Bill Calls for Protection of Critical Infrastructure, National Security Assets On the first of September 1859 the Earth was hit by a massive solar flare. It was so strong that currents induced in telegraph wires set offices afire.  Later dubbed "the Carrington event,"...

Blog Editor's Note: A great article by long-time RNTF member Guy Buesnel.  As you read through the article, you will see that clock failures have not been unique to Galileo.  Problems like these are good reminders that no system is perfect and all will fail at some...

This month Canada's Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence has recommended that the nation's satellites be declared critical infrastructure. In a report on military funding dated April 2017 the committee said: “In this connection, space assets fall...

"Tomorrow Never Dies," a  James Bond movie, premiered in 1997 and featured GPS spoofing that caused an international incident. Fourteen years later, in 2011, Iran used GPS spoofing to capture a CIA drone flying next door in Afghanistan and caused an international...

Blog Editor's Note: Several interesting things about the below article: A NASA facility monitoring the cyber-security of US satellites to ensure they don't get hacked by adversary nation states is in Russia. NASA needs Russia to get people into space because the US...

Editor's Note: There is a lot of good technology out there, but not nearly enough people are using it.  Good article in GPS World by Michael Jones about one such. Controlled reception pattern antennas (CRPAs, pronounced “serpers”), adaptive antennas, null-steering...

On the 4th of April General Hyten, Commander of Strategic Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senator Cruz asked about threats to space assets. As part of his answer, General Hyten discussed the military's reliance on GPS. He also talked...

Here is the presentation that we gave at the ATIS Workshop on Synchronization and Timing Systems yesterday in San Jose, CA. We were surprised to see some of the interesting coincidences of conflicting and supporting announcements and events. If you want to know more...

A couple weeks ago one of our members, Reelectronika, showed us an eLoran/Chayka/GNSS receiver that was only 6cm long with a 5cm antenna. Yesterday our member Continental Electronics sent a press release announcing they had patented a smaller eLoran transmitter...

It was the same day the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees were being warned by experts that GPS signals are weak, easily jammed and spoofed.  Also that the nation did not have a much overdue complementary and backup system that could virtually...

From discussion and passage of a United Nations' Resolution calling on member states to address threats to critical infrastructure: "JÜRGEN STOCK, Secretary-General of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), spoke by video teleconference, saying...

In an unusual move the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, and the House Homeland Security Committee held a joint hearing yesterday -  "Threats to Space Assets and Implications for Homeland Security." The witnesses were GEN William...

Blog Editor's Note: A great opinion piece by GPS World editor Alan Cameron.  His editorials regularly speak for the GPS community at large and this one is, as usual, right on. March 27, 2017  - By Alan Cameron “It’s always been time.” That was the first answer out of...

We will save you some time if you don’t want to wade through the 37 pages of the FAA’s Navigation Strategy 2016. It says: More of the same Except fewer VORs & ILS While unmanned systems are mentioned once, it is only in the introduction, and by way of saying ‘Oh...

From Bloomberg Government Hearing on State of the Coast Guard, 22 March 2017 Senator Cruz (R-TX): Let me shift to a different issue, which is -- as you're aware, our nation's GPS system is used by a number of our critical infrastructure and key resource sectors. In...

“GNSS – Is It Time for Backup?” was the theme of this year’s Munich Satellite Navigation Summit. The answer seemed to be a resounding “YES!” A conference panel charged with answering that question agreed that one or more “complementary and backup” systems for GNSS...

Blog editor's note: Great article below.  See also report here of aircraft that almost lost control due to GPS jamming. March 6, 2017  By  Guy Buesnel and Paul Crampton Several jamming incidents in 2016 highlight the increasing reliance on GNSS by commercial aviation...

Guest Post by CAPT Joe Burns, CEO, Sensurion Aerospace A major challenge facing the unmanned systems industry, especially in aviation and upcoming Beyond Visual Line Of Site (BVLOS) operations, is its reliance on weak, easily disrupted Global Positioning System (GPS)...

This is a re-post from NPSTC.org - Note that quite a way down in the post it reads "The report presents a huge amount of data, including numerous plots of test results, but it does not reach conclusions about whether LTE signals would cause harmful interference to GPS...

The Department of Homeland Security has announced an opportunity for GPS receiver manufacturers to test equipment performance in an active jamming and spoofing environment. The 13 February announcement said: "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and...

Guest Post by Mitch Narins Last month a letter sent to the FCC by lawyers representing the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL), provided great detail into the illegal marketing of video links and amplifiers for use by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), more commonly...

Editor's Note: This is an interesting report that coincides with things we have heard from government officials. Longtime RNTF member Guy Buesnel from Spirent will be speaking next week at the RSA Conference in San Francisco and the Oceanology International North...

At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo) questioned progress on establishing a system to protect GPS. Sen. Blunt asked DOT Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III: "Let’s talk about GPS for a minute. In 2015 the Department of...

We have seen and heard a lot over the last year about Satelles and their new satellite PNT service. Recently, their efforts were bolstered when they partnered with Orolia. Last month Orolia had an operating GPS/Satelles integrated receiver, the Spectracom SecureSync,...

At a New York Stock Exchange industry event last month a representative from the Department of Homeland Security said that adversaries of the United States are interested in doing the nation harm by disrupting GPS signals, and the threat is growing. DHS Deputy...

In this post we are pointing you to two interesting papers about locating GNSS disruption sources on the ground using satellites. We like this idea because locating disruption is an important part of the "Protect" in RNT Foundation's  "Protect, Toughen, and Augment...

Blog editor's Note: This is a good overview of the impacts on maritime and features comments from long-time RNTF Advisory Council member Prof David Last, BSc(Eng), PhD, DSc, CEng, FIET, FRIN. We have met a lot of  smart people with many letters after their name who...

On January 6th the Radio Technical Commission, Maritime (RTCM) issued its "Minimum Performance Standards for Marine eLoran Receiving Equipment." This 71 page document is the result of several years of effort by RTCM member volunteers from industry and government. RTCM...

The ATIS "Time and Money" workshop at the New York Stock Exchange last week had something for everyone. There were technical presentations, panel discussions, and even a sales pitch or two. Some of the things that we heard: 'People often buy GPS timing receivers...

Editor's Note: We really like the author's admonition to "Treat GPS like Reagan treated Russia: Trust but verify." GPS jamming and spoofing are poorly recognized cyber-security problems and show infrastructure shortfalls. Cyber-security because they interfere with...

This week UrsaNav posted their most recent results from the work they have been doing with Harris Corp. and the Department of Homeland Security to demonstrate eLoran as a difficult to disrupt time source to complement and backup GPS. Among the findings: 95% of all...

A new paper by the World Security Report says: "Critical infrastructure interdependencies constitute a risk multiplier: they can themselves be a threat or hazard, affect the resilience and protection performance of critical infrastructure, and lead to cascading and...

  OK - your smartphone is probably violating the law. It's illegal in the U.S. to receive and use other nations' satellite navigation signals. And most all smartphones receive GPS and at least one other system, whether it's Russia's GLONASS, China's BeiDou, or...

In a post last week Jared Serbu of Federal News Radio reported that Terry Halvorsen, Defense Department CIO, will retire by the end of February. While not mentioned in the article, in his role as CIO Halvorsen was the Principle Staff Assistant to the Secretary of...

Blog Editor's Note: The Washington Post just published an opinion piece by RNT Foundation President Dana Goward:   Opinions By Dana Goward January 12 at 1:40 PM Dana Goward is president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation. This week’s confirmation...

On Monday the US Department of Transportation issued a press release announcing the availability of  "Beyond Traffic 2045," the department's framework for thinking about the next 30 years of transportation issues and challenges. The importance of GPS to current and...

Friday the US Department of Homeland Security published a list of 22 recommendations for installation, selection and use of GPS receivers to minimize opportunities for jamming and spoofing.  Among them the document includes: Installation of decoy antennae to...

Editor's Note: This looks like an interesting event at the New York Stock Exchange.  We are going to attend. A similar event was hosted there last year that included a demonstration using an eLoran signal for a timing reference.  DG Time and Money Workshop Agenda...

Editor's Note: The following excellent article by Dee Ann Divis points out that the US Congress remains very much int the lead for GPS/PNT policy in the United States. Virtually every high level issue associated with GPS is addressed in the bill. In addition to...

In a Request for Information posted on the 20th of December the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate is seeking partners in a Limited Purpose Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). "DHS S&T is seeking to evaluate...

Editor's Note: Dr. Gene McCall makes several excellent points in the below article about the need to focus on an architecture that will ensure delivery of PNT services.  He very much reinforces our Protect, Toughen and Augment message. Dr. McCall also...

Graphic from AFCEA Editor's Note: The author of this article starts with "Safeguarding the electromagnetic spectrum is critical to success throughout the battlespace, but the ethos and resources needed to secure and defend this vital medium are lacking." What is true...