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 His focus on the government's seeming inability to change outdated...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...

Image: GPSJam.org What's New: Russian defensive jamming and/or spoofing seems to have ramped up in early June near St. Petersburg and lapped over into the airspace of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.  Why It's Important: Aviation safety and air traffic control are...

Image: Skytruth What's New: Numerous reports of AIS spoofing. The most prominent was by the New York Times about a Russian oil tanker trying to evade surveillance and maintain its insurance coverage. Of course, AIS spoofing, especially by Russia, is not new. See, for...

Image: Minister Harbers, NL govt photo by Martijn Beekman Minister Mark Harbers is an important guy in The Netherlands. He is responsible for infrastructure and water management. With much of the country at or below sea level already, water management is a bid deal....

Image: RNT Foundation What's New: Saudi Arabia is upgrading its Loran-C system to eLoran (OK, so not really new since this is from April, but we just saw the announcement). Why It's Important: While most governments say they are concerned about GNSS disruption, some...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Ligado sought permission for terrestrial broadcast in Canada on frequencies adjacent to GPS and was denied.  The FCC granted Ligado permission to do so in the U.S. This decision was appealed by seven groups one of which was the RNT...

Image: US Air Force What's New: In just the last several days two different organizations in the Dept of Defense have had media releases about magnetic navigation. Why its Important: Lots of folks, DOD especially, are always looking for ways to navigate when GPS and...

Blog Editor's Note: We missed this announcement somehow when it came out last month.  Nevertheless, we are very glad to welcome MS Dyer to the community! "The GPS Innovation Alliance seeks to protect, promote, and enhance use of GPS."  So, a lot of shared interests...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Russians are interfering with more than just GPS signals. They are jamming higher power satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) also. Why It's Important: Calculating one's location using communications satellites can be an alternative if...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: The Dept of Transportation (Office of the Secretary, interestingly, not FAA) is asking for public input on "Advanced Air Mobility" or AAM. According to NASA "The vision of AAM is that of a safe, accessible, automated, and affordable air...

Image: RNT Foundation Blog Editor's Note: The author of this article is President of the RNT Foundation. UK considering eLoran broadcast licenses May 23, 2023  - By Dana Goward The United Kingdom’s spectrum agency, Ofcom, is seeking comments on its proposal to issue...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: The authors are President and Chairman of the Board of the RNT Foundation.   Opinion Defending Taiwan by countering China’s biggest threat  Dana A. Goward and Martin C. Faga May 22, 2023 Dana A. Goward is president of the...

What's the news: National Cybersecurity Strategy doesn't recognize PNT as a critical component of cyber. Why it's important: IT systems use PNT feeds for data and to operate systems. Most PNT inputs are GPS-based. GPS signals are very easy to deny or imitate (hack)....

Image: European Space Agency What's New: Europe's concern about the increasing amount of dangerous debris in space threating Galileo, GPS and other satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). What to Know: There are MILLIONS, maybe tens of millions, of pieces of debris in...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: A summary of various cyber attack vectors using GPS/GNSS by long-time RNTF member Chronos. Why It's Important:  There has been a long standing debate in government as to whether PNT disruption is an electronic warfare or cyber problem....

Department of Defense Image What's New: We included this as part of another post last week, but decided it was too important to be buried as part of something else. A great perspective on: China deliberately, over the long haul, using every lever of national power and...

Image: Shutterstock An informative LinkedIn post from our friends at NLA International.   How Resilient Position, Navigation and Timing can INSPIRe greater confidence in the Blue Economy Blue Economy Pulse 2,012 followers Follow May 12, 2023 By Phil...

Image: Govt of Japan What's New: Japan is increasing the number of its regional navigation satellites from 4 to either 7 or 11.  Either way will allow users positioning, navigation, and timing independently from GPS. Why It's Important:  Nations are concerned GPS may...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Growing awareness of multiple threats from China, including their huge Tactical PNT advantage in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea Strategic PNT advantage to the USA with Ability to attempt to influence policy and actions by threats...

Image: National Assn. of Broadcasters What's New: More information about how TV broadcasts could be used to provide PNT independent of GPS. We have posted about this before. The article excerpted below provides an updated description. Why It's Important: Having more...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: Several new papers showing how to use communications satellites to derive PNT. Why It's Important: There are lots of comms satellites up there They are in Low Earth Orbit, verses Medium Earth Orbit for GPS/GNSS, so signals are much...

Department of Defense Image What's New: An impassioned short speech on the floor of the Senate by Sen. Wicker, ranking member of the Armed Services Committee Why it is Important: Part of a growing awareness of China as a multi, multi, multi dimensional threat. And a...

Image: US Air Force What's New: Senior aerospace executive acknowledges DOD does not seem interested in doing anything other than tinkering with better PNT. What to Know: The Government Accountability Office issued three reports in 15 months criticizing the way DOD...

Europe's STRIKE3 project showed that 90% of interference signals are accidental. That doesn't mean they are harmless. Think about the commercial passenger aircraft that was almost lost in Sun Valley. And the major disruptions last year in Dallas and Denver. We wonder...

Image: Shutterstock "Over just the last few years, the quantity and quality of counterspace threats have increased significantly," What's New: DOD information about threats in space. Most, if not all, is a rehash of publicly available congressional testimony. But it...

Image: YouTube - Chinese spacecraft damages US satellite, "Space Force" Episode 1 What's New: Leaked classified documents obtained by the Washington Post indicate government intelligence agrees with what most observers have been saying. In a conflict over Taiwan,...

Image: NASA What's New: Here is the agenda for the President's Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board meeting in Annapolis, MD next week (3rd and 4th of May). What to Know: You don't have to go to Annapolis to attend the meeting! A link to...

Image: Shutterstock 91 groups across a wide range of industries have sent a letter urging the Biden Administration and Congress to work with the FCC to stay and ultimately set aside the harmful Ligado Order. In the letter, the groups stated: “Three years after...

Image: Drone crash caused by GPS interference - UK Civil Aviation Authority What's New: First report we have seen about Ukraine using spoofing. To be expected, but now its in the open. Why It's Important: It is an affirmation that this goes on all the time on all...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: A commercial satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) that enabled highly precise (2 cm) GPS positioning failed. This was NOT a problem with GPS.  Why it's Important:  Precise navigation has meant huge savings in fertilizer,...

Image: HIMARS - Shutterstock What's New: Leaked classified documents show Russian jamming GPS signals significantly impacts US weapons in Ukraine. Most of the media has focused on JDAM "smart bombs."  Other GPS-guided systems like the M270 and HIMARS seem to be...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: An annual report on counterspace capabilities of various nations by our friends at Secure World Foundation Not just the usual suspects. The report includes info on Australia, South Korea, Japan, France, the UK, among others. Why its...

Image: Shutterstock What's New: TrustPoint launched the "First Commercially-Funded, Purpose-Built PNT Microsatellite." Why Its Important:  PNT from space has always been an expensive and government-sponsored effort.  Several companies have been formed to provide PNT...

What's New: CSIS released their annual Space Threat Assessment yesterday. Lots of focus on Russia attacking Ukraine, of course. And the other usual players - China, Iran, North Korea, India. GPS is mentioned 37 times. New insight: Use of commercial space by Ukraine...