The European Commission plans to expand its drone wall on Europe’s eastern borders because some regions said they felt left out after an initial “wall”, reports Reuters. The idea is to counter drone incursions with a network of sensors, electronic jamming systems and weapons stretching from the Baltic states to the Black Sea.
The European Drone Defence Initiative proposal is included in the commission’s Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030 issued Oct. 16. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the drone wall after 20 Russian drones entered the airspace of EU and NATO member Poland in September.
Eastern European states welcomed her proposal, but countries in southern and western Europe said it neglected drone threats in their part of the continent.
Huber+Suhner is offering the Syncro family for nanosecond-accurate time synchronization — essential for global trade, stock exchanges, mobile communications, navigation and geodesy. With Syncro, data center operators requiring precise time synchronization can integrate optical timing into existing fiber architectures, enhancing performance and reducing costs.
The Syncro family is an integrated, modular timing and GNSS distribution portfolio designed for rapid deployment and reliable performance by extending transmission distances, reducing the number of required GNSS antennas and eliminating many limitations of coaxial cabling.
Syncro is available in three customizable product sets so customers can select the right balance of power, monitoring and redundancy for their operations. The Syncro Max provides full PoF capability and signal expansion, monitoring and redundancy for the most demanding deployments. Syncro Eco delivers the signal expansion and monitoring features of the Max without PoF for customers that do not require remote powering. Simpler applications that do not require PoF or redundancy can use the Syncro Mini, which still maintains monitoring and signal expansion capabilities.
GNSS provides the reference time used across modern networks and critical infrastructure. GNSS signals originate from satellites carrying atomic clocks, with the extreme stability of those clocks acting as the basis for international timekeeping and enabling nanosecond synchronization when distributed correctly.
Building on previous GNSS and power-over-fiber (PoF) offerings, Syncro delivers secure, precise timing synchronization over fiber, while preserving nanosecond accuracy across an operator’s network. PoF is a key advantage of the Syncro approach as optical fiber carries both the GNSS timing signal and required energy to remote antenna assemblies, allowing rooftop or remote antennas to be powered without separate electrical wiring. Crucially, Syncro integrates seamlessly into an operator’s existing fiber network, reusing optical infrastructure to deliver both signal and safe, centrally managed power to remote GNSS antenna locations.
By moving timing distribution onto fiber, Syncro eliminates many installation constraints and reduces planning overhead. The plug-and-play design removes the transmission distance limits of coaxial cabling, reduces the need for reinforced ducting and extensive grounding to protect against lightning surges, and allows longer secure transmission between antennas and receivers.
Combines airborne and ground-based GNSS interference monitoring in a single integrated system for unified situational awareness.
SeRo Systems, a leader in air traffic surveillance security and monitoring solutions, has introduced a new ground-monitoring capability to its SecureTrack solution, enabling unified air- and ground-based detection of GNSS interference, including jamming and spoofing. This comprehensive feature delivers real-time detection, analysis and visualization of jamming and spoofing activity across all GNSS frequency bands and constellations in a single integrated solution.
Compliant with the latest EASA and ICAO monitoring recommendations, it also offers data archival and analytics capabilities for detailed reporting. The company started rolling out this feature to users in Eastern Europe and the Baltics in mid-October.
Designed for use by Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), airport operators, spectrum regulators and other government agencies, this capability uses a dedicated and controlled deployment of SeRo’s GRX receivers to display continuous, high-resolution power spectral density data (spectrogram) covering an RF band over 318 MHz wide.
Through advanced spectrum visualization and data aggregation, users gain valuable insights into the spectral fingerprint, enabling them to identify when interference occurs, which frequencies are affected, and distinguish between unintentional interference and targeted attacks.
“With this release, our customers get the highest level of protection a single system can provide,” said Matthias Schäfer, CEO of SeRo Systems. “Until now, authorities had to rely on fragmented data from different systems to monitor air and ground operations. SecureTrack now provides a unified view of live and historical GNSS interference activity in an easy-to-use interface for faster incident detection and improved system integrity. This offers an intuitive and efficient way to visualize complex RF spectrum and signal data collected by our sensors in areas that are critical to GNSS operations. It’s the perfect solution for ANSPs, airport operators, and spectrum regulators who need comprehensive situational awareness in a single integrated tool.”
With the system’s new continuous ground monitoring functions, users can view live spectrum activity or perform historical analysis over customizable time ranges. Data is displayed on intuitive waterfall and line charts that show signal amplitude over time, with color-coded intensity scales that make jamming and spoofing events immediately visible.
Its upcoming automatic alerting feature will provide real-time warnings of potential jamming or spoofing incidents by detecting unexpected positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) signals as well as anomalous spectrum activity.
The integrated Sky Plot offers additional insight into satellite positioning and antenna performance, helping users optimize installation geometry and, in the event of spoofing, understand which satellites and constellations are affected.
Sateliot, a leading satellite telecommunications operator in 5G IoT connectivity, will test a pioneering system that allows its satellites to connect with IoT devices without relying on GNSS. The breakthrough opens new opportunities in sectors such as defense and security, where Europe’s technological autonomy and operation in GNSS-denied environments are strategic priorities.
Low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, such as the one developed by Sateliot, provide coverage in areas beyond the reach of terrestrial networks — over half of the planet’s surface. However, until now, they depended on GNSS, increasing both the energy consumption of devices and terminal costs.
The FreeGNSSNetwork project, signed with the European Space Agency (ESA) and led jointly with GMV, eliminates this dependency using advanced algorithms that enable devices to calculate their position directly from the satellites’ signals. This maintains a stable and accurate connection even under complex conditions such as wartime scenarios.
According to the company, this project represents a paradigm shift and lays the groundwork for developing 6G technology, in which Sateliot actively contributes within the 3GPP framework.
The FreeGNSSNetwork enables device positioning with an accuracy of approximately 10 meters and provides extremely precise time synchronization services of 50 nanoseconds, the equivalent of 0.00000005 seconds.
The system is being tested in laboratories that replicate real satellite communication conditions and will be demonstrated in orbit with prototype satellites and terminals, sending positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) data directly to IoT devices.
Locus Lock, a leader in software-defined GNSS technology for precise position, navigation and timing (PNT) solutions, has teamed up with General Dynamics Mission Systems to deliver software-defined precise PNT capabilities for the U.S. Army.
General Dynamics Mission Systems, a provider of mission-critical solutions to defense, intelligence, and cyber-security customers across all domains, brings extensive expertise in mission-critical systems integration to ensure seamless deployment across Army platforms.
Locus Lock’s software-defined GNSS technology enables rapid deployment and procurement of advanced multi-frequency, multi-constellation GNSS capabilities, providing essential signal diversity in contested radiofrequency (RF) environments to advance the Army’s modernization objectives.
The collaboration with Locus Lock and General Dynamics enhances the resilience, precision and reliability of Army navigation systems operating in complex and contested environments.
Real-time situational awareness (RSTA) is crucial in numerous fields, particularly in public safety, transportation and emergency management. It enables decision-makers and first responders to quickly assess situations, select appropriate actions and implement plans effectively, ensuring timely assistance and resource allocation.
RTSA is a process of continuously monitoring and analyzing information to understand what is happening in a given environment. Virtually every owner or operator has a need for this, although the data that may be relevant varies.
RTSA refers to the ability to understand your environment and act appropriately. This will enable response to events as they unfold, using integrated data from various sources to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency. [1]
While real-time situational awareness is desired by various entities, it should be noted that it does not come from a single data point, as a single data point is not sufficient. There need to be locational, temporal and informational elements present to draw reasonable conclusions. One promising tool enabling this improved decision-making is the geographic information system.
Real-Time Geographic Information System
GIS is a technology that connects data to a map, integrating location and descriptive information. GIS helps users understand patterns, relationships and locational context, and supports decision-making in various industries.
A real-time GIS can create situational awareness because of its ability to simultaneously ingest, integrate, analyze and display streaming data from most any sensor, device and social media. GIS and location-based analytics can automatically refine and focus real-time data to accomplish the mission with up-to-the-minute intelligence on what’s happening in the field and across agencies and governmental jurisdictions. That’s why police, fire and emergency management organizations at all levels of government use real-time GIS capabilities in their operations and dispatching centers.
Building Robust New Layers is Key
As the duration — or reach and impact — of an emergency event increases, so does the number of agencies involved in responding to and mitigating that event. This requires communication systems to scale accordingly, ensuring seamless information exchange and communication among those agencies.
A significant obstacle to this essential communication is the lack of interoperability, with data interoperability playing a critical role. Data interoperability is the ability of different systems, devices or organizations to share digital information so they can communicate and work together effectively. Without this interoperability, organizations face delays in decision-making, reduced response efficiencies and challenges in coordinating incident management.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency published the Information Sharing Framework as an approach to address the data interoperability challenge. It puts forward a three-layer framework that presumes:
a data layer, which resides with an individual agency in its nonsharable silo;
a presentation layer, which is the end user who needs to see the data in context for real-time situational awareness and decision-making;
and sandwiched in between is an integration layer, which does the necessary translation between the data and presentation layers in which the data is discovered, accessed, exchanged, analyzed and transported to the end user. [2]
For RTSA, the system must be able to access the relevant information in the data layer, to transform and standardize that data such that it can be augmented with other data to create actionable information that can be pushed or pulled into the presentation layer to inform the end user. This information will answer myriad questions about the situation such as when, where, who and what.
Radio Frequency Real-Time Situational Awareness
In today’s world of autonomous vehicles and swarms of drones, the electromagnetic spectrum is becoming a critical part of situational awareness. Both in knowing what spectrum is available for use and what spectrum needs to be defended or excluded due to willful interference.
Even in the context of space, RF spectrum data can help monitor satellite communications and detect anomalies, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the space environment and its potential threats.
The RF spectrum frequencies range from 3 kilohertz to 3 THz (which spans 3 KHz up to 3 billion KHz). Radio waves, part of the RF spectrum, are regulated by national laws and coordinated by the International Telecommunication Union to prevent interference between different users.
Radio frequency real-time situational awareness involves the use of radio frequency data and sensors to monitor, analyze and understand this environment. It is crucial for operational planning where the electromagnetic spectrum is a critical domain.
Its ability to provide real-time awareness of radio frequencies is critical to building an actionable picture of what are very dynamic environments. For example, recognizing the critical nature of an incident as it escalates from a local situation to a regional one.
Under the Hood
Effective spectrum monitoring devices rely upon modern developments in software-defined radio (SDR) technology that facilitate rapid reconfiguration and adaptation for various tasks. These include significant enhancements not only to computing capabilities but to the neural processing unit capacity as well. In part, to facilitate RF bandwidth pattern of life technical capability including time frame to gain specific insights.
Various capabilities are also expected to emerge in the coming years associated with situational awareness that may have a significant impact on the effectiveness, safety and health of especially the first responder community. The internet of things, cameras, data from other applications and networks, and sensors continue to produce increasing amounts of data. Artificial intelligence and data analytics are envisioned to be increasingly important mechanisms to assist in enabling timely and more informed decisions.
Multipurpose Remote Sensors
RF devices used for assured positioning, navigation and timing(A-PNT) most naturally are able to provide RF mapping for situational awareness. The same RF spectrum mapping that gives operators the tools to see real and potential frequency interference and usage. Just as GIS helps provide real-time situational awareness in the physical world, spectrum mapping provides RF real-time situational awareness in the virtual world. Different data, different tools, but the same need and general approach.
Such multipurpose devices could further contribute to helping build RF situational awareness to include information about emitter identification and locations core to RF mapping. Or RF-based sensors could be able to use signals such as those used by tactical radios, once their location is established.
This fulfills the vision that these RF devices, for example, could be positioned to support RF multiple aspects of situational awareness when not performing their primary mission.
This requires RF real-time situational awareness to be integrated into operational frameworks to allow for better decision-making, improved safety and enhanced capabilities in both military and civilian applications. By leveraging RF data in multiple ways, organizations can fill gaps in traditional monitoring techniques, leading to a more robust understanding of the operational landscape. RF real-time situational awareness is a critical capability that enhances operational effectiveness using advanced sensing technologies and data analysis, particularly in complex environments.
Poised for a New Generation
A key element for the aforementioned presentation layer is to provide the same data to many, although specific locations, referred to as narrowcasting (think narrow multicasting). A new company, EdgeBeam Wireless, is building a next generation broadcast system to provide these services largely referred to as datacasting. Powered by the broadcast industry’s latest ATSC 3.0 standard, this new service will make its datacasting compatible with standard IP networks, fiber networks and mobile 3GPP networks. It could be used for very efficient geolocation delivery of all real-time situational awareness data to many specific locations. [3]
A good example of an RF-based terrestrial platform is MerlinTPS. This terrestrial positioning system provides 100% terrestrial, RF-based assured positioning, navigation and timing. As part of its operation, the system naturally makes a spectrum map within the radius of each of its reference units. For example, coverage of the entire U.S. would take about 200 reference units, plus about 100 backup units. This RF spectral map is updated with one-second iterations, keeping the data up to date for any unfolding spectral and terrestrial events.
The MerlinTPS platform is based on modern-day SDR technology, ideal for flexibility of RF spectrum presence, as well as the growing use of AI. This feature then naturally could be used to create and maintain a total spectrum map and pattern of life.
The platform supports high-precision time transfer of plus or minus 10 ns, critical to A-PNT today, along with positioning and navigation services. The platform can also provide geolocation data for modern real-time GIS features needed for this new generation of real-time situational awareness.
The combination of MerlinTPS with use of the ATSC 3.0 pending EdgeBeam Wireless service could provide the highly full-featured capabilities to fuel the newest generation of real-time situational awareness networks.
A new Turkish-made twin-jet kamikaze drone, showcased at the Ateş Serbest-2025 exercise, features GNSS-independent autonomy, with GNSS/GPS signals, supplemented by odometric data where necessary, reports Defence Turk and Defence Index. With specially designed avionics and onboard visual-odometry algorithms, the drone can navigate and reach its assigned coordinates without dependence on satellite positioning.
According to information obtained by both news outlets, the KZ-350 drone is being developed with a target range of 350 km. Its cruising speed is 500 km/h, cruising altitude is 3,000 meters. Its takeoff weight is 120 kg and warhead 25 kg. Two domestically produced jet engines power the drone.
Once a mission profile is uploaded, the KZ-350 is intended to operate in a “fire-and-forget” mode. It autonomously follows its flight plan to the target area and executes its strike without external guidance.
🇹🇷 Türkiye unveils the MKE KZ-350 Kamikaze UAV
🔹 Twin-jet design for high-speed precision strikes 🔹 300+ km range for long-distance operations 🔹 Powered by a domestic jet engine 🔹 Designed for stand-off and deep-strike missions 🔹 Marks a major leap in Turkish drone warfare… pic.twitter.com/wCYenNogcK
Advanced Navigation, a global leader in assured positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) and autonomous systems, has introduced a line of defense-ready inertial navigation systems (INS) featuring integrated electronic protection (EP) capabilities.
The systems are designed to counter electromagnetic warfare threats and ensure mission continuity amid a global surge in GPS jamming and spoofing attacks.
The electronic protection range includes:
Boreas D Series, including the Boreas D50, D70 and D90 fiber-optic gyroscope (FOG)-based inertial navigation systems. Engineered for high-threat operational theaters, the Boreas D series supports multiple vehicle types and links to battlefield management systems and health and usage monitoring systems.
Certus Evo, an ultra-high accuracy MEMS GPS/inertial navigation system. The compact Certus Evo is designed for applications requiring navigation, stabilization and pointing under high-dynamics conditions.
The rollout builds on Advanced Navigation’s announcement to establish PNT Centers of Excellence (COE) across the United Kingdom, United States and Europe to address the operational needs of NATO forces.
Advanced Navigation’s Boreas D50 is engineered for high-threat scenarios. (Credit: Advanced Navigation)
Maximilian Doemling, chief product officer at Advanced Navigation, said countering signal jamming and spoofing requires solutions that are several steps ahead.
“This means embedding electronic protection into the foundation of every system,” Doemling said. “Our new electronic protection range takes our proven inertial navigation technology and combines it with advanced capabilities to detect and neutralize interference in real time.”
The systems provide real-time detection of GPS interference, cryptographic validation to identify spoofing and adaptive filtering to sustain positioning integrity. A built-in spectrum analyzer provides real-time monitoring of the radio frequency spectrum with configurable notch filters.
The electronic protection range incorporates dual-antenna, multi-band GPS receivers supporting up to three frequency bands for improved satellite visibility in high-interference zones.
The systems are engineered for integration into new and legacy defense platforms including combat vehicles, unmanned ground vehicles, artillery, counter-unmanned aircraft systems, radar pointing systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance payloads, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned surface vehicles and autonomous underwater systems.
In September 2024, a coalition of U.S. aviation and maritime stakeholders raised concerns over the surge in GPS jamming and spoofing incidents affecting civilian airspace and international shipping lanes. The Federal Communications Commission announced plans to initiate a formal inquiry into alternative and redundant positioning, navigation and timing systems.
Australia has established the Joint PNT Directorate, now at initial operating capability. In the U.K., the government is working to implement a framework for greater positioning, navigation and timing resilience.
Advanced Navigation backs its solutions with a three-year warranty. All Advanced Navigation solutions are free of International Traffic in Arms Regulations restrictions.
The Boreas D50, Boreas D70, Boreas D90 and Certus Evo are available for shipment.
The demand for autonomy is accelerating across industries, reshaping how systems are being developed and deployed.
For UAVs, the push for precision is driven by emerging use cases, such as package delivery, medical transport and complex route navigation in urban environments, all of which require centimeter-level accuracy in positioning and landing.
Importance of Correction Services
Trimble is expanding its Centerpoint RTX positioning technology from agriculture and surveying applications into the rapidly growing autonomous markets of UAVs, robotics and vehicles.
CenterPoint RTX is a global correction service that delivers centimeter-level positioning accuracy, engineered to ensure reliable and precise positioning anywhere around the world.
RTX employs a fixed, stable datum to ensure consistent and reliable performance. The system supports all major satellite constellations and frequencies, offering users a robust and flexible positioning system. The service can be accessed through either L-band satellite signals or a standard internet connection, eliminating the need for local base stations and making high-precision positioning far more scalable and accessible.
This level of reliability is crucial for emerging applications such as drone delivery.
“When you start talking about package delivery, operators need robust positioning,” explained Joe Hutton, director of inertial technology and airborne products at Trimble Applanix. “One reason is what we call ‘the last meter’ — drones need to be able to land or drop packages consistently within that final meter of their destination.”
Hutton noted that precision requirements are becoming even more demanding. “It’s actually getting smaller than a meter now. You need that robust centimeter-level positioning to ensure the drone is in exactly the right spot for safe and accurate delivery.”
When asked about alternative positioning methods, Hutton explained why traditional RTK systems can fall short for these applications. “RTK has its traditional limitations,” he said. “You have to be within 20 km of a base station, you need to set up infrastructure, and then you face all kinds of datum issues between different base stations.”
This is where CenterPoint RTX offers a significant advantage. “You don’t get those problems with CenterPoint RTX because it’s a global correction service operating on a fixed reference datum that never changes,” Hutton explained. “If you use the same technology to survey your landing spot — say with a Trimble DA2 product using RTX — everything fits perfectly. It’s always going to be in the same datum.” He noted that this consistency has proven very popular with users because it eliminates the complex datum coordination issues inherent in RTK systems.
Beyond datum consistency, Hutton highlighted another critical consideration: signal robustness and jamming and spoofing. “While commercial drone applications typically operate outside conflict zones where intentional jamming occurs, operators still need protection against interference,” he said. “You can have radios causing jamming just inadvertently.”
Trimble’s OEM GNSS/INS systems for UAV navigation, such as Trimble PX-1, use aided inertial navigation system (INS) software that blends GPS positioning with inertial sensors using RTX corrections to offer robust position and orientation data — including precise roll, pitch and heading measurements — that can maintain accuracy even during short GNSS signal outages.
The system provides inertial-based heading, which addresses another critical challenge in drone navigation. Traditional approaches rely on magnetometers for heading determination, but these are easily influenced by nearby metal structures and electromagnetic interference. In contrast, inertial-derived heading comes directly from the IMU itself, making it immune to magnetic disturbances and far more reliable in complex environments, making it suitable for drone delivery in busy urban environments.
Advanced Navigation has successfully demonstrated a breakthrough in underground navigation, delivering high-precision positioning without reliance on fixed infrastructure or GNSS.
The demonstration of the company’s Hybrid Navigation System was livestreamed from the Pyhäsalmi Mine in Pyhäjärvi, Finland, as part of the Deep Mining Open Call under the Think and Act Differently program sponsored by BHP, an Australian mining and metals corporation.
The Deep Mining Open Call, launched in September 2024, sought innovators with capability that could be applied to deep underground mining. The focus was on addressing challenges such as high temperature, high rock stress, and hyper-saline conditions in deep mining environments. The inactive Pyhäsalmi mine has the harsh conditions and depth required for the technology test.
Based in Australia, Advanced Navigation was selected from more than 90 global applicants to demonstrate its technology.
Positioning Challenges
Navigating the vast subterranean network of the Pyhäsalmi Mine posed significant challenges. The mine is situated just two degrees below the Arctic Circle, where traditional systems fail. Located 1.4 km underground at a latitude of 63°, it is completely impervious to GNSS signals. Its repetitive, multi-level tunnel network creates a high risk of visual disorientation, while its metallic ores distort magnetic fields and scatter radio waves.
To overcome these conditions, mines typically rely on infrastructure-heavy solutions such as ultra-wideband beacons, Wi-Fi, 5G repeaters or perception-based techniques such as simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), which require cameras. These methods are costly to integrate and maintain, slow to install, and often unavailable in hazardous or unmapped zones where reliable navigation is critical. Shifting to a resilient navigation system with less dependency on infrastructure offers a scalable alternative, enabling reliable navigation even in environments considered hazardous or inaccessible.
System Architecture
Advanced Navigation’s Hybrid Navigation System demonstrates long-range, infrastructure-free, real-time navigation in a deep, GPS-denied environment. The system combines a laser velocity sensor (LVS) with the Boreas D90 fiber-optic gyroscope inertial navigation system (FOG INS).
FOG INS. The Hybrid Navigation System is centered on the Boreas FOG INS. Unlike conventional systems, Boreas doesn’t rely on GNSS or magnetic compasses. Instead, it uses ultra-sensitive FOG technology to detect the Earth’s rotation and determine true north, a process known as gyro-compassing, to find the vehicle’s heading.
For the test, the Boreas D90, along with various additional equipment providing power, networking and logging capabilities, was secured inside the vehicle.
LVS. To maintain and enhance this accuracy, the INS is fused with Advanced Navigation’s LVS. Using infrared lasers, LVS continuously measures the vehicle’s true 3D velocity relative to the ground. This real-time data is critical for correcting the gradual drift that occurs in standalone inertial systems, enabling the hybrid system to maintain precision over extended distances.
The LVS sensor features two components: an external, passive optical head, and an active sensor body. The optical head is primarily responsible for rigidly holding the alignment between the three telescopes. The sensor body houses the active photonics system, laser and processing system.
Because pre-production hardware was used for this test, three discrete fiber-optic cables were used to connect the externally mounted LVS optical head to the LVS sensor inside the vehicle. Production hardware will include a single, IP69K rated optical-fiber cable that connects the LVS sensor body to the IP69K rated optical head.
The LVS optical head was attached to the trunk of the vehicle using a suction cup to provide a clear line of sight from each telescope to the terrain. A GNSS antenna was attached to the roof in the same manner. Coaxial cable connected the GNSS antenna to the Boreas D90.
Fusion Software. The system integration relied on the company’s AdNav OS Fusion software. Using adaptive algorithms, OS Fusion dynamically weighs the reliability of each sensor in real time.
Together, these technologies form a resilient hybrid system delivering precise, uninterrupted navigational data in extreme environments, without GNSS or fixed infrastructure, the company said.
“We were thoroughly impressed by the results the sensor fusion provided,” said Magnus Zetterberg, senior consultant at Combitech, who observed the demonstration. “I have used and been exposed to these sorts of sensors in other projects, and nothing has come close to this level of performance. It’s clear the Laser Velocity Sensor is a major key in providing these outstanding results.”
Proven in the Depths
A one-time surface calibration using real-time kinematic GNSS aligned the LVS and INS frames on the vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz V-class. After the calibration, the trials were unaided within the underground environment.
Two different test scenarios were conducted: a surface-to-surface test, and an underground loop test. Validated across five separate runs in isolation from external aids or maps, the Hybrid Navigation System repeatedly achieved an accuracy of better than 0.1% of distance traveled — demolishing a barrier once considered fundamental to underground navigation.
Without relying on any fixed positioning infrastructure, pre-existing maps or external aiding, the tests achieved consistent sub-0.1% navigation error across multiple runs.
Surface-to-Surface Runs
Runs 1, 2 and 3 – 400 m. To demonstrate the system’s repeatability and accuracy, three identical runs were conducted to a depth of 400 meters. Each run involved an approximate 3 km one-way traverse for a full 6 km loop. The results highlight the system’s consistent performance during underground operation, with a mean final position error of 2.83 ±0.09 meters, representing 0.047% of the total distance traveled.
FIGURE 1 3D navigation trace of run 2 of the repeat surface-to-surface 400 m depth tests. This particular run covered 6,008 m, with a measured error of 0.55 ±0.09 m for 0.009% error per distance traveled.
Over the 6 km rough and rugged terrain that extended 400 m below the surface, the system achieved a best-case 3D position error of 0.55 m (0.009%), with an average error of 2.83 m (0.047%). For context, standard single-band GNSS on the surface typically delivers 2–10 m accuracy in open-sky conditions. The system delivered significantly greater precision even within a subterranean labyrinth. FIGURE 1 present the key performance metrics for these runs. FIGURE 2 shows reacquisition of GNSS signals upon exiting the mine.
FIGURE 2 Traces of raw RTK GNSS and position estimates from the Hybrid Navigation System. As the vehicle exits the tunnel portal, intermittent and low accuracy GNSS is measured. Once the vehicle enters open sky, a more consistent RTK GNSS fix is attained. Note that despite the presence of now-accurate RTK GNSS, at no point did the Hybrid System use GNSS information.
“We’ve worked in underground environments for decades. Seeing this level of precision achieved on the first run signals huge potential for safer and more efficient underground vehicle operations,” said Olli Mylläri, vice president of technology at Normet, a mining technology company.
Run 4 – 1,400 m. To evaluate the system’s performance over an extended distance, a single run was conducted to the deepest accessible point of the mine, reaching a depth of 1,400 m. The system navigated the 22.9 km route — the equivalent of a half-marathon — in total darkness.
The final position error was 15.9 m (0.07%), showcasing its immunity to the drift that plagues other inertial systems. This extended traverse, lasting more than 94 minutes, also included a deliberate stationary period at the bottom before the return to the surface. The performance of this deep run is detailed in FIGURE 3.
FIGURE 3 3D navigation trace of the run down to 1,400 m depth. The test traversed a total distance of 22,920 m, with a measured final error of 15.98 ±0.09 m yielding an error per distance traveled of 0.070%. The descent and ascent paths are colored differently for disambiguation. During the ascent (light blue), the driver entered a side tunnel at a depth of approximately 1,200 m, which was not traversed on the descent.
Entirely Underground
Run 5 – 1,067 m. A single run of 1,067 m was conducted over a period of 14 minutes. Without relying on magnetometers or external aids, the system determined heading using its built-in gyrocompassing procedure, measuring the Earth’s rotation to establish true north. It then navigated a 1 km course with just 1 meter of error, demonstrating its capability for rapid deployment in the most challenging and unfamiliar terrain. See results in FIGURE 4.
FIGURE 4 3D navigation trace of the entirely underground run. The test traversed a total distance of 1,067 m, with a measured final error of 1.03 ±0.02 m, yielding an error per distance traveled of 0.093%.
While additional testing was planned to further validate the results, time constraints limited this study to a single test. The findings provide a representative indication of system performance under the tested conditions. TABLE 1 shows a comparison to GNSS navigation.
TABLE 1 Indicative industry-reported positional accuracy of GNSS compared to the Hybrid Navigation System.
Scalable Autonomy
While mines will continue to use fixed infrastructure, this technology significantly reduces dependency, enabling resilient, high-precision navigation in previously inaccessible or unmapped areas. This performance marks a step change in underground navigation, unlocking new potential for fleet management, predictive collision avoidance, material tracking and scalable autonomy across mining operations.
“At Normet, we specialize in advanced solutions for underground mining and tunneling, so we know firsthand how difficult accurate and reliable navigation can be in these environments,” Mylläri said. “Seeing Advanced Navigation’s Hybrid Navigation System deliver consistent positioning with minimal infrastructure deep within the Pyhäsalmi Mine was remarkable. It’s a powerful step forward for automation and safety in the underground space.”
In today’s dynamic operational environments, relying on a single navigation technology is no longer viable. Robust navigation demands a layered, inertial-first and multi-sensor architecture — held together by intelligent software — that can adapt and scale to meet the unique demands of each operation.
“Ultimately, this vehicle-based, inertial-centered architecture provides the resilient foundation required for the mining sector to achieve its long-term goal: efficient autonomous ore extraction at depths hostile to human activity,” Vandecar said.
“Unreliable navigation underground isn’t a minor technical constraint — it’s a major operational bottleneck,” said Joe Vandecar, senior product manager, Advanced Navigation. “Maintaining precision over a 22.9 km subterranean course in Europe’s deepest underground mine demonstrates a level of performance that few systems in the world can rival without any prior intelligence of the environment. These results prove we’re one step closer to unlocking scalable underground autonomy.”
The Hybrid Navigation System is set for commercial release later this year.
Adapted from a paper authored by Patrick Wiltshire, David McManus, James Spollard, Mark Gibson, Matthew Suntup, Tim Laws and Lyle Roberts. The full paper is available on the Advanced Navigation website (advancednavigation.com).
Precise positioning technology serves as the backbone of modern infrastructure and transportation systems worldwide. From the initial construction phases of major transportation projects to the daily movement of vehicles, goods and people, GNSS has become indispensable for ensuring safety, efficiency and accuracy.
Its importance becomes clear when examining projects such as Norway’s Rogfast Tunnel, where centimeter-level positioning accuracy — less than 2 cm — is essential for safe construction and operations. These integrated systems deliver the real-time, high-precision positioning that construction teams, fleet operators and transportation networks rely on each day.
However, this growing dependence on GNSS technology has created vulnerabilities in everyday transportation operations near war zones. A real-world ground transportation jamming and spoofing test in Haifa, israel, revealed how precision systems that enable critical operations can be disrupted, exposing a weakness for transportation in contested environments. As technology becomes more sophisticated and GPS-dependent, they paradoxically become more susceptible to electronic interference and accessible jamming and spoofing equipment.
In this cover story, we examine the full spectrum of GNSS applications in transportation — from the construction of subsea ground tunnels to smart fleet management systems, to operations seeking to defend ground vehicles against electronic warfare tactics.
The demand for efficient transportation systems extends beyond traditional development projects, such as subsea transportation tunnels or deployment scenarios where positioning technology delivers centimeter-level accuracy for fleet vehicles. In active conflict zones, positioning signals are more susceptible to jamming and spoofing, which disrupts civilians’ daily activities.
In the northern Israeli city of Haifa, after decades of relying on digital navigation, shopkeepers have started stocking paper maps again. The reason is not nostalgia, but survival in an age of electronic warfare.
The coastal city has become a testing ground for advanced GNSS technologies, where traditional satellite navigation systems regularly fail due to sophisticated spoofing attacks. These attacks not only disrupt military operations but also affect every smartphone, smartwatch and navigation device that relies on standard GPS signals.
Dror Meiri, business development and strategy advisor at oneNav, said that in Haifa, “You start driving. Everything is fine. You know that the drive is going to last for 37 minutes or so, and then all of a sudden, you lose your location.”
Researchers from oneNav conducted a comprehensive GPS resilience test in an active conflict zone near Haifa. The company’s mission was to compare how different navigation technologies perform when under electronic attack.
The Journey North
For the test, four devices were mounted side-by-side on a car dashboard: three leading smartphones and one device equipped with experimental L5-direct receiver technology. All four would make the same journey from south of Haifa toward the city center, passing through zones where GPS spoofing is known to occur.
The drive began in an area free from interference, where all devices accurately displayed their location in northern Israel. But as the car moved north toward Haifa, it entered what researchers describe as a “spoofed zone” — an area where military defense systems actively jam and spoof GPS signals.
While still physically driving through Haifa’s streets, the three commercial smartphones suddenly began displaying a location more than 100 km away in Beirut, Lebanon. A fitness smartwatch included in the test showed the same false location. Only the L5-direct enabled device maintained accuracy to within 1 m of the actual position.
The Technical Challenge
OneNav explains the vulnerability stems from the aging L1 GPS signal on which most consumer devices rely. First deployed decades ago, L1 signals are relatively easy to spoof with commercially available equipment. According to U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) documentation, spoofing has become so prevalent that it affects devices across vast geographical areas; in some cases, every smartphone and smartwatch tested was spoofed across distances exceeding 120 km.
In response to the March 6 FCC inquiry on “Promoting the Development of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Technologies and Solutions,” oneNav provided technical insights into spoofing vulnerabilities across different satellite navigation bands. The company explained that “spoofing in the L5 band will be much more difficult because the spoofing transmitter must have 10x wider bandwidth and 10x more precise spoofing correlator peaks to capture the L5 receiver. Spoofing transmitter power needs to be 20x higher in the L5 (GPS) band and 40x higher in the E5 band (Galileo) compared to spoofing L1C/A.”
This technical assessment highlights why the newer L5 signal represents a significant advancement in navigation security. The enhanced signal architecture, with its wider bandwidth and more sophisticated coding structure, creates substantial barriers for potential attackers. The exponentially higher power requirements — 20 times greater for GPS L5 and 40 times greater for Galileo E5 compared to legacy L1 signals — combined with the demanding technical specifications, make widespread L5 spoofing both technically challenging and prohibitively expensive for most threat actors.
Beyond the Battlefield
While Haifa’s situation is tied to regional security concerns, the implications extend far beyond conflict zones and affect autonomous vehicles, ride-sharing services, and logistics networks that have become essential infrastructure in modern cities.
“When I want to wait for a bus or public transportation, for gas or something like that, my phone tells me exactly where the bus is and how long it will take to reach the station,” Meiri said. “But the core system for that is the GPS, which is based on the bus, so the bus cannot send the right information to the server.”
Local businesses are grappling with the unreliable GPS environment. According to oneNav researchers, companies in the region — including one that uses drones to clean windows on Haifa’s skyscrapers — face significant operational challenges when their navigation systems are deceived into believing they are operating in a different country entirely.
Meiri, who conducted the oneNav test, notes the challenging conditions affecting transportation in Haifa could emerge in other urban areas as spoofing technology becomes more accessible.
The ground transportation implications are particularly concerning for emergency services. When 911 calls are placed in areas experiencing GPS spoofing, emergency responders may be directed to locations hundreds of kilometers from the actual emergency. This challenge has prompted regulatory discussions about upgrading emergency location accuracy requirements. Current GPS emergency location systems can achieve accuracy within 50 m in ideal conditions, but dense urban environments and electronic warfare zones significantly degrade this performance.
As spoofing technology proliferates beyond military applications, transportation systems worldwide may face the same navigational chaos currently seen in Haifa.
