GPS system threatened

[jrd22]

Don't throw your sextants away just yet. This story from the BBC may have you honing your dead reckoning skills.

Sat-nav systems under growing threat from 'jammers'

By Jason Palmer
Science and technology reporter, BBC News


Society will only get ever more dependent on sat-nav systems
Technology that depends on satellite-navigation signals is increasingly threatened by attack from widely available equipment, experts say.
While "jamming" sat-nav equipment with noise signals is on the rise, more sophisticated methods allow hackers even to program what receivers display.
At risk are not only sat-nav users, but also critical national infrastructure.
A UK meeting outlining the risks was held at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington on Tuesday.
The meeting was organised by the government-funded Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Network.
"GPS gives us transportation, distribution industry, 'just-in-time' manufacturing, emergency services operations - even mining, road building and farming, all these and a zillion more," David Last, a consultant engineer and former president of the Royal Institute of Navigation, told the conference.
"But what few people outside this community recognise is the high-precision timing that GPS provides to keep our telephone networks, the internet, banking transactions and even our power grid online."

You can consider GPS a little like computers before the first virus - if I had stood here before then and cried about the risks, you would've asked 'why would anyone bother?'
David Last, former president of the Royal Institute of Navigation
Professor Last recalled the New Year's Day failure of a single satellite in 2004 and how it wreaked havoc with sat-nav readings.
"Satellite failures, though dramatic, are not the main problem," he said.
"The Achilles heel of GPS is the extremely weak signals that reach the receiver."
Each satellite in a sat-nav constellation is putting out less power than a car headlight, illuminating more than a third of the Earth's surface at a distance of more than 20,000 km.
What that means, and what has brought this group of policy-makers, academics and industry figures together, is that the signals can be easily swamped by equipment back on Earth.
Criminal intent
This can be done unintentionally by, for example, pirate television stations, or with a purpose in mind.
Military systems have been doing this "jamming" - flooding an area with a signal at the GPS frequency - for years in a bid to frustrate enemy navigation systems.
But small jamming devices are increasingly available on the internet.

The biggest danger may come not from big errors, but small ones
Low-power, hand-held versions that cost less than Ł100 can run for hours on a battery and confuse sat-nav receivers tens of kilometres away.
Higher-power versions can do far worse, and at both GPS and mobile phone frequencies.
What is more, receivers can be "spoofed" - not simply blinded by a strong, noisy signal, but fooled into thinking their location or the time is different because of fraudulent broadcast GPS signals.
"You can now buy a low-cost simulator and link it to Google Earth, put on a route and it will simulate that route to the timing that you specify," said Professor Last.
"A GPS receiver overcome by it will behave as if you're travelling along that route."
The approach still costs in the thousands and is the preserve of what Professor Last calls the "real techies", but he guessed that the tools could be in the hands of criminals within a year or two.
One obvious reason to do the jamming or spoofing is that high-value cargo is tracked with GPS, as are armoured cars and many rental cars, so that confusing the tracking signal could spell a successful heist.
Sat-nav-based pricing for toll roads and road usage charges could be spoofed, and a company's employees may even use the devices to block the tracking devices imposed on company cars.
But jamming and spoofing, Professor Last said, were irresistible to the hacker type who did it for fun.
"You can consider GPS a little like computers before the first virus - if I had stood here before then and cried about the risks, you would've asked 'why would anyone bother?'.
"It's the same market as the hackers."
But the hackers' fun poses a particular danger to ships, which have systems that increasingly use sat-nav directly but also feed GPS signals into other equipment.

In the GLA trial, GPS in the jamming zone (red triangle) reported positions tens of km away from the true (eLoran) position

Some at the conference argued that with the growing maritime use of sat-nav, crews were less able to revert to classic methods of map-reading and "dead reckoning".
Alan Grant of the General Lighthouse Authorities (GLA) carried out an experiment in 2008 to assess the degree to which ships would be affected by a jamming signal.

GALILEO UNDER CONSTRUCTION

A European Commission and European Space Agency project
At least 22 satellites to launch in batches in coming years
Will work alongside US GPS and Russian Glonass systems
Promises real-time positioning down to less than a metre
Guaranteed under all but most extreme circumstances
Suitable for safety-critical roles where lives depend on service

Contracts for Galileo sat-nav
Q&A: Europe's Galileo project
Using a relatively low-power jamming signal off the eastern English coast, he found that ships coming into the jamming area suddenly read locations anywhere from Ireland to Scandinavia - but with ranges dependent on the ship itself.
"The level of disruption depends on the ship - the make and model of the kit, how it's been integrated, and down to the strength of the jamming signal," he said.
But he suggested the more dangerous case is that of a jamming signal causing only small errors that would not so obviously give themselves up as false information.
The immediate solution to the problem is not clear, since the existing US GPS and Russian Glonas systems, and the forthcoming European sat-nav effort Galileo, are equally susceptible.
Some at the conference suggested the relative security of the eLoran ground-based system that is already in place, but which existing consumer devices do not pick up.
There is no reason to believe, however, that widespread adoption of eLoran or any other standard would preclude eventual jamming efforts to thwart it.
"Navigation is no longer about how to measure where you are accurately - that's easy," Professor Last said. "Now it's all about how to do so reliably, safely and robustly."

[capttb]

I wouldn't worry about this except I recently learned that when my microwave oven is on, my satellite radio loses it's signal. The sat antennae is about 15 ft. away AND aimed in the opposite direction. Actually my wife discovered it and I told her "That's impossible" so she showed me, every time the magnetron powers up the sat signal disappears. I hate when she makes me look stupid like that.

[sailingdog]

If she's anything like my wife was... you must be a very hateful person...

Originally Posted by capttb

I wouldn't worry about this except I recently learned that when my microwave oven is on, my satellite radio loses it's signal. The sat antennae is about 15 ft. away AND aimed in the opposite direction. Actually my wife discovered it and I told her "That's impossible" so she showed me, every time the magnetron powers up the sat signal disappears. I hate when she makes me look stupid like that.

[AdamLein]

Sure, it's a problem, but it's just a matter of time before hackers figure out how to jam the celestial sphere or send pop-up advertisements directly to my sextant.

[LittleWingCA]

capttb:

If your microwave oven can jam your GPS system you might want to think about replacing the microwave oven or getting it checked. If it is leaking energy at that frequency, it might not be safe for humans to be near when operating. It would depend on the signal strength coming out of course. Microwave ovens are designed to have shielding.

Granted the GPS signal received is very weak, and is easily jammed or blocked by bridges, trees, buildings, etc. I doubt a land based jammer you can buy at radioshack would have much affect off shore. Near the coast maybe.

[Architeuthis]

The basis for the article is found in this part:

A European Commission and European Space Agency project
At least 22 satellites to launch in batches in coming years
Will work alongside US GPS and Russian Glonass systems
Promises real-time positioning down to less than a metre
Guaranteed under all but most extreme circumstances
Suitable for safety-critical roles where lives depend on service

Outside the USA many people have seen and felt the effects of being dependant on the American controlled GPS system.

This dependence is not an accident, it was the very reason the system was opened up to general use. The availability of the American control GPS system has deferred the construction of competing systems and resulted in the Russian system being shut down completely. It has just been cheaper to use the current GPS than build your own.

And it still is cheaper but now countries worldwide have seen the problem with not controlling the system. Cost is not such a good argument when national security is considered.

This article is trying to add industrial and personal security to the list of reasons for countries to build their own.

Even the USA is taking steps to make their own system more robust by implementing eLORAN. The old loran system is still functional, I was using it just last year, and is much more secure than the GPS system. The new loran systems will ensure that navigation within US waters can still be done safely by large and small ships when the GPS system fails.

I also see eLORAN as being able to provide a temporary solution should the current GPS system permanently shut down or fail and need to be replaced or upgraded.

If this is a concern we need to mention it to our politicians as few of them have any idea what the issues are around GPS and LORAN and will just do as the money or people say.

[MC1]

Originally Posted by Architeuthis

Outside the USA many people have seen and felt the effects of being dependant on the American controlled GPS system.

And it still is cheaper but now countries worldwide have seen the problem with not controlling the system. Cost is not such a good argument when national security is considered.

This article is trying to add industrial and personal security to the list of reasons for countries to build their own.

Based on some discussions I had with people in both the UK and Germany while travelling to those countries several years back, these statements seem right on the mark. Those I talked to did not like the notion that the US military could "switch off" GPS capability at its own discretion. I was told many Europeans have long since thrown away paper road maps and are therefore (right or wrong) quite dependant on GPS for getting around.

[carl762]

I'm still studying my charts and compass, plotting the old fashioned way, and I'll be ready when somebody screws the system.

I feel the same way about relying on the internet and modern day technology. I try and stay skilled in the old ways; things like gardening, brewing, farming skills, welding, building, sewing, reloading my own bullets, cooking most meals from scratch, baking bread, hunting, fishing, etc.

Until that day, I'm going to enjoy my Chartplotter and other technologies.

Hmm, thought I read somewhere recently that they're pulling the plug on the Loran system. eLoran replaces that?

[dnf777]

I'm with carl762, but my priorities are a little different. I keep my brewing and vintner's skills honed FIRST. All the rest, I'll get to later....

[carl762]

Priorities are priorites. I'm just working on learning to be a very good sailor.