[SPONSORED CONTENT] GPS jamming has become the #1 threat to defense and commercial drones. Therefore we developed GPSdome: a GPS protection solution tailored for defending drones and vehicles from jamming attacks. GPSdome provides a robust cyber shield, allowing the protected platform to safely and continuously operate and complete missions in a GPS-challenged environment. At its minimal size weight and power, there is no other solution that offers such protection as small, light, affordable or as easily installed as GPSdome.
InfiniDome has conducted testing and measurements in the Golan Heights along the Israel-Syria border. The goal of the tests was to hunt down jamming events, record them, see how they affect both protected and unprotected receivers, and then compare the results.
Two identical u-blox M8N receivers aboard a UAV were tested side by side, with one protected by GPSdome technology.
The GPSdome anti-jammer is a retrofit module that can be easily integrated to protect any GNSS-based system. It combines patterns from two omnidirectional antennas to create a null in the direction of the jamming signal, thus attenuating its power, making any GPS receiver about 50 times more resilient to jamming.
In a video of the tests, the GNSS receiver protected by GPSdome can be seen maintaining the GPS signal along the border, enabling uninterrupted navigation.
In contrast, the unprotected GNSS receiver loses the GPS signal during the attack, which can easily result in the drone becoming completely jammed, aggressively drifting and eventually crashing.
The Israel-Syria border experiences frequent jamming from Russian forces positioned in Syria, affecting critical border surveillance operations in the Golan Heights. Other global hotspots for jamming include the U.S.-Mexico border, where drug cartels use jammers on U.S. border surveillance drones, and the Shanghai port in China, where pirates may be the cause of ship and plane navigation confusion through use of jammers.
Jamming in Ukraine has also been well documented, with attacks from Russian forces taking down any plane, drone and even critical infrastructure asset in proximity, according to infiniDome.
Two screenshots of recordings during the event: The top image is of the GNSS receiver (u-blox M8N) protected with the GPSdome, ensuring continuous navigation. The bottom is unprotected and shows how the M8N was completely blocked for the entire route. (Images: InfiniDome)
The jamming attack was analyzed and appears not to have been a brute force attack, but rather a slightly more sophisticated signal, causing the receivers to “see” satellites but not be able to sync their signals and track them. The receiver protected by the GPSdome was able to distinguish between the real GNSS signals and the jamming signals.
In addition, GPSdome was able to attenuate the jamming signals sufficiently to be able to continue tracking the real GNSS signals while at the same time reporting the attack via its dedicated alert output.
Because GPSdome is both lightweight and easy to integrate (see integration diagram below), it can effectively provide much-needed resilience to drones and UAVs from widely available jammers, enabling drone operators to carry out missions safely and reliably.
Stringent testing on both fixed-wing plane and helicopter proves reliability and performance
Honeywell has successfully demonstrated several advanced alternative navigation technologies intended to help ensure seamless navigation, even when GPS signals are blocked, interrupted or unavailable.
Testing took place on both an Embraer E170 aircraft and an AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter.
Alternative navigation systems use sensors such as cameras, star trackers, radars and radios to augment and or aid inertial navigation systems. These systems correct inertial navigation systems in environments where GNSS are denied.
“Our customers are seeing an increase in both intentional and unintentional navigational disruptions, including jamming for GNSS-based navigation,” said Matt Picchetti, vice president and general manager, Navigation and Sensors, Honeywell Aerospace. “There hasn’t been a single set of solutions that meet all our customers’ operational needs, so we decided to create one. Our modular and scalable alternative navigation technologies are setting a new benchmark in terms of reliability and performance in GNSS-denied environments compared with what is available in aviation today.”
Alternative navigation technologies provide vital position, velocity and heading information in GNSS-denied environments. The successfully demonstrated technologies onboard the E170 and AW139 include:
Vision-Aided Navigation. Honeywell’s vision-aided navigation system achieved GPS-like performance on both the Embraer E170 and AW139 platforms during GPS-denied conditions. Additionally, the technology showed 67% improvement in GPS-denied performance compared with earlier testing in 2021. The system uses a live camera feed and compares it with maps to provide a passive, not jammable, and highly accurate absolute position.
Celestial-Aided Navigation. Honeywell’s celestial-aided navigation system on the Embraer E170 achieved an accuracy of 25 meters circular error probability of 50% (CEP50). This represented a 38% improvement in GPS-denied performance compared with tests in 2021. Most importantly, this is the first time a resident space objects-based (RSOs) navigation solution was demonstrated on an airborne platform, as most competing solutions rely only on star-based navigation. The system uses a star tracker to observe stars and RSOs to provide a passive, not jammable solution with GPS-like accuracy in GPS-denied or spoofed conditions.
Magnetic-Anomaly-Aided Navigation. Honeywell conducted real-time magnetic-anomaly-aided navigation on the Embraer E170 airborne platform. This is a historic milestone, as almost all previous magnetic tests were done in special environments to mitigate electromagnetic noise. Honeywell demonstrated this passive, not jammable, all-weather 24/7 technology on an embedded platform, which measures Earth’s magnetic strength and compares it with magnetic maps to accurately identify the position of the vehicle.
Photo: InifiDome
Additionally, Honeywell demonstrated that inertial navigation systems, when paired with the GPSDome (an anti-jamming device), showed significant improvement in position accuracy and integrity performance in the presence of GPS jamming. The ability of GPSDome to enable tracking of GPS satellites under more aggressive jamming environments reduces performance degradations that come with GNSS-denied conditions.
Alternative navigation prototype systems will be available in 2022, with initial deliveries expected to start in 2023.
Honeywell has launched two new resilient navigation systems: the Honeywell Compact Inertial Navigation System and Honeywell Radar Velocity System. These systems, jointly with GPSdome, an anti-jamming system developed by Honeywell’s partner InfiniDome, are designed for commercial and military customers needing reliable navigation solutions that are small and light and have a low power consumption.
The systems will provide multiple layers of protection that allow continued operations even in GNSS-challenged or denied environments.
Honeywell’s philosophy of resilient navigation revolves around multiple layers of resiliency achieved by a combination of GNSS anti-jamming, inertial navigation and alternative navigation systems.
The GPSdome is a small add-on device that provides the first layer of protection against GNSS jamming attempts, ensuring continuity of operation during low-power jamming conditions and the ability to achieve the crucial first GPS lock even in GPS-challenged environments. The device is compatible with any off-the-shelf GNSS receiver and antenna. Honeywell signed a collaboration agreement with infiniDome in August to jointly develop and deliver GPS signal protection systems.
The new Honeywell Compact Inertial Navigation System is about the size of a deck of cards and uses tactical-grade inertial sensors to provide accurate position information to commercial and military customers. This second layer of resiliency provides the ability to navigate during shorter GNSS outages. This is especially useful in urban canyons where GNSS availability is intermittent or in strong jamming environments where anti-jamming systems are not enough.
The national time system at Israel’s National Physics Laboratory (INPL) in Jerusalem is now protected by a GPSdome unit for cyber protection of GPS/GNSS signals, according to Israel’s Homeland Security, a private company established in 2012.
Microchip partner Focus Telecom installed the GPSdome cyber protection system under a support and maintenance contract. GPSdome was developed by infiniDome, an Israeli startup.
INPL’s Nadya Goldovsky will now test and measure the system for its ability to protect the GPS/GNSS satellite signals from jamming and other interference. Over the course of several months, Goldovsky will test the system’s ability to protect its four independent atomic clocks, which continuously supply Israel’s national time.
The cyber protection system is designed to enable continuous, uninterrupted GPS/GNSS service, which allows for full operation of the clocks. During a GPS cyber-attack, infiniDome’s Communication Module will report it to infiniDome’s Cyber Security Cloud.
“GPSdome is a cyber protection system developed based on military technologies and principals which was adapted to non-military, commercial use,” said Omer Sharar, infiniDome’s CEO. “Our systems are already deployed and operational in Israel at multiple sites in the defense/HLS sector, border protection, financial sector and telecom sector.”
The company has signed a global distribution contract with an international PNT solution provider to sell its GPSdome systems in more than 120 countries, Sharar said.
