GPS World

Tag: Congress

  • Rep. Wexton working behind the scenes to secure GPS and backups

    Rep. Wexton working behind the scenes to secure GPS and backups

    Rep. Jennifer Wexton
    Rep. Jennifer Wexton

    Reading her biography, you might not think that Jennifer Wexton, U.S. Representative for Virginia’s Tenth District, would be very connected to technology issues. As an attorney and government leader, she has spent a lot of time advocating for families, veterans and federal workers.   

    Yet she is also co-founder of the Congressional Task Force on Digital Citizenship and has become an advocate for protecting the nation’s vital positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services.  

    “We all use GPS every day whether we know it or not, and we need to ensure it stays the gold standard for satellite navigation,” she said. “But as the National Security Council said last year, it has become a single point of failure for America. So much of our critical infrastructure depends on GPS, from the navigation apps on our phones to the military to our financial and energy sectors, and it is past time that we address its critical vulnerabilities and develop and implement reliable backup technologies.” 

    Wexton says that she has been aware of and concerned about the issue almost since the day she took her seat in Congress.  

    “I am a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the Department of Transportation, and civil GPS and PNT issues fall squarely in DOT’s jurisdiction,” she said. “In 2018, Congress passed a law requiring DOT to ensure we have a backup for GPS, and we updated that law earlier this year to ensure that all appropriate types of technologies are included in this effort. I don’t know how we can be comfortable with autonomous drones and self-driving cars if we don’t have technologies in place to support and back up GPS. They are certainly available.” 

    The fact that her district includes a huge swath of Virginia’s high-tech corridor has added to her knowledge of the problem and range of possible solutions. In addition to many big names in technology and government contracting, several smaller companies focusing on resilient PNT have offices in her district. These include Echo Ridge, Hellen Systems, Satelles and UrsaNav. All four participated in the Department of Transportation’s Complementary PNT and GPS Backup Technologies Demonstration.  

    Adding to her concern are increasing threats to GPS satellites and signals. At a recent hearing with DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, she mentioned Russia’s anti-satellite tests and ongoing GPS jamming in Ukraine as examples. 

    “And that might not even be the worst of it,” she later said. “We need to be cognizant of Chinese capabilities in cyber and in space. They have shown how they can physically grab one satellite with another and toss it out of orbit.” 

    At the hearing, she gently prodded Secretary Buttigieg about DOT’s progress toward protecting the nation.  

    “…in the FY-22 Omnibus we created a program which is housed at DOT and provided $15M to help develop the needed requirements and standards and conduct additional testing. […] How’s it going?” 

    Buttigieg temporized saying the department was working on the Congressional tasking in the appropriation with the funding available. That tasking focused on testing and developing standards as opposed to contracting for signals to begin making one or more alternatives to GPS widely available for adoption.  

    Funding for such an effort has been problematic since a 2018 law required DOT to establish a timing backup for GPS. Administrations have justified inaction by saying that Congress had not funded the effort. Yet hill staff report that for several years administration representatives vigorously opposed any funding at all during annual budget development negotiations. The $15M to establish the program within DOT this fiscal year, which Wexton supported, was the first time any allocation had been made. 

    Rep. Wexton is also a big supporter of GPS modernization. “GPS is the gold standard for satellite navigation and America’s gift to the world,” she said. “We have to continually modernize it to support both military and civil uses. That’s a no-brainer.” 

    She also sees deploying alternative timing and navigation systems a step to making GPS more secure. “Unlike the Russians and Chinese, we don’t have one or more systems widely deployed domestically if GPS is unavailable for some reason. This makes GPS satellites and signals prime targets for our adversaries, terrorists, and criminals. Having one or more alternatives will create redundancy and make GPS a much less attractive target.” 

    Providing one or more alternatives that could be widely adopted could be a relatively inexpensive proposition for the government, certainly when compared to the cost for GPS. More than $2 billion was appropriated for GPS operations and modernization this year. Industry sources estimate that contracts for the suite of alternative PNT sources described in the 2021 DOT report would cost a small percentage of that. 

    Dana A. Goward is President of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation.

  • Open PNT Industry Alliance advocates for alternative PNT in Appropriations Act

    Open PNT Industry Alliance advocates for alternative PNT in Appropriations Act

    Open PNT logoThe Open PNT Industry Alliance (OPIA) issued a statement regarding the recently approved U.S. Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Act. The alliance advocates for support of alternative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services.

    In its statement, the 21 corporate members express support for the funding provided to the Department of Transportation to pursue alternative forms of PNT.

    The OPIA also highlights a change to the National Timing Resilience and Security Act that eliminates the “land-based” technology requirement. The consensus among members is that the adjustment was needed so that the law would allow for multiple forms of PNT, a concept that aligns with the diverse technology principles of the coalition.

    Below is the full text of the statement.

    The Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (H.R. 2471) promotes robust positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) technologies and preserves competition that drives innovation in the market.

    Important Funding for PNT Services

    The FY 2022 Appropriations Act, passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Biden on March 15, 2022, provides $15 million for the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) to establish a program that will support the U.S. government’s pursuit of many types of alternative PNT. The legislation aligns with U.S. DOT’s January 2021 “Complementary PNT and GPS Backup Technologies Demonstration Report” and summarizes how the funding will be applied.

    OPIA encourages U.S. DOT to apply this funding to procure alternative PNT services and supplementary solutions that will protect critical infrastructure. Our members are prepared to engage civil government officials and critical infrastructure owners and operators to match needs with solutions.

    Critical Change to Existing PNT Law

    The National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018 (NTRSA) focused attention on the need to reinforce GPS. Congress subsequently recognized that NTRSA would be harmful to the commercial PNT market. The FY 2022 Appropriations Act revises the NTRSA to align with the U.S. DOT’s 2021 report that “the best strategy for achieving resilient PNT service is to pursue multiple technologies to promote diversity in the PNT functions that support transportation and other critical infrastructure sectors.”

    This straightforward change to the NTRSA is as follows:

    “Section 312(a) of title 49 United States Code, shall be amended by striking ‘land-based,’ after ‘operation of a’.” When the revised objective of the NTRSA is read in context, it is evident that the law is now fully inclusive of multiple forms of alternative PNT:

    Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary of Transportation shall provide for the establishment, sustainment, and operation of a land-based, resilient, and reliable alternative timing system (1) to reduce critical dependencies and provide a complement to and backup for the timing component of the Global Positioning System (referred to in this section as “GPS”); and (2) to ensure the availability of uncorrupted and non-degraded timing signals for military and civilian users in the event that GPS timing signals are corrupted, degraded, unreliable, or otherwise unavailable.

    This move by Congress comports with the findings of the U.S. DOT’s report on PNT which state that “suitable and mature technologies are available in the private sector and offer owners and operators of critical infrastructure a diverse array of complementary PNT services to meet their GPS backup needs. Because such needs are application-specific, GPS resilience across all critical infrastructure sectors will require a plurality of diverse PNT technologies to meet multiple use cases.”

    The commonsense modification to the NTRSA allows multiple alternatives to GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to deliver against a complex and ever-expanding set of institutional and end-user requirements.

    The alignment with OPIA’s bedrock principles is clear:

      • A diverse technological landscape offers varied operational characteristics to support all critical infrastructure sectors.
      • True resilience requires diversity that a sole-source technology cannot meet in terms of reliability, performance, and the flexibility to address evolving attack prevention and threat response needs.
      • The ingenuity of the private sector marketplace will drive the emergence of multiple cost-effective GPS/GNSS alternatives that evolve according to technological innovations and market dynamics.

    Open PNT Industry Alliance members provide what critical infrastructure needs for resilience: alternative forms of PNT that complement GPS/GNSS as well as augmentation services, security solutions, and hardware/software for time synchronization, navigation and location applications.

  • Industry members, non-profit urge Congress to fund GPS alternatives

    Industry members, non-profit urge Congress to fund GPS alternatives

    In separate letters to members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, seven companies and a non-profit urged Congress to support alternative positioning, navigation and timing systems (PNT) with the “necessary funds and other appropriate policy tools.”

    Signing the letter were NextNav, UrsaNav, Satelles, Hellen Systems, OPNT, Orolia, Microchip, and the non-profit Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation (RNTF).

    The letters focus on and endorse the system-of-systems approach outlined in the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) recent report to Congress on the results of its GPS Backup Technology Demonstration. The report found an adequate and robust American PNT system should include space-based L-band signals, low-frequency (LF) and ultra-high-frequency (UHS) signals, and fiber connections between the terrestrial LF and UHF transmitters.

    “Our country depends on GPS for critical infrastructure, and there is an urgent need for resiliency being built into our critical infrastructure. Before the report came out, some of us had different ideas of how the U.S. should go forward,” said Ganesh Pattabiraman, CEO of NextNav. “But the DOT report provided the data to make it very clear that it is a combination of technologies that need to come together to truly enable nationwide backup to GPS, and it was good to see we could get industry alignment on the findings.”

    The letters describe many of the threats to GPS, both natural and malicious; its vulnerabilities; and the dire consequences of disruptions. They go on to state that robust, more reliable PNT is needed for emerging and future systems like E911, 5G, resilient electrical grids, drones and other automated systems.

    Monty Johnson, CEO of OPNT, a provider of time-over-fiber services, praised the findings of the DOT report. “The key to resilience and reliability in a system-of-systems is including technologies that deliver the same information using starkly different means. It is hard to imagine a combination of technologies that are more diverse than fiber, satellites, LF and UHF.”

    According to Pattabiraman, the signers of the letter agree that the DOT report made clear that there are mature technologies available today that can address the GPS backup issue. DOT and Congress now have the data to act to enable a much-needed resilient infrastructure for the country.

    Dana A. Goward, president of the non-profit RNT Foundation, agreed. He also observed that deciding on the technologies and congressional funding were important, but only first steps. “The goal of this effort is not to just implement systems,” he said. “it’s to make America safer. Establishing the services quickly and efficiently will be key, as will ensuring they are widely adopted.”

    “Protecting the nation from the consequences of a space-based PNT disruption will require that these systems be accessed and used by a wide variety of users from first responders and delivery services, to all forms of critical infrastructure,” Goward said. “This means the government will need to eliminate as many barriers to adoption as possible. One or more of these alternatives has to be available to every American. And a basic level of service has to be free, just like the GPS utility it is reinforcing. Fortunately, we estimate this can be done relatively inexpensively. It will be only a small fraction of the $1.7B we spent on GPS last year.”

    The alternative to making this relatively modest investment, according to Goward, is unacceptable.

    “There are lots of threats to GPS,” he said. “Take the sun for example. The most recent study I saw estimates a 70% chance solar activity will damage the GPS constellation in the next 30 years and a 20% chance it will destroy a big part of it. And the sun is just one of the threats we face. We can’t keep playing this kind of Russian Roulette with the fate of our nation. Especially when other countries like Russia and China have already taken steps to protect themselves with terrestrial systems.”

    A copy of the letter sent to Senators can be found here, and the one to members of the House of Representatives here.

    Feature image: metamorworks/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

  • 2021 Defense Act signals turning point for Congress and PNT

    2021 Defense Act signals turning point for Congress and PNT

    Photo: Toshe_O/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Photo: Toshe_O/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    Senate joined House to override Trump’s veto, making bill into law

    The U. S. Congress, especially the Armed Services Committees, have long been concerned about GPS and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) issues. Over the past two decades, Congressional hearings, demands for reports and investigations have dealt with acquisition, contingency plans for when space is not available, deliberate interference, and a host of other issues.

    While these all evidenced Congress’ interest and concern, they were relatively passive measures.

    This began to change in 2018 with passage of the National Timing Resilience and Security Act. It requires the Department of Transportation to establish a terrestrial timing system to backup GPS signals.

    Then in 2019, Congress appropriated money for a GPS Backup Technology Demonstration. And the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2020 required the Air Force to develop a prototype multi-GNSS receiver as part of its resiliency efforts.

    The NDAA for 2021 seems to finalize Congress’ transition from an interested observer, mostly on the sidelines, to an active player in national PNT issues and policy.

    GPS Under Threat

    Capitol Hill observers say this is the result of several factors that have come to a head over the last year. Taken together, they have convinced many legislators that GPS is under threat and PNT issues are not being taken seriously enough by the executive branch. These include increased jamming and spoofing (especially by China and Russia), full implementation of China’s BeiDou system and its marketing to other nations as a superior alternative to GPS, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision on Ligado Networks, and the Pentagon’s failure to respond to combatant commanders’ Joint Urgent Operational Needs Statements for non-GPS PNT.

    Here are some of the provisions of the 2021 NDAA of interest to the PNT community.

    Military Multi-GNSS Prototype

    The 2018 NDAA required the Defense Department to incorporate Europe’s Galileo and Japan’s QZSS satellite navigation signals into military user equipment. The idea was to make it more resilient to disruption. Also required was an investigation into using non-allied signals.

    Apparently not satisfied with progress on this project, Congress mandated a project to develop a prototype multi-GNSS receiver as part of the 2020 NDAA.

    The 2021 NDAA seems to indicate Congress is still not happy. It withholds 20% of the funding for the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force until the department certifies the prototype project is underway and provides briefings to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.

    Resilient, Survivable PNT

    Language in the 2021 NDAA also seems to show Congress is impatient with the Pentagon’s lack of responsiveness to combatant commanders’ requests for non-GPS PNT systems.

    Section 1611 of the act is entitled “Resilient and Survivable Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Capabilities.” It requires development, integration and deployment of these capabilities for combatant commanders within two years. This, it says, is “… consistent with the timescale applicable to joint urgent operational needs statements…”

    The act says the new PNT capabilities shall “generate resilient and survivable alternative positioning, navigation, and timing signals” and “process resilient survivable data provided by signals of opportunity and on-board sensor systems…”

    The act also addresses the Defense Department’s 2018 PNT Strategy’s plan for future systems to be classified and for military use only. It directs the department to work with the National Security Council, Departments of Transportation, Homeland Security and others “…to enable civilian and commercial adoption of technologies and capabilities for resilient and survivable alternative positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities to complement the global positioning system.”

    To help ensure prompt action on this, the act requires a report to Congress within six months and authorizes the department to reprogram funds from other areas to finance the effort.

    Responding to Ligado Decision

    By far the most PNT-related text in the 2021 NDAA includes a host of measures responding to FCC Order 20-48 approving an application by Ligado Networks. An order that the executive branch is on record as strongly opposing, saying it will degrade GPS service for many.

    Senator Jim Inhofe, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has regularly expressed outrage at the FCC’s decision and has called for its reversal.

    Among its provisions, the act:

    • requires the Department of Defense to estimate and report to Congress the cost of damage to department systems as a result of the FCC order.
    • prohibits using department funds to upgrade or modify military equipment to make it resilient to interference caused by broadcasts in the spectrum allocated (the FCC order requires this to be funded by Ligado).
    • prohibits contracting with any entity using the frequency bands allocated to Ligado unless the Secretary of Defense certifies the use will not interfere with GPS services.
    • requires the Secretary of Defense to contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for an independent technical review of the FCC order.

    Dana Goward is president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation (rntfnd.org).

  • Space weather bill passed by US Congress to improve forecasting, mitigation

    Space weather bill passed by US Congress to improve forecasting, mitigation

    The effects of space weather on critical Earth systems. (Image: NASA)
    The effects of space weather on critical Earth systems. (Image: NASA)

    The United States Congress has passed bipartisan legislation to address how the government deals with threats posed by emissions from the Sun to critical infrastructure such as GPS.

    The Promoting Research and Observations of Space Weather to Improve the Forecasting of Tomorrow (PROSWIFT) Act S.881 now awaits signature by the president.

    The bill sets forth provisions to improve the ability of the United States to forecast space weather events and mitigate its effects.

    It provides statutory authority for the National Science and Technology Council’s Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation Working Group, which coordinates executive branch efforts to understand, prepare, coordinate, and plan for space weather.

    The bill directs the Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Science Foundation, Air Force, Navy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Security Council, and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to carry out specified space weather activities.

    The legislation

    • assigns roles and responsibilities to agencies involved in space weather research and forecasting
    • ensures agency coordination to better predict severe space weather events and mitigate impacts
    • calls for coordination between the government and the non-governmental space weather community including academia, the commercial sector and international partners.

    Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced the first version of the bill in 2016 and a successor passed the Senate in 2017. Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) and Mo Brooks (R-AL) shepherded it through the House, which passed it Sept. 16.

  • FAA awards $3.3M in drone grants to universities

    FAA awards $3.3M in drone grants to universities

    Photo: PhonlamaiPhoto/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Photo: PhonlamaiPhoto/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded $3.3 million in research, education and training grants to universities that comprise the FAA’s Air Transportation Center of Excellence (COE) for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, also known as the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE).

    “These grants will help develop a greater array of innovative strategies to more effectively deploy drones during emergency response situations,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

    The FAA’s CEO program, authorized by Congress, is a long-term, cost-sharing partnership between academia, industry and government. The program enables the FAA to work with center members and affiliates to conduct research in airspace and airport planning and design, environment and aviation safety, FAA said.

    Mississippi State University received the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through ASSURE Program Management grant for $1,290,410. This grant is for the ASSURE lead university to provide overall program management. This program management will include tracking of financial information for all core university project activities; reviewing and vetting of all project related documentation prior to submission to the FAA; hosting and facilitating all FAA-required meetings; and outreach to government, industry and academia, FAA said.

    Six universities, including the University of Alabama–Huntsville ($1,101,000), New Mexico State University ($234,000), the University of Alaska, Fairbanks ($245,000), Mississippi State University ($130,000), North Carolina State University ($124,979) and Oregon State University ($165,000) received grants for Disaster Preparedness and Response (Phase I and II, as directed by Congress). According to FAA, this research will provide insight into the safe integration of UAS into the disaster preparedness and response areas. This research will look at how UAS can aid in disaster preparedness and response to different natural and human-made disasters. It will focus on procedures to coordinate with the Department of Interior, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal, local and state organizations to ensure proper coordination during those emergencies.

    There are currently 1.65 million recreational and commercial drones in the active UAS fleet. That number is expected to grow to as high as 2.31 million by 2024, FAA reported. The ASSURE grants are aimed at continuing the safe and successful integration of drones into the nation’s airspace.

    “Collaboration is hugely important as we work to safely integrate UAS into the aerospace system,” said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson. “These important grants fund the research which allows us to learn and implement the safety measures associated with UAS operations in the airspace.”

    The COE universities received a total of $3.3 million to advance specific goals and projects. This is the second round of ASSURE grants. The grants listed above will bring the fiscal year 2020 total for this COE to $5.8 million.

  • Congress makes moves against FCC’s Ligado decision

    Congress makes moves against FCC’s Ligado decision

    At first it was a flurry of letters and public statements from U.S. senators and members of the house. Then there was a senate hearing on the topic, and the issue was discussed in several other hearings.

    The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) approval of a long-standing request by Ligado Networks continues to be controversial. The request was to make terrestrial broadcasts on a frequency near that used by GPS. Broadcasts which, according to analyses by the departments of Defense and Transportation, will interfere with GPS reception for many users.

    Now it looks as though Congress is ready to move beyond talk and enact one or more pieces of legislation. These would require an independent technical review of the FCC’s decision and place limits on the ability of Ligado Networks to use the license it was granted.

    Congressional interest has been fueled both by member concerns and a regular drumbeat of input from constituents. The recently formed Keep GPS Working Coalition is just one example. It was created from a larger group of more than 70 companies and organizations across a broad swath of industries that has gone on record against the decision and has been supporting congressional action.

    National Defense Authorization Act

    A primary vehicle for congressional action looks to be the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2021. Unlike other “annual” legislation that often gets sidetracked or delayed during election years, Congress has passed an NDAA for each of the past 59 years. As such, it is a particularly powerful tool.

    This is doubly so in this case, as the member of Congress that has been the most outspoken critic of the FCC’s decision is Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK). He chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee that has direct responsibility for the NDAA.

    The Senate version of the NDAA has several provisions that directly address the FCC’s decision.

    Responding to conflicting claims about the findings of government and private tests, the bill requires the Defense department to contract with the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine for an independent technical review.

    Evaluating Potential Impact on GPS

    Among other things, the review will compare the different methods of evaluating the potential impact on GPS services from Ligado’s transmissions, and determine which of those was the most effective in guarding against any harm.

    The bill also prohibits the Defense Secretary from spending any money to comply with the FCC’s order until the Congress has been given an estimate of the total cost to the department of coping with Ligado’s transmissions.

    While the FCC order requires Ligado to modify or replace any government receivers impacted by its operations, the Defense department and others have said this is only a small fraction of the overall costs they would incur.

    The bill requires the Defense Department estimate to consider a much larger scope of costs including:

    • To upgrade, repair, or replace potentially affected receivers
    • To modify, repair, or replace equipment, pares, associated ancillary equipment, software, facilities, operating manuals, training, or compliance with regulations, including with regard to the underlying platform or system in which a capability of the Global Positioning System is embedded; and,
    • For personnel of the department to engineer, validate, and verify that any required remediation provides the Department with the same operational capability for the affected system prior to terrestrial operation in the 1525 to 1559 megahertz or 1626.5 to 1660.5 megahertz bands of electromagnetic spectrum.

    The House version of the NDAA also provides that:

    “The Secretary of Defense may not enter into a contract, or extend or renew a contract, with an entity that engages in commercial terrestrial operations using the 1525–1559 megahertz band or the 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz band unless the Secretary has certified to the congressional defense committees that such operations do not cause harmful interference to a Global Positioning System device of the Department of Defense.”

    RETAIN GPS and Satellite Communications Act

    Senator Inhofe has also announced he will introduce stand-alone legislation when Congress returns from summer recess. His “Recognizing and Ensuring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary for GPS and Satellite Communications Act,” or “RETAIN GPS and Satellite Communications Act,” would require Ligado to modify or replace any receiver, including those used by private citizens, that would be impacted by Ligado’s operations.

    This modification would be required before the FCC’s order allowing them to transmit could come into force. Most observers opine that the number of impacted civil receivers in the U.S. is so great that this would effectively deny Ligado use of the frequency.

    Introduction of the RETAIN GPS and Satellite Communications Act was planned for before the summer recess. Its delay until after was likely to provide more time to recruit co-sponsors.

    GPS Interference a ‘Niche’ Issue

    One observer commented that “GPS and the FCC Ligado order are really niche issues. As time goes on, more and more members of Congress will hear about it from constituents and be appalled.”

    The delay will also allow time for the mammoth NDAA bill to clear Congress. RETAIN GPS would then have more chance for the spotlight.

    Many industry observers have opined that regardless of congressional action, Ligado will struggle to find a successful 5G or other business model that will generate a significant revenue stream from the spectrum.

    As public concern continues to grow and Congress responds with legislation, it may turn out that Ligado finally won the battle at the FCC but ended up losing the war.

    Photo of the U.S. Capitol/RNT Foundation.

  • Lawmakers slam DHS for late, error-filled PNT report

    Lawmakers slam DHS for late, error-filled PNT report

    DHS report cover
    DHS report cover

    Members of Congress were not pleased with the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report on positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), saying the long-delayed report contained numerous errors and failed to address many of the things Congress had required.

    On the April 8, DHS submitted to Congress the brief, 26-page report on the nation’s PNT requirements. It took more than three years to produce and was delivered more than two years late.

    In comparison, just two weeks earlier a team of eight British organizations sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a 1,174-page report on the PNT needs of maritime commerce. The report from the Maritime Resilience and Integrity of Navigation (MarRINav) project was produced in less than a year.

    House Transportation Committee Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chair John Garamendi (D-CA) and Representative Alex Mooney (R-WV) expressed their disappointment this week in a letter to DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf. In addition to outlining their concerns, it asked that the report be retracted, rewritten and resubmitted within six months.

    While the letter did not specifically mention the contrast between the DHS and British efforts, it did use the MarRINav report as a reference. And it was clear that the disparity in length and quality of the reports accentuated the disappointment for those who had hoped for a better product from DHS.

    The letter asked that the report be retracted, rewritten and resubmitted within six months.

    Factual errors

    Factual errors in the DHS report, according to the letter, included getting the mandated timing for financial systems wrong, and mischaracterizing coverage areas and capabilities of various technologies including several that had been recently demonstrated for the Department of Transportation (DOT).

    The letter also observed that DHS focused on commercial PNT users to the detriment of most Americans. It failed to consider the needs of public service organizations, governmental entities, and individual citizens in its analysis.

    The lawmakers contend the report did not recognize that PNT provided by GPS is frequently a safety-of-life service and a public good that must be reinforced to protect economic vitality and national security.

    Suspending operations, subscribing are flawed options

    Two of the solutions to temporary GPS disruptions suggested in the DHS report are for users to suspend operations until the disruption is over, and to have purchased commercial PNT services as backups in advance of a disruption.

    Suspending operations for emergency services and other critical functions is unacceptable, say the congressmen. And commercial PNT services to provide needed wide area PNT backups are not available.

    Even if they were available, questions of affordability for the many non-profit and public entities that needed them, whether it would be more cost effective for the federal government to support such services, and similar issues would need to be addressed before the department could make a recommendation.

    Suspending operations for emergency services and other critical functions is unacceptable.

    No national backup

    The letter also observed that the department has discounted the value of a national backup system, a position that seems to conflict with both longstanding and recent presidential policy. Having a backup for GPS has been policy since President Bush established the requirement in 2004. President Trump’s recent Responsible Use of PNT Executive Order called for a national research program on non-space-based PNT and “…mandates the Department of Commerce make available a GNSS independent source of Coordinated Universal Time for all users.”

    DHS’ recommendation against a national backup also differs from the Europe/UK MarRINav report. In addition to calling for improvements to be made by commercial entities such as port and ship operators, MarRINav identifies the need for “terrestrial and sovereign” eLoran and VHF DES Ranging mode systems to support reliable maritime commerce. Establishing such systems will require support by the national government.

    Government support

    Photo: Toshe_O/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Photo: Toshe_O/iStock / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    Most members of industry agree that some government involvement is needed. A CEO of one of the companies demonstrating its backup technology for DOT observed that the market would never solve the problem on its own.

    “We have tried for 16 years to figure out a business case, and it’s just not there,” the CEO said. “GPS is too good and it’s free. You can’t compete with that. If America is going to have one or more new wide-area capabilities that most people can use — not just niche solutions for high-demand, well-heeled customers — the government is going to have to prime the pump.”

    DHS did propose some efforts that resonated with the Congressmen, such as encouraging use of GPS receivers that resist spoofing and jamming. The lawmakers described these as “necessary but grossly insufficient” before requesting the report be withdrawn and redone.

    DHS’ “Report on Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Backup and Complementary Capabilities to the Global Positioning System (GPS)” is available here.

    The letter from Congressmen DeFazio and Garamendi is available here.

    The Maritime Resilience and Integrity of Navigation (MarRINav) project report is available here.

  • 32 US senators urge stay on FCC’s Ligado decision

    32 US senators urge stay on FCC’s Ligado decision

    Thirty-two United States senators wrote to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on May 15 expressing concerns with the commission’s determination on Ligado Networks. The senators also asked the FCC to address these concerns and stay their order while they were doing so.

    The five-member FCC voted unanimously in April to approve an order to allow Ligado Networks to deploy a low-power nationwide 5G network.

    “The hurried nature of the circulation and consideration of the Order itself — during a national crisis, no less — was not conducive to addressing the many technical concerns raised by affected stakeholders,” wrote the senators.

    The senators continued,

    “With this specific docket item pending before the FCC for almost 10 years, we are concerned with the pace by the Commission to push through an Order first announced on April 16, the approval for which was declared two business days later. We believe this accelerated timeline was not adequate to address the significant stakeholder concerns for an Order of this magnitude….”

    “We are concerned that the FCC has discounted testing and assessments conducted by nine federal agencies in the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee process — all expressing concerns that the Ligado plan would interfere with millions of GPS receivers and satellite services across the nation. Further, the FCC did not provide a technical forum to resolve the significant disconnects between this testing and Ligado’s privately funded testing…”

    “For these reasons, we urge the Federal Communications Commission to immediately stay and reconsider their Order on this matter, more fully consider the technical concerns raised by numerous federal agencies and private sector stakeholders, and outline a path forward that adequately addresses these concerns.”

    A Resilient PNT Foundation editorial on the organization’s website says the main problem seems to be misunderstanding about the differences between radionavigation and communication.

    “We share the concerns with the FCC’s actions that are outlined in this letter:

      • After ten years of deliberations a draft order was processed to a final decision within a couple days during a national crisis
      • The FCC discounted the testing done by the executive branch and did not say why
      • No technical forum was held to resolve the differences between Ligado’s and DoD/DoT’s testing
      • There was no public discussion of these differences and how they might be resolved

    “Undoubtedly, a lot of the differences between the FCC and the Executive Branch on this issue boil down to a lack of appreciation of the fundamental differences between wireless communication and radionavigation.” The Resilient PNT Foundation website provides a table outlining the differences.

    “When two parties start from completely different places, they are likely to talk past each other and end up in completely different places.

    “We think the Federal Communications Commission might not have fully appreciated the needs of radionavigation as a safety-of-life utility and wound up in the wrong place.

    “But that’s just us. A lot of folks think differently.

    “That’s why we are urging an independent technical review, with both communications and radionavigation experts, to inform public policy decisions on this before anything moves forward.

    “This is too important to get wrong.”

    Feature photos:
    Capitol building with flag/Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock.com
    Capitol building at night/Brian Kinney/Shutterstock.com

  • Editorial Advisory Board PNT Q&A: Policy on jamming

    What is or would be the best policy response from Congress and/or executive branch agencies to the growing threats to GPS from jamming and interference?

    Brad Parkinson
    Brad Parkinson

    “Homeland Security has declared GPS to be an essential system to virtually all of our infrastructure. It is time to install a national system to identify and shut down interference. As part of that, all cell phones should periodically report interference to that national system and allow law enforcement to pinpoint and eliminate offenders.”

    -Bradford W. Parkinson
    Stanford Center for Position, Navigation and Time

    Allison Brown
    Allison Brown

    “On Dec. 5, 2018, the president signed into law the National GPS Timing Resilience and Security Act tasking the Secretary of Transportation with establishing a backup timing system for GPS within two years. To date, only limited technology demonstrations have been performed. Congress needs to fund the Department of Transportation to rapidly acquire and deploy a back-up timing capability, using available commercial solutions, to assure resilience within the Air Traffic Control system and other critical infrastructure to GPS jamming or spoofing.”

    -Alison Brown
    NAVSYS Corporation

    Members of the EAB

    Tony Agresta
    Nearmap

    Miguel Amor
    Hexagon Positioning Intelligence

    Thibault Bonnevie
    SBG Systems

    Alison Brown
    NAVSYS Corporation

    Ismael Colomina
    GeoNumerics

    Clem Driscoll
    C.J. Driscoll & Associates

    John Fischer
    Orolia

    Ellen Hall
    Spirent Federal Systems

    Jules McNeff
    Overlook Systems Technologies, Inc.

    Terry Moore
    University of Nottingham

    Bradford W. Parkinson
    Stanford Center for Position, Navigation and Time

    Jean-Marie Sleewaegen
    Septentrio

    Michael Swiek
    GPS Alliance

    Julian Thomas
    Racelogic Ltd.

    Greg Turetzky
    Consultant

  • $15M for GPS backup demo part of Congress’ march to terrestrial PNT

    $15M for GPS backup demo part of Congress’ march to terrestrial PNT

    Administration struggling to keep up.

    Most observers missed the $5 million for a GPS backup technology demonstration in the U.S. Department of Defense appropriation passed in September. Congressional staff say it is included in an obscure research and development line item for “Electronics and Electronic Devices.”

    This funding is in addition to the $10 million Congress provided for the project last fiscal year (note: since these are R&D funds, the monies remain available for three years after they are appropriated).

    This additional funding is part of Congress’ long but accelerating march to establishing a terrestrial PNT system to backup and complement GPS, an effort with which the administration is struggling to keep pace.

    Image: @SENTEDCRUZ
    Image: @SENTEDCRUZ

    Members in both the Senate and House were surprised and concerned in 2009 when the Obama administration suddenly went against the advice of its departments, national advisory board, and virtually every technologist and engineer in government. That is when the administration decided to terminate plans to convert the old Loran-C system to eLoran as a complement and backup for GPS.

    Congress’ concern was not completely allayed when, in a report Congress had mandated, the administration said that a wireless GPS navigation backup was not needed. Users could easily resort to paper maps and charts. The same report did admit that the need for wireless precise timing was another issue. The administration said it would study this, even as the Loran-C system was being terminated.

    Subsequent hearings in Congress revealed ongoing concerns about the lack of a terrestrial capability. These were magnified by the nation’s major adversaries, Russia and China, retaining terrestrial Loran systems to inoculate themselves from the effects of disruptions to their space-based PNT systems.

    More mixed signals from administration officials amplified Congress’ concerns and frustrations. These included:

    • The Department of Defense committing to establishing a terrestrial backup for GPS within the United States, then reversing its position just before its authorization bill was finalized. This reversal was not based upon technical or national security grounds; rather, that it “wasn’t the department’s job.” This reversal nullified almost two years of coordination and effort by Congressional members and staff.
    • A senior Department of Defense official at a hearing providing grossly inaccurate information about GPS resilience and backup systems. The official subsequently retired.
    • The Deputy Secretaries of Defense and Transportation in 2015 promising action to the chairman of the House Transportation Committee. In a December letter they said the administration would establish a GPS backup by first establishing an eLoran timing system, and then an eLoran navigation system. Aside from signing the letter, no further action was taken.

    Congress’ growing skepticism about administration positions on this has led to a series of hearings, informal inquiries, demands for reports, and legislation. Together they chart a very deliberate effort to bypass bureaucratic infighting and confusion as much as possible en route protecting the nation with a terrestrial complement and backup for GPS.

    Legislative action has included :

    • in 2015, halting demolition of Loran-C infrastructure pending a decision on a GPS backup system. (USCG Authorization Act)
    • in 2016, requiring the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Transportation to identify requirements for a domestic GPS backup and report before the end of 2017. (National Defense Authorization Act/ NDAA)
    • in 2017, requiring a plan for a GPS backup technology demonstration by April 2018, completion of the project by June 2019, and authorizing $10 million for the program. (NDAA)
    • in March 2018, providing $10 million for the GPS backup technology demonstration (DoD Appropriations)
    • in August 2018, reaffirming Congress’ interest in the backup demonstration, requiring a progress brief by Dec. 1 2018, and authorizing another $5 million for the project (NDAA)
    • In September 2018, funding an additional $5 million for the backup demonstration (DoD Appropriations)
    • In December 2018, the National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018 was signed into law. It directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a terrestrial, difficult-to-disrupt, wireless timing system to provide backup capability for GPS. A report on requirements and an implementation plan are due in June 2019, and system operation is mandated by December 2020.

    Contacts with members and staff in the new, 116th Congress show that interest in this topic has increased. So has frustration with the administration missing many, if not most, of its deadlines for reports and briefings.

    A recent GAO report that U.S. weapons systems are vulnerable to GPS spoofing; the need for a strong navigation and timing infrastructure for autonomous vehicles, drones, and intelligent transportation systems; and continued high visibility instances of deliberate GPS jamming and spoofing are all adding to concerns.

    Also of note, Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has been named chairman of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Rep. DeFazio has long believed in the need for action to provide a backup capability for GPS.

    Congress is clearly set on a determined course. Perhaps the administration will catch up before it earns more of the Congress’ ire, and before a major disruption demonstrates the consequences of inattention to the entire nation and the world.

  • Commuter rail industry tracks progress on positive train control

    Commuter rail industry tracks progress on positive train control

    The commuter rail industry is making progress installing and implementing positive train control (PTC), according to an analysis by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), an advocate for the advancement of public transportation programs and initiatives in the United States.

    The advancements reflect the commuter rail industry’s commitment to safety and implementing PTC by the Dec. 31 statutory deadline, APTA said in a statement.

    PTC is a complex signaling and communications technology that commuter rail agencies are installing to offer a critical safety overlay on top of an already safe industry. In fact, rail is the safest surface transportation mode and traveling by commuter rail or intercity rail is 18 times safer than traveling by automobile.

    The Federal Railroad Administration issued a PTC progress report in July, with the infographic below.

    Chart: Federal Railroad Administration, Jan-March 2018
    Chart: Federal Railroad Administration, Jan-March 2018

    This is in contrast to a previous PTC infographic, released in June 2016.

    Chart: Federal Railroad Administration, June 2016
    Chart: Federal Railroad Administration, June 2016

    According to APTA, as of June 30, 2018:

    • 91 percent of spectrum has been acquired;
    • 85 percent of 13,698 pieces of onboard equipment have been installed on locomotives and cab cars etc.;
    • 79 percent of 14,083 wayside (on track equipment) installations have been completed;
    • 78 percent of back office control systems are ready for operation;
    • 74 percent of 14,847 employees have been trained in PTC; and
    • 34 percent of commuter railroads are in testing, revenue service demonstration, or are operating their trains with PTC.

    “Every year, 30 commuter railroads across America safely carry passengers on 501 million trips,” said APTA President and CEO Paul P. Skoutelas. “With safety as our number one priority, the commuter railroads are making strong and continuous progress in implementing Positive Train Control.”

    Under current law (49 U.S.C. 20157), commuter railroads are required to meet the following milestones by Dec. 31. As defined in 49 U.S.C. 20157(a)(3)(B), they are to have:

    • Installed all PTC hardware (wayside and onboard equipment);
    • Acquired all necessary spectrum for PTC implementation;
    • Completed all employee training;
    • Initiated testing on at least one territory subject to the PTC requirement (or other criteria); and
    • Submitted a plan and schedule to the Secretary of Transportation for implementing a PTC system.

    Upon reaching these milestones by the end of 2018, the commuter railroads must implement PTC as soon as practicable and no later than December 31, 2020.

    “Positive Train Control is a critical commuter rail safety enhancement,” said SEPTA General Manager Jeffrey D. Knueppel, general manager of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). “Implementing PTC at SEPTA, during a challenging period of capital funding, has been an authority-wide commitment. Throughout this effort, our in-house team has been working continuously with Amtrak, our freight partners, and third-party contractors to address technical and interoperability challenges. SEPTA trains on all 13 regional rail lines are equipped and operating with PTC, and SEPTA is proud to have implemented this safety technology for our customers and employees.”

    “Implementing Positive Train Control in Chicago’s dense and busy railroad network has been very challenging, but Metra is right where we said we’d be in terms of finishing the job,” said Jim Derwinski, CEO/executive director of Metra, the Northeast Illinois commuter rail system. “Working with our freight partners, we expect to have PTC implemented or in revenue service demonstration on six of our 11 lines by the end of 2018, and to complete the job by 2020.”

    The commuter rail industry is moving aggressively to implement PTC as it faces considerable technical and financial constraints. At a time when the national transit state of good repair backlog stands at an estimated $90 billion, the commuter railroad industry’s cost to implement PTC will exceed $4.1 billion, diverting funds from other critical infrastructure priorities.

    Since Congress mandated PTC, the federal government has awarded $272 million in PTC grants. Another $250 million was made available in May 2018.

    PTC is an unparalleled technical challenge in scale, complexity, and time required. The challenges include:

    • a limited number of PTC-qualified vendors simultaneously in demand by both the passenger and freight railroad industries to develop, design and test this complex safety technology;
    • diagnosing and resolving software issues,
    • securing adequate access to track and locomotives for installation and testing, and
    • achieving interoperability, as commuter rail systems operate in mixed traffic with other freight and passenger railroads.