
U.S. Navy Ship Spoofed to Crimea
Image US Navy Arleigh Burke Class Guided Missile Destroyer: Shutterstock Last week a UK Royal Navy destroyer and Dutch Royal Navy ship safely moored in Odessa, Ukraine, were spoofed to locations off-shore of a Russian naval base on Crimea. This week it was a US Navy...
Sen. Inhofe introduces bill to make Ligado pay everyone harmed – GPS World
Image: Office of Sen. Inhofe Blog Editor's Note: Since this was written, 105 companies and organizations sent a letter of support to the bill's sponsors. Read it here. The author of the article is President of the RNT Foundation. Sen. Inhofe introduces bill to...
Extremely accurate time is increasingly critical. This place is in charge of it. – National Geographic
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Interesting article about the UK's capabilities. Also timely since we just did a webinar last week, in partnership with Hoptroff, on timing in the UK with Leon Lobo of the National Physical Laboratory. Look for the recording of...
Verizon Builds Precise Positioning Capability With Senion Acquisition – Location Business News
Image: Senion Blog Editor's Note: With 5G we will likely continue seeing closer alliances and mergers of telecom and PNT. This is likely one of many to come. As another example we note that the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee urged President...
RAND: Federal investment in timing network for GPS backup likely worthwhile – GPS World
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: The author is president of the RNT Foundation. RAND: Federal investment in timing network for GPS backup likely worthwhile June 22, 2021 - By Dana Goward Study’s emphasis, timing of release, work against that, some say Image:...
Positions of Two NATO Ships Were Falsified Near Russian Black Sea Naval Base – US Naval Institute
Image: USNI Blog Editor's Note: This is the first time we have heard of the Russians (1) targeting individual ships and (2) going to the trouble of spoofing them along a track to fake a voyage from one place to another. Clearly tweaking NATO's nose and reinforcing the...
Cybersecurity Experts Push President Biden To Protect GPS Satellites And The Connected Car – Forbes
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Great article with some interesting background. And more widely applicable. Just remove "connected car" from the title and substitute, well... just about anything, and it should still work. "President Biden, we urge you to...
‘Joint Program Office or similar would benefit DOD Alt PNT efforts’ – Webinar Poll
Image: Shutterstock A poll of participants at yesterday's RNTF/ ION Webinar "GAO Report: Defense Navigation Capabilities" showed attendees overwhelmingly favoring better mechanisms for both coordinating alternative PNT projects within the department and its interface...
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Attack on GPS the Next 9-11? – Video Report KPIX News, San Francisco
Image: KPIX This four minute piece from the CBS affiliate in San Francisco poses an interesting question. There are certainly plenty of individuals, groups, and governments out there who might like to bring the U.S. to its knees. For example, in 1996 China suffered...
Strengthening PNT to Avert Economic Setbacks – GW Prime
Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: A good overview article. One note, though. The $1.3B loss per day shown for the U.S. should we be without GPS comes from an RTI study done for the National Institute of Standards and Technology. That seems like a big loss that...
Two years since the Tesla GPS hack – GPS World
Image: Roi Mit Blog Editor's Note: An interesting reminder of a hallmark event within the PNT community. We are sure it had a significant impact on the folks at Tesla, and probably significant but probably lesser impact at other car companies. We would have hoped...
House Armed Services Committee Interested in New, Non-GPS PNT Constellation
Image: USAF, 2d Lt Jacob Lutz, AFRL/RV The House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2022, which begins on the first of October, requires the Secretary of the Air Force to provide a briefing to the Armed Services Committee about establishment of a...