Tag: PNT

  • ION Seeks Abstracts for Pacific PNT 2015, PTTI Registration Opens

    Abstract submissions are now being accepted for The Institute of Navigation’s (ION) Pacific PNT Conference, to be held April 20-23, 2015, at the Waikiki Beach Marriott, Honolulu, Hawaii. Abstracts are due November 14, 2014.

    Pacific PNT, where “East Meets West in the Global Cooperative Development of Positioning, Navigation and Timing Technology,” brings together policy and technical leaders from Japan, Singapore, China, South Korea, Australia, the United States, and more for policy updates, program status and technical exchange.

    “Global cooperative interoperability” will frame the technical program. Leaders representing academia, government, industry and the scientific community will convene to solve PNT challenges that impact Pacific Rim development.

    Pacific PNT 2015 is organized by a Pacific Rim advisory board and will feature technical papers presented on a diverse array of topics including:

    • Aircraft Navigation and Surveillance
    • Agricultural, Construction and Mining
    • Algorithms and Methods
    • Alternative Navigation and Signals of Opportunity
    • Aviation Applications of GNSS
    • Challenging Navigation Problems
    • Collaborative Navigation Topics
    • Earthquake & Tsunami Prediction and Monitoring with GNSS
    • GNSS Augmentations
    • GNSS Correction and Monitoring Networks
    • GNSS Environmental Monitoring
    • GNSS Policy/Status Updates
    • GNSS Signal Structures
    • Inertial Navigation Technology and Applications
    • Interference and Spectrum
    • Ionosphere Monitoring with GNSS
    • Magnetic Field Navigation and Mapping
    • Maritime Navigation
    • Nature-Inspired Navigation
    • PNT and Automobile Safety
    • PNT and Social Media
    • PNT for Domestic and Healthcare Applications
    • Precision Agriculture and Machine Control
    • Time and Frequency Distribution
    • UAS Technologies

    Abstracts are being accepted through November 14, 2014.  For more information the ION’s Pacific PNT 2015, visit www.ion.org/pnt.

    PTTI 2014 Registration Opens

    Registration is now open for the ION Precise Time & Time Interval Meeting (PTTI) 2014 to be held December 1-4 at the Seaport Boston Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts. The technical program is available online.

    The annual PTTI conference has a technical program designed to disseminate and coordinate PTTI information at the user level; review present and future PTTI requirements; inform government and industry engineers, technicians, and managers of precise time and frequency technology and its problems; and provide an opportunity for an active exchange of new technology associated with PTTI.

    The Distinguished PTTI Service Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions related to the management of PTTI systems, will be presented on Thursday, December 4.

  • Assured PNT for Our Future: PTA

    Assured PNT for Our Future: PTA

    Actions Necessary to Reduce Vulnerability and Ensure Availability

    By Brad Parkinson
    (From the 25th Anniversary GNSS History Special Supplement)

    Introduction

    Brad Parkinson
    Brad Parkinson

    About 40 years ago, we had a vision for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT). That vision was more than successful, and became known as GPS. In some respects we have been almost too successful: PNT is frequently taken for granted. PNT, in the form of GPS, has become a powerful worldwide enabler for productivity and for safety. Estimated yearly value runs to many tens of billions of dollars. 

    For several years, I have been concerned about comments that denigrate GPS because the signal strength is relatively weak. The speakers have gone on to say it can be completely replaced with inertial or other techniques. Recently, comments by government officials further energized me to look at the full picture.

    What can we do to reduce the vulnerability and ensure that the expectations of the users are going to be met? I summarize my solution as the PTA program and will elaborate in this article. At a top level, the term PTA means: Protect, Toughen, and Augment GPS to assure PNT. Note I say PNT, not GPS. The central issue is assuring access of PNT to the user, not the source of the information. I strongly believe that PTA is both achievable and absolutely necessary. Protecting PNT is particularly important to Europeans as they are just about to launch their fledgling Galileo system.

    Speeches and travel only reach a limited number. When GPS World invited me to write a piece for the magazine’s 25th anniversary issue, it seemed an ideal opportunity to expand knowledge of the PTA program. The following is an edited form of a talk I have given a number of times, most recently at the European Navigation Conference in Rotterdam in April 2014.


    GNSS initiatives and the GNSS community are growing rapidly, and certainly we are very enthusiastic about the progress of Galileo. But some places in the U.S. community are saying, “Well, this GPS band is underutilized; devoting all that bandwidth to a single system is not prudent.”

    I beg to differ with that view. If you look at the separate signals in the L1 band around the world, by the year 2023 they will grow to be well more than 400 individual signals. Those signals service over 2 billion users, from emergency service providers to precision agriculture to crustal monitoring and many, many more. I have an entirely separate talk on “GPS for Humanity,” but that is not our subject today. 

    Calling the GPS frequency band “underutilized” simply points out ignorance, even among our supporters. For example, we say PNT to emphasize that GNSS provides four dimensions. Certainly, timing is the forgotten fourth dimension of GPS, and even our politician friends rarely understand the importance of this aspect. Yet we know that highly accurate timing, supplied by GPS, is absolutely critical for power distribution, for telecommunications, and for the financial sector. 

    It is instructive to summarize the penetration of the PNT “Stealth Utility” into the fabric of our society.

    Market Size. Overall, GPS has more than 2 billion users worldwide. This represents a very diverse user group; we providers are continually seeing new and innovative ways to use GPS. 

    Figure 1, for which I am indebted to Frank van Diggelen, gives an estimate of the number of receivers currently fielded. Notice the number of military receivers: less than half a million. The gray bar depicts the industrial uses such as survey and machine control, which come in at about 4.5 million; these tend to be extremely high enhancers of industrial productivity. 

    Figure 1. GNSS market size, 2012.
    Figure 1. GNSS market size, 2012.

    We have to change the chart scale to depict bigger market segments. For example, recreation, automotive, and computing are shown on the lower half of the chart. In fact, mobile phones will still not fit on the chart. Attesting to the size of the estimated mobile phone base: one company alone will produce more than 900 million GPS-equipped smartphones this year. The pie diagram shows the dominance of mobile devices, but much higher productivity gains come from high-precision devices whose impact is very disproportionate to numbers of receivers. 

     We asked some economists, just what is all this worth? They looked at a subset of all the industries and concluded that GPS has a positive net effect to the tune of at least $32 billion annually. They had an expanded study that suggested about $90 billion annually. So, for those who question the value of GPS, the answer is that the net yearly returns to our national investment are more than 1000 percent. (Note: National investment is about $3 billion annually.)

    To ensure these enormous economic benefits of PNT, there are two fundamental needs, and we providers must assure that they are met. The first and most important need is availability. 

    Availability. When we say availability, it is defined in a certain way; it means that PNT is available at the application-specified accuracy. We usually measure that accuracy at the 90th percentile: only 10 percent of the time can that error be exceeded. 

    Integrity. The second user need is the required integrity. That means that when the user expects a specific accuracy, the system is not lying to him. Integrity assurance is very much a focus of both the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and, in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In many cases they require that PNT errors not exceed specified bounds more than once in 10 billion measurements (1 x 10-7). This integrity level requires so many samples, it is virtually impossible to verify experimentally; we have not had that many airplane landings, but it can be calculated. The metric we use is how many minutes GPS is not available — unavailability — at the specified accuracy and integrity. That is more easily understood than availability that aproaches 99.9XXX percent. The usual goal is that unavailability be zero. 

    We have an independent assessment of how well we are doing: FAA’s Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). They put out a report card with a lot of numbers. GPS clearly deserves a grade of A+. 

    And it will get better. The U.S. government’s PNT Advisory Board, which I co-chair, recently advocated that the full navigation message be added at the new civil frequencies, the L2C and L5C signals. The Air Force has now complied, thanks to strong support from General Willie Shelton. This makes two more civil signals fully available. They currently expect 2.9 meter ranging accuracy, but by the end of the year the Air Force operators expect the same full accuracy as the rest of the signals, on the order of 0.5 meter of ranging error. 

    This is an outstanding picture.

    So What’s the Problem? A statement made by a high-level U.S. government official in my presence exemplifies the problem: “GPS is much too vulnerable. We must replace it with new inertials and chip-scale atomic clocks.” 

    I found this statement appalling. Unfortunately, it was a meeting where you don’t normally speak up, and I didn’t. Nonetheless, to me, that was totally wrong. 

    GPS indeed has a very weak signal, and it depends on having clear line-of-sight to four satellites. But in my opinion, a much better statement is what I call the PTA solution. Our goal should be to:

    • Protect the system and the signal. 
    • Toughen the receiver and the system. 
    • Augment GPS as needed to ensure users’ PNT requirements are met. 

    The focus is ensuring positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), not merely ensuring GPS.

    Fundamental Prerequisites for PNT 

    The first prerequisite for GPS-based PNT is a receivable, clear, and truthful (truthful implies full integrity) ranging signal. There are five main challenges to this.

    Too-powerful authorized signalsnearby. This aspect snuck up on our community. The FCC authorizers were about to license a powerful signal in the frequency band adjacent to GPS, drowning out any hope of receiving the GPS signal. This can be called the authorized jammer. All PNT providers must be very vigilant about this; we have seen ignorant elements of the government poised to do great harm with well-intended but destructive actions, without knowledge of the unintended consequences. 

    Natural Interference. This interference, the cause of delays and attenuation, is reasonably well understood, and the subject of much research, dating back to when we first defined GPS. Random events such as solar flares can potentially cause great harm. 

    Inadvertent Natural or Manmade Jamming. A nearby device that creates spurious, destructive emissions can be a serious problem for GPS receivers. This class tends to be manageable by well-designed receivers.

     Collateral Interference. An example is a person who wants to evade tracking but is inadvertently jamming nearby GNSS receivers in addition to his own local receiver. 

    Deliberate Jamming or Spoofing. This is perhaps the major concern for developers and users. I will discuss this further later.

    There is a second major prerequisite: satellite geometry. The user who cannot see enough of the sky is called “sky-impaired.” There are two possible underlying problems: 

    • The satellite constellation has “brown-out” because of failures or inadequate numbers; or
    • The user is operating in a mountainous or urban area with high, local shading angles.

    Overcoming sky-impairment requires a denser constellation, or use of multiple GNSS. 

    Protect, Toughen, Augment 

    What can we — as developers, operators, and manufacturers — do to overcome the PNT availability challenges for our users? My solution is PTA. The good news is that quite a few of the actions I recommend are underway — in fact, many of GPS World’s readers are active participants. 

    I am going to examine these three PTA principles, expand on them a bit, and hopefully explain a few things that help focus on a broad solution. 

    Protect the System and the Signal

    This can be organized into seven actions: three PreActions and four ReActions. PreActions are before there is serious interference, and ReActions obviously come after interference is occurring.

    First, the PreActions.

    Protect the Spectrum. The chart in Figure 2 represents the frequency plan for the L1 band, and displays some of the sources of the 400 signals I referenced earlier. The blue star, GPS L1 C/ A, is the only fully operational and reliable signal in the world right now. The red star is the U.S. GPS military signal. You can see it has important power lobes close to the band edge. The black star is M-code, the new military signal of the United States. 

    Figure 2. Frequency plan for the L1 band.
    Figure 2. Frequency plan for the L1 band.

    The Galileo power curve, which is pale green, has very significant nodes close to the band edge. Of course, the Galileo PRS (the magenta star) is right on the band edge. The imperative for these wider bandwidths is that they produce sharper correlation edges and consequently produce greater measurement precision. This leads to greater accuracy, and greater usefulness and utility for many PNT users.

    Reallocation of radio bands adjacent to GNSS poses a significant threat. The band edge of the proposed high-power communication signal (sometimes called broadband) appears as the black vertical line. It is obviously very close to the edges of many of the colored PNT signals. Tests conclusively demonstrated unacceptable levels of interference with L1 C/A.

    Consider the proposed, high-powered terrestrial signal one quarter-mile from a GPS receiver. This produces a power ratio of 5 billion (broadband) to one (GPS). To visualize that power ratio, consider Niagara Falls, which produces about a billion watts. Compared to that, GPS power is a tablespoon of water dropped from five feet, once per second (about 0.2 watts). This is the power ratio that was almost authorized with 40,000 ground-based transmitters in the U.S. At a city block away, the effect is 10 times worse.

    To quantify interference effects, some initial tests were run and measured broadband effects used for analysis. Cell-tower locations near Las Vegas, Nevada, approximated the broadband transmitter locations. The nearby airport, McCarran Field, has three RNAV (GPS) approaches. As expected, GPS users on the ground would be significantly jammed, but the effect on aircraft would be nine times worse than the impact on ground receivers. This is due to altitude (line of sight), geometry, and the sensitivity of aircraft receivers. 

    The 12 broadband transmitters around McCarran Field would jam all of the RNAV GPS approaches to all three runways. Signals of this type would effectively shut down or severely limit operations at the airport. 

    Signals in the GPS band will increase in the next decade as the newer GNSS become operational. The proposed, adjacent broadband is even more incompatible with these newer signals since they will be closer in frequency. Note that the whole approach was rejected, solely on the basis of L1/CA. It was not even tested against the other, more susceptible, modern signals. The worst would have been yet to come, had they been authorized to broadcast in the adjacent band. 

    Adjacent bands can continue to broadcast non-GNSS signals originating in space because the power levels will be comparable with the PNT spectrum. But we must be very vigilant to stop any high-power terrestrial signals from being allowed. They would become, effectively, authorized jammers. There should be no spectrum reallocation to ground transmitters until technology has been thoroughly demonstrated to solve any problems, (particularly for the high-precision users) and there is enough time to re-equip the users. 

    Europeans should have two other important frequency authorization concerns. First, there is a legal barrier within the United States to using Galileo signals. They have not been formally authorized. I think it is a bureaucratic glitch, but it is something we in the United States have to solve; we do want to use all GNSS signals. Stay tuned!

    There is another concern. A group at the Electronic Communications Committee, European Commission, recommends allowing pseudolites in the L1 GNSS band. As an experienced user of pseudolites for aircraft landing and some other applications, I believe this is a very risky idea; pseudolites can be very useful, but frequencies should be found elsewhere to avoid unexpected interference. 

    Stiff Legal Penalties for Interference. The second PreAction is to enact stiff legal penalties for GPS jamming, both in terms of jail time and fines. The goal is to deter the ubiquitous $33 GPS jammer that one can buy on the Internet. 

    On the U.S. FCC website, the agency lists the penalties for having a GPS jammer. Forfeitures range up to $16,000, and they might even put you in jail. The Australians take a much stronger view: up to five years imprisonment or $850,000 in some cases. Some people are alarmed by these heavy penalties and call them brutal. However, they are not always imposed, and if jamming and spoofing is intentional, especially where the landing of airplanes is concerned and lives are at stake, I think a strong deterrent is warranted. 

    Stop Jammer Manufacturing, Sales. The third pre-action is to prevent proliferation by shutting down manufacturing and web sales of jammers. What is the status?

    The FCC website states that manufacturers should comply with the law: stop marketing these devices in the United States and stop selling and shipping to addresses in the United States. The loophole is you apparently can manufacture these devices if you sell them outside the U.S. Now, I have a little difficulty with this. I have pointed this out to the DHS and others; hopefully, stronger action will be taken.

    The FCC told me in an open meeting a few months ago that they were shutting down the websites where these devices are sold. But about three weeks ago, I went online and immediately found a website that sells nine different devices to jam GPS and cellphone devices. Indeed, there were jammers, all very affordable, for jamming just about everything. More recently, the FCC assessed a multi-million dollar penalty against such a jammer manufacturer. We will see if this actually happens. I hope they accelerate these efforts.

    Now for the ReActions.

    Detect Jamming. To stop jamming, the first step is to know when it is occurring. There are a variety of ways to do this. Some devices or concepts are already on the table: for example, a Chronos CTL3510 GPS Jammer Detector, an Exelis Signal Sentry Jammer Detector, and the J911 cell phone detection and reporting of jamming, an example from NavSys.

    The idea behind the NavSys J911 is that all GPS-equipped smartphones have the capability to detect jamming. This does not pinpoint jammer location, but alerts authorities to the problem. Phone location can be reported to a central database for the next two actions.

    Pinpoint Jammer Location. Techniques range from directional antennas to time-difference-of-arrival using Fast Fourier Transforms. The latter was demonstrated for the FAA at Stanford more than 10 years ago: location pinpointed within five meters. Cell towers could implement such techniques, since they have accurate time and could run correlations. There are already commercial GPS jamming locators: something called a JLOC (NaySys Jammer Locator). The British are using similar techniques for jammer detection on some of their freeways. 

    Eliminate Jammer. Having pinpointed the jammer, the next step is to physically eliminate it. What is the status? At Newark Airport there is an FAA, ground-based GPS augmentation system antenna right next to the turnpike. They are part of a blind landing system. In early 2010, there was an infamous jammer interfering with the FAA GPS receiver. It took three months to locate the offending truck driver and shut down the jammer. The good news is that, more recently, in the same general location, they located a similar moving jammer within 24 hours after the interference started. However, these are very special locations. Recent studies have suggested that interference sources are much more widespread. Note: Only certain enforcement personnel are authorized to seize the jammer and arrest its operator. 

    Prosecute. Having located the offender, the law should then be applied to prosecute. Leeway should be applied, commensurate with the circumstances. In this New Jersey case, the authorities say the perpetrator is liable for a forfeiture of $31,875.

    Toughen Receivers

    There are at least five well-known ways to toughen receivers, thereby increasing jam resistance: 

    • Increased satellite signal spreading (such as L1C, L5) allowing greater processing gain;
    • Integration with inertial navigation components;
    • Digital beam-steering or null-steering antennas;
    • Increased satellite power such as L5 (a difficult and fairly expensive technique);
    • Local antenna shading, for example, the top of an airplane, which is shaded from the jammer.

    These improvements cascade and are cumulative, but a remaining issue is to make such techniques more affordable.

    To illustrate these anti-jamming techniques, consider the effective area of a 1-kW jammer located on the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. A basic high-quality GPS receiver, within a line-of-sight range of 20 miles, will stop providing PNT. Simply using the newest L1C spread-spectrum GPS signal reduces the jamming area by about two thirds, allowing operation to about 10 miles from the Capitol. Adding inertial aiding allows PNT to within three miles, and adding digital beam-forming antennas and using aircraft natural shading brings the effective radius to about 0.1 mile, about the size of the capital building.

    The point is toughening the PNT receiver with the technologies mentioned is an extremely effective strategy.  It would require over 60,000 jammers to cover the same area as the original non-toughened GNSS receiver.

    Some techniques are very affordable today, while others, such as digital beam-forming antennas, remain too expensive for the ordinary user. In addition, there is a potential U.S. problem of export restrictions. Unfortunately, many of these existing restrictions have simply incentivized non-U.S. development of equivalent capabilities.

    Augment

    The last element of the PTA construct is to augment or substitute PNT sources. We are all aware of the coming revolution in multiple PNT sources from new GNSS. An all-GNSS receiver diversifies the frequencies and the signals, thereby reducing vulnerability to interference. It also improves availability for the sky-impaired user because of densification of satellites sources. Using satellites from multiple constellations can significantly improve availability, provided integrity requirements are met.

    With these additional GNSS constellations, there are three major levels of cooperation:

    • Compatible: no mutal interference;
    • Interoperable: working to allow common time and geodesy system;
    • Interchangeable: using accurately calibrated biases and offset. Any four SVs will suffice.

    The major issue again is probably integrity, because to ensure economic value, availability requires known integrity. As far as the U.S. FAA and ICAO are concerned, for precision aircraft operations the integrity value should be that the system be “out of spec” less than once in 1 billion times. To be productive they also would like zero minutes of unavailability. That may seem extreme, but commercial aviation and public safety demand it. Regarding integrity, some new GNSS are clearly making faster progress than others.

    It is useful to further examine the densifying opportunity of additional GNSS. The chart in Figure 3 shows how densification can impact the user. The number of satellites (SVs) available in the sky (assumed optimal distribution) is shown. The colors refer to whether 0, 1, or 2 SVs are out of commission for maintenance or repositioning (typical maximum is 1 for GPS). The measure of effectiveness is minutes of outage per day. Consider a shading angle of 60 degrees, representing a user near a rugged mountain slope area or a city. With the nominal 24 SV GPS constellation (the GPS specification is 24 despite the U.S. having 31 active SVs), the outages, due to geometry alone, are six to ten hours. Improvement with additional satellites is dramatic and quite non-linear. With 33 satellites (about a 37% increase in density) outages are zero minutes per day to 33 minutes if one satellite is out for maintenance (reduction by a factor of over 10!). Of course, SVs could be from different GNSS constellations if they are truly interchangeable and have the required integrity. The clear message is that about 33 SVs are needed to cover reasonably high elevation angles.

    Figure 3. How densification of additional GNSS can affect the user.
    Figure 3. How densification of additional GNSS can affect the user.

    Integrity Monitoring. Currently, the U.S. GPS control segment continuously monitors GPS satellites. If a fault is found, they set the satellite inoperative until the problem is resolved, which may take many minutes. This alarm time is not fast enough for precision aircraft landing and approach (the requirement is six seconds to alarm). For these rapid integrity alarms, the United States relies on the FAA’s WAAS, and Europe uses EGNOS to monitor the basic GPS L1 C/A signal. Soon, the EGNOS message will include Galileo integrity alerts. Unfortunately, the United States does not yet have a plan for reciprocal WAAS monitoring of Galileo signals. In fact, formal approval to even use these signals has not yet been granted by the U.S. FCC. 

    Self Integrity (RAIM). If an all-GNSS receiver has more than six satellites in view, the user can use the Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) technique. This allows the user to cross-check each measurement against others to find erroneous satellites and guard against spoofing. Take the recent GLONASS situation. With a good RAIM PNT receiver, the user could quickly isolate the large errors from the combined set of GPS/GLONASS measurements. In fact, some deployed receivers did just that. If all GNSS are totally interchangeable, it will be enormously helpful to implement RAIM. 

    The recent, prolonged GLONASS outage saddened us all because it reduced the credibility of all GNSSs. We hope the Russians will be forthcoming in announcing what happened and the corrections that are being made; hopefully, it won’t happen again.

    Fortunately, there is a third independent, real-time tracking network of 200+ sites, known as the Global Differential System (GDGPS). Although NASA administers GDGPS, local-country scientists maintain and operate individual sites in near real time. GPS is monitored down to centimeter precision. 

    A central issue for GDGPS is whether the integrity monitor capability itself has integrity. Because of redundancy and independence, a form of inverse RAIM, hereby named System Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (SAIM), can be used. Figure 4 depicts the number of independent looks or ranging measurements to a single satellite over various points on the Earth. You can see in the dark areas the value is 60, and even in the relatively unmonitored areas around South America, the redundancy is 20. At a typical spot, perhaps off Spain, it depicts 50-fold redundancy. By cross-checking the dozens of GDGPS measurements for each satellite, a strong integrity cross-check can be created. The GDGPS plan is to also monitor Galileo as it becomes operational. Thus, GDGPS has excellent prospects to provide real-time integrity assessments for all users and all operational constellations. We need plans to connect all users to these potential integrity alarms.

    Figure 4. The number of independent looks or ranging measurements to a single satellite over various points on the Earth.
    Figure 4. The number of independent looks or ranging measurements to a single satellite over various points on the Earth.

    There are three classes of ground-based augmentations:

    Pseudolites. Ground augmentations could also include pseudolites broadcasting GPS-like signals for additional ranging. While somewhat helpful, this technique cannot cover large areas and can act as a strong interference source if the signal is in any GNSS frequency band. For this reason, in my opinion, pseudolites should never be authorized in GNSS frequencies.

    Distance-Measuring Equipment. Modernized DME, planned as a GPS supplement by the U.S. FAA, is very valuable for the airborne users. Most ground users derive no benefit from DME because they do not have line of sight to the widely scattered transmitters. Ohio University’s Frank van Gras is working for the FAA on a DME plan should GPS not be available. It involves moving from the so-called legacy DME to the enhanced DME to ensure continuous aviation operations. 

    eLoran. eLoran, covering expandable local regions, uses a powerful signal at an entirely different frequency. It is two-dimensional, but in calibrated areas differential (eDLoran) is perhaps as accurate as 10 meters for harbor areas and similar purposes. 

    I chaired a study of eLoran for the FAA in 2006. Initially skeptical, the study members finally concluded (unanimously) that eLoran: 

    • meets the needs of all identified critical applications: 10–20 meter navigation accuracy for harbor entrance; 0.3 mile required navigation performance (RNP 0.3); stratum 1 frequency precision and 50-ns time accuracy.
    • is a modern system: new infrastructure, solid state transmitters, state-of-the-art time and frequency equipment, uninterruptible power supplies; new operating concepts, time of transmission, all-in-view signals, message channel with differential corrections, integrity; new digital user equipment, processes eLoran and GPS signals interchangeably, compact H-field antennas eliminate p-static.
    • is affordable: Less than $143M to fully complete eLoran, avoid costs of decommissioning existing Loran-C infrastructure; operations and maintenance currently $37M/year, reduced with eLoran-enabled automation.

    And our group concluded it was the most prudent and cost-effective general augmentation or backup to GPS.

    The National PNT Advisory Board also unanimously recommended that we deploy eLoran. The departments of Transportation and Homeland Security supported it; then, after a change of administrations, in a budget crunch, it was defunded, and the dismantling of existing Loran C stations began. Congress now may be taking action, and the recent GLONASS outages should give an impetus to that. 

    Who Will Implement PTA?

    To my knowledge, many elements are currently being pursued, some by GPS World readers. But I can identify no entity that has the authority, the knowledge, the breadth, and the resources to create a single, well-focused program. This reminds me of a fable from Aesop regarding ants. When no leadership emerges, the ants have to band together to solve the problem. Yes, I am suggesting that we are the ants and we all must contribute to the solution, as well as seeking governmental agencies to step up to the responsibility. 

    In that regard I have a “to do” list. We must:

    • Protect PNT.
      • Vigorously defend the spectrum.
      • Work with lawmakers to increase legal penalties for PNT interference.
      • Work with manufacturers and law enforcement to improve timeliness and accuracy of interference identification (crowd-sourcing, every cell phone a detector).
      • Field jammer location equipment.
    • Toughen PNT.
      • Develop industry (ICAO/RTCA/RTCM) standards for deep inertial integration and directional antennas.
      • Develop vector receivers (all GNSS).
      • Continue to implement ARAIM and inertial for integrity (+WAAS/EGNOS).
      • Encourage users to move to rugged receivers.
    • Augment PNT.
      • Expand integrity notifications to include GDGPS.
      • Develop RTCA standards for seamless DME and GPS/GNSS.
      • Implement eLoran and develop RTCM standards for seamless use.
      • Develop an international process for integrity certification of all GNSS (GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou).

    In conclusion, the rumors of the death of GPS, in my opinion, are greatly exaggerated. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water. Instead let’s accelerate and expand PTA to Protect our band, and Toughen our receivers, and Augment GPS to ensure that PNT is available for all users now and in the future. 

    In the words of American poet Robert Frost,

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep, 

    But we have promises to keep, 

    And miles to go before we sleep, 

    And miles to go before we sleep.

    Thank you.


    BRAD PARKINSON has been the Edward C. Wells Endowed Chair (emeritus) at Stanford University, where he is a recalled professor of aeronautics and astronautics.

    He co-founded the well-known Stanford GPS Laboratory and led the development of many innovative uses of GPS, including blind aircraft landing, precision farm tractors, and the prototype of the FAA’s WAAS. He also directed development and was a co-PI for the successful test of Einstein known as Gravity Probe-B sponsored by NASA. He worked in various executive or board capacities at Trimble Navigation, Intermetrics, Rockwell International, and The Aerospace Corporation.

    As an Air Force colonel, from 1972 to 1978, he was the chief architect and first director of the NAVSTAR GPS development program, retiring from the service after orbiting the first GPS satellites and proving GPS capabilities. He is a fellow of five professional societies and recipient of dozens of awards, including:sharing the 2003 Draper Prize with Ivan A. Getting for leading the development of the Global Positioning System.

  • Royal Institute Hosts New Navigation Conference

    Royal Institute Hosts New Navigation Conference

    INC_2015_logoThe Royal Institute of Navigation is launching a new international conference series, tackling some of the biggest issues across the domains of modern navigation: land, sea, air and space.

    The RIN is now accepting abstracts for the conference.

    The International Navigation Conference 2015, set for February 24-26, 2-15, is planned as a first event in a new series of world-class conferences. The first conference will highlight the state of the art in fields such as GNSS and Galileo, indoor positioning, autonomous transport, security and resilience of navigation in the world of cyber attacks, and new quantum technologies. The event will be of special interest to the maritime, aviation, PNT, transport, research and development and security communities.

    Speakers, and the topics they will discuss, include:

    • Privacy In Tracking (smartphones and indoor navigation) – Google
    • Security and resilience — Dana Goward, president and executive director, U.S .Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation
    • Multi-Constellation GNSS — Gian Gherado Calini, GSA
    • Multi-Sensor Integration — Professor Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, The Ohio State University
    • Quantum Technologies — Sir Peter Knight, professor of Quantum Optics and Senior Research Investigator, Imperial College London
    • Emerging Trends and Current Challenges — Colin Beatty FRIN, CBiL
    • Autonomy in transport — BAE, ASTREA
    • Legal Aspects of Navigation — Professor Frans von der Dunk, Institute of Space Law, Leiden University

    To learn more, visit the conference website.

  • The System: GLONASS Fumbles Forward

    The System: GLONASS Fumbles Forward

    GLONASS PLOT from the Roscosmos GLONASS Information-Analytical Centre, showing the 12-hour outage, with full service eventually restored on April 2.
    GLONASS PLOT from the Roscosmos GLONASS Information-Analytical Centre, showing the 12-hour outage, with full service eventually restored on April 2.

    Two April Disruptions Furnish Fodder for Multi-GNSS Receivers and Alternative PNT

    In an unprecedented total disruption of a fully operational GNSS constellation, all satellites in the Russian GLONASS broadcast corrupt information for 11 hours, from just past midnight until noon Russian time (UTC+4) on April 2 (or 5 p.m. on April 1 to 4  a.m. April 2, U.S. Eastern time). This rendered the system completely unusable to all worldwide GLONASS receivers. Full service was subsequently restored.

    “Bad ephemerides were uploaded to satellites. Those bad ephemerides became active at 1:00 a.m. Moscow time,” reported one knowledgeable source. GLONASS navigation messages contain, as they do for every GNSS in orbit, ephemeris data used to calculate the position of each satellite in orbit, and information about the time and status of the entire satellite constellation (almanac); user receivers on the ground processed this data to compute their precise position.

    The GLONASS fix could not take effect until each satellite in turn could be reset, during its pass over control stations in Russian territory, in the Northern Hemisphere, thus taking nearly 12 hours.

    During the outage, CEO Neil Vancans of Altus Positioning Systems reported “We are currently experiencing calls from customers all over the world who are experiencing GLONASS ‘outages’ and we have advised customers to switch GLONASS tracking off on our receivers.”

    Such a — possibly human, possibly computer-generated — error could conceivably occur with GPS, Galileo, or BeiDou. “Another reason to have backups,” mused Richard Langley of the University of New Brunswick. “And not just other GNSS.”

    Trouble Chronolog. The constellation suffered a second failure two weeks later. On April 14, eight GLONASS satellites were simultaneously set unhealthy for about half an hour, meaning that most GLONASS or multi-constellation receivers would have ignored those satellites in positioning computations. In addition, one other satellite in the fleet was out of commission undergoing maintenance. This might have left too few healthy satellites to compute GLONASS-only receiver positions in some locations.

    The two blackouts followed two other high-profile disasters: the destruction-upon-launch of three new GLONASS satellites in July 2013, and the Pacific drowning-upon-launch of three satellites in December 2010.

    Internal Dialog. The semi-official Russian news daily Izvestia (“Truth”) reported that the loss of service was inconsequential for Russian users. Loose translation courtesy of Google:

    “Temporary GLONASS failure has not led to tangible consequences for consumers of services because chip manufacturing exclusively with GLONASS for the mass market is practically nil: there are chips that work only with the GPS signals, and there are those that see both GPS and GLONASS.”

    In other words, there are practically no mass-market devices, even in Russia, that use exclusively GLONASS.

    “In any case, the failure of the entire system for a long period is a serious blow to the image of GLONASS, especially in a situation where Russia has made efforts to promote domestic navigation system to external markets. Plus in 2012, the Russian government officially promised to maintain the characteristics of the international community GLONASS at the proper level for 15 years.”

    Industry View, Multi-GNSS. During the first outage, chip company Broadcom was conicidentally conducting multi-constellation receiver tests in Asia. Frank van Diggelen, the company’s chief GNSS scientist, stated, “We have definitive data to show how a multi-constellation receiver survives such an outage. Test data coincident with the GLONASS ephemeris disruption show how a GPS/GLONASS/QZSS/BeiDou receiver survives the complete disruption of one of the constellations.”

    A Broadcom 47531receiver tracking GPS/GLONASS/QZSS/BeiDou signals simultaneously and using logic to analyze redundant measurements to check the validity of all measurements successfully identified and removed the bad GLONASS ephemeris, maintaining position continuity and accuracy. Another receiver under test at the same time, tracking only GPS and GLONASS, wandered significantly in its position reports.

    Industry View, Back Up PNT. Calling it an “unprecedented and deeply worrying total disruption…[that] shook the industry,” Locata Corporation reiterated its call for redundant terrestrial systems to back up GNSS in the wake of the outage.

    Nunzio Gambale, Locata CEO, said “We have been telling the industry for years that you cannot have a critically important capability like GPS without also having a backup! What is Plan B if the satellite systems fail? What replaces the space signal when there is a problem? This event should terrify every nation, government, and company that depends on navigation satellites for their business or, in some cases, their very lives.”

    GNSS navigation and timing functions underpin the world’s banking systems, stock exchanges, digital TV and Internet, cell-phone networks, and, in some cases, the national electricity supply, Locata pointed out. GPS, in particular, plays a crucial role in transportation, shipping, and logistics, serving as the enabling technology for critical functions like air traffic control. Reliability is therefore not just important; it is essential across all applications.

    “We ignore the possibility of these ‘Black Swan’ events at our own peril,” added Chris Rizos of the University of New South Wales.

    eLoran Authorization in Progress

    Russia’s April 1 GLONASS blackout occurred, ironically, only hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to preserve infrastructure that could support a backup system for GPS that could be used for critical infrastructure and applications in the event of a similar disaster occurring in the United States.

    The 2014 Coast Guard Authorization Act requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to halt dismantling and disposal of infrastructure that could be used for a terrestrial system during times and in places where GPS is not available.

    DHS had announced in 2008 that it would build such a backup system, but it never did so, and actually began dismantling, destroying, and divesting itself of Loran equipment and properties. The equipment, facilities, and sites could be used to implement a new generation eLoran system for GPS backup, among other applications. Despite strong recommendations to the contrary by its own panel of experts, the Obama administration, DHS, and the Coast Guard moved in 2009 to kill the Loran program.

    Watchdogs. Congress has lately become more visibly concerned about the vulnerability of the nation’s space systems. The 2014 National Defense Authorization Act tasked the administration with reporting on how it was going to provide necessary national security capabilities when space systems were disrupted. More recently, Congressmen Duncan Hunter (Republican, California), chair of the House Coast Guard and Marine Transportation Subcommittee, held a hearing at which he expressed his concern that the nation has no backup for GPS. He also expressed his frustration with the Department of Homeland Security, reporting that “They said they need to do a study about their study.”

    Congressman John Garamendi (Democrat, California), commented “GPS will go down one day. The question is, is there a backup?”

    The legislation passed by the House authorizes DHS to partner with public or private entities to build a system that would not only back up GPS, but also work indoors, underground and underwater — all characteristics of long-wave Loran technology.

    Resilient PNT. Dana Goward, president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, said such a project would be relatively inexpensive. “If the existing equipment and infrastructure are preserved and reused, the system could be restored and put into operation for less than half the cost to dispose of it.”

    “It isn’t an issue of money,” Goward continued. “It is a question of the government taking this problem seriously and acting on it.”

    The foundation has as offered to partner with the government to build the system.

    “Our government has known about this issue for a long time,” Goward said. “At least since 2001. And there has been a standing presidential direction to obtain backup capability since 2004. But for some reason, it hasn’t yet happened.”

    The government’s official website about GPS (www.gps.gov) has recently updated its page on eLoran and Loran-C with a tracking log for Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014, which now goes to the Senate.

    IRNSS’s Second of Seven

    India’s Space Research Organisation launched a navigation satellite on April 4. IRNSS-1B is the second of seven that will comprise the first-generation Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). It joins IRNSS-1A, already in orbit.

    IRNSS will consist of three geostationary satellites and two pairs in inclined geosynchronous orbits. Each IRNSS satellite uses a rubidium-based atomic clock to keep time, transmitting signals on L and S-band frequencies at 1176.45 and 2492.028 megahertz respectively.

    Lag in Recent GPS IIF’s Health Status

    By Richard Langley

    The GPS Block IIF satellite, IIF-5 or SVN64 (PRN30), launched on February 21, had not as of press time been set healthy. Typically, GPS satellites are checked out and made operational within about a month after launch.

    The delay is due to an extended navigation test being performed by the GPS master control station. A navigation upload for SVN64 was performed in March with ephemeris and clock data as usual streching weeks in advance. However, unlike with operational satellites, no further updated uploads have been performed. The aging ephermis and clock data gradually becomes less and less accurate as time goes by, but should degrade gracefully.

    Some observers will have noticed that the received navigation data from SNV64 changes infrequently. Currently, the navigation data changes once per day with an epoch of 13:00 GPS Time, unlike every two hours with operational satellites. And the data fit interval is 26 hours, compared to four hours.

    The test is scheduled to run until mid-May.

     

  • Out in Front: How Much Farther?

    For some years now, we have been talking about GNSS interoperability. The concept has received so much careful attention at conferences, in R&D laboratories, in international working group forums, and behind closed high-level government and military doors, that one might understandably conclude that we have talked interoperability into existence.

    Not quite. Not nearly. Not by the farthest, if measuring into the next decade constitutes far, reach of our actual, real-world grasp.

    “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.” William Arthur Ward, a professional inspirer of the 20th century, said that.

    For nearly as many years now, we have been talking about GPS and GNSS backup. Similarly, the concept has undergone careful examination and much repeated (’til blue in the face) urging and warning and alarum-
    sounding and planning and conjecturing and running through the halls of Congress. One might understandably conclude that we have conjured backup for critical infrastructure into actual, tangible, effective existence.

    Again, not quite.

    “Everybody talks about GPS backup, but nobody does anything about it.” Mark Twain said that.

    April’s GLONASS downfall prompted distinguished industry leaders to again take up cudgels for multi-GNSS and for redundant PNT. They deserve and require our support, on all fronts, whether in the public arena, the lab, or the marketplace. But neither concept yet exists, truly and pervasively, that is to say effectively for all users.

    When will reliable, robust, consistent and continuous positioning, navigation, and timing become a reality?  Should we rely on whatever technology we currently possess until the perfect system comes available, or should we continuously upgrade at each iterative step along the way?

    We take up this topic in our June 5 webinar, “How Much Farther to the Promised Land? Purchase Decisions in the Evolving Landscape of GPS, Multi-GNSS, and Alternative PNT.”

    Four speakers will present:

    • a high-precision GNSS manufacturer,
    • a mass-market GNSS manufacturer,
    • an alternative PNT provider,
    • a design and manufacturing firm,

    followed by questions from you, our audience. Come for a glimpse into the future, and estimations of its distance and time of travel from current location.

    Among the key insights: technology changes too fast to wait until the next generation of a product to add new capabilities, when doing so risks loss of competitive edge or, worse, risks introducing a new product already obsolete. A mid-lifecycle component change can deliver both greater performance and cost savings. For details on this prior to June 5, visit the White Paper section of our website.

  • PNT Advisory Board Hears Air Force CNAV Plan

     

    The U.S. National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board has published the minutes of its December 4–5, 2013, meeting, opening with a quote from Albert Einstein, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them,” courtesy of Board Chair Dr. James Schlesinger. Among many other topics addressed, the Board heard a report from Major General Martin Whelan, Director of Requirements, Air Force Space Command, on the road ahead for implementation of the GPS Civil Navigation (CNAV) message on L2C and L5. The subject has stirred some controversy of late, particularly between the U.S. Departments of Transportation (DoT) and Defense (DoD), and DoT is currently seeking public comments on the plan.

    The meeting minutes relay the gist of General Whelan’s CNAV remarks as follows:

    “While sequestration is having various impacts on DoD budgets, thus far GPS quality, service and refresher plans are unaffected. The FY15 budget is under development.

    “CNAV has been under discussion for a considerable time. Currently, L2C and L5 signals are being transmitted, but without a navigation message. AFSPC is working hard to activate these messages as soon as possible. One of the reasons for the delay is that additional time was needed to complete testing prior to activation. Testing began in late summer 2013 and, based on initial test results, a “way ahead” has been plotted. Gen William Shelton, AFSPC commander, wished to assure the Advisory Board of his unwavering commitment to providing full-time broadcast CNAV messaging capability on L2C and L5 as soon as possible.

    “The CNAV capability will add diversity and robustness for dual frequency users. Gen Shelton intends to provide details plans to the NCO and a report to the next EXCOM meeting. Current plans are to begin initial broadcasting in the spring of 2014. CNAV uploads will occur twice weekly. The signal will meet GPS Standard Positioning System (SPS) standards, but may not achieve current accuracy levels until full implementation in late 2014.

    “CNAV live sky testing occurred in June and was conducted in cooperation with civil, industry, and international partners. The two-week test series included independent assessment and verification. The tests identified four errors that required action. The first, which was addressed in real time, related to implementation of the test series. The second required improvement to the tools suite, which should be totally integrated into the ground segment by December 2014. The third and fourth errors required patches to satellite software. All four issues are now regarded as closed.”

    The meeting minutes report this further discussion of CNAV.

    “Dr. Schlesinger raised the topic of sequestration and how, based on his early career in budgeting, no budget item is sacrosanct. GPS has enjoyed protection from Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, but he is now stepping down and his replacement not yet known. This could provide an opportunity for “the men with the green eyeshades” to come forward to eliminate things.

    “Gen Whelan said he agreed that with sequestration, everything – including GPS – is on the table. However, AFSPC continues to strive to avoid any degradation in service. He also welcomed the continued support of the Advisory Board.

    “Dr. Schlesinger quoted from a 2006 document: “Our position is to continue to provide the best space-based positioning, navigation and timing service in the world.” The Chinese are now “moving up” on GPS. How is GPS going to stay ahead?

    “Gen Whelan said AFSPC is aware of China’s steps in capacity and signal diversity. This, however, does not alter his confidence that GPS remains the “Gold Standard” of world GNSS systems. AFSPC is committed to maintain GPS leadership. However, because of sequestration and budget cuts, this position could not be the position of some people outside of the Air Force.”

    A subsequent presentation from the Department of Transportation given by Karen Van Dyke, Director for PNT, DOT Research & Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), did not directly mention CNAV, according to the meeting minutes, but did include this update on civil signal monitoring, taken from the meeting minutes.

    “DOT is responsible for performance monitoring of GPS civil signals. She called attention to the International Committee on GNSS’s (ICG’s) transparency principle that “Every GNSS provider should publish documentation that describes the signal and system information, the policies of provision, and the minimum levels of performance offered for its open service.” Currently, this is only done on GPS L1 C/A signals. Performance standards for L2C and L5 have not yet been established. The crucial function of signal/service monitoring is to verify that commitments to GNSS performance are being met. Additionally, monitoring improves the situational awareness for GNSS operators, and provides assurance that any civil service failure is detected and resolved promptly. All these factors support the GPS performance history that has made it the world’s Gold Standard.

    “The DOT “GPS Civil Monitoring Performance Specifications” (CMPS) document defines the measurements required to show if performance standards for monitoring GPS’ signals/service are met. The document’s first version was developed in 2005 and listed 193 requirements, covering performance monitoring, signal monitoring, non-broadcast data requirements, and reporting and archiving requirements. The document was later updated to align with the 2008 GPS SPS Performance Standard. The most current CMPS was completed in April 2009 and is available at GPS.gov. Since 1999, DOT has published quarterly reports providing analysis of SPS performance for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).”

    Further Topics

    Other reports delivered to the Advisory Board, and available in the the full meeting minutes, available here,  include the following. In addition, many PDFs of the individual reports  are available through the meetings Agenda page.

    Global Differential GPS System as a Civil Monitoring Utility
    Dr. Yoaz Bar-Sever, Manager, Global Differential GPS System, NASA Net Propulsion Laboratory

    Automated Driving & Safety Considerations (collision avoidance warning, vehicle-to-vehicle communications, and driverless automobiles)
    Russell Shields, PNT Board Member, founder of Ygomi LLC

    GPS Disruptions: Efforts to Assess Risks to Critical Infrastructure
    The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Report on Enhancing Interagency Actions
    Eli Albagli, senior analyst, GAO

    2013 National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)
    Department of Homeland Security Implementation
    Robert Kolasky, Director Strategy and Policy, DHS Office of Infrastructure Protection

    Economic Impacts of GPS on Key Sectors in the U. S. Economy
    Dr. Nam D. Pham, economist/managing partner, NDP Consulting Group

    GNSS Signal Capability – Multi-Constellation Management
    Cross-Correlation of Existing & Evolving C/A System Signals
    Dr. A. J. Van Dierendonck, AJ Systems

    How Far to Take GNSS Interoperability/Interchangeability?
    Ken Hodgkins, Office of Space & Advanced Technology, Department of State.

     

  • Expert Advice: The Low Cost of Protecting America

    Dana A. Goward
    Dana A. Goward

    By Dana A. Goward

    Highly precise and free for use by anyone with an inexpensive receiver, GPS and other GNSS are great. Their navigation and timing signals have been incorporated into nearly every aspect of modern life, from synchronizing power grids to financial systems, the Internet, telecommunications, and transportation. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimates that these signals are used by all 16 of U.S. critical national infrastructure sectors, and are essential to the functioning of 11.

    Jamming Threat Growing. When these faint signals can’t be received, people start to feel the impact immediately. Usually outages have minimal impact because they are localized and short-lived. Often they occur because the user is temporarily in an area without a good view of the sky. More and more often, though, they are due to the presence of one of a growing number of people with jamming devices (many of which also block cell phone frequencies).

    Inexpensive, easy to obtain, and illegal, jammers are spreading as people become more concerned about privacy and being tracked by their employer, spouse, the National Security Agency, and others. Although the government tries to collect information on jamming incidents, no widespread detection system has been established, and few verbal reports are received. For the calls that do come in, it is often impossible to determine which are because of user error and which are purposeful interference.

    For those cases where jamming is discovered, locating and identifying the perpetrator is difficult and often impossible. As one example, in spite of near-daily disruption of GPS that caused the shutdown of a new landing system at Newark International Airport, it took the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission more than two years of concerted effort to identify the single perpetrator.

    If a navigation satellite outage became widespread and lasted more than a few hours because of a major solar flare, software problem, hacker or cyber-attack, most authorities agree that the impacts would be catastrophic. While much of the information is classified, we do know that transportation would immediately become much less efficient and more dangerous; even many traffic lights are coordinated using satellite timing. Telecommunications, financial, energy and other systems would soon begin to fail as their back-up timing systems lost synchronization with each other. Power grids would lose synchronizations and outages may occur as transmission points became overloaded.

    More than speculation, these problems have been documented in academic papers, proven in government tests in the United States and the United Kingdom, and the early stages of such impacts have been observed in localized and short-term outages in the United States. Most dramatically, they have been demonstrated by North Korea’s intentional jamming of South Korea.

    Spoofing. Of equal concern is the problem of spoofing. The world’s preeminent ethical spoofer of satellite navigation receivers, Todd Humphreys of the University of Texas, Austin, has demonstrated how easy it is to take control of unmanned aircraft and ships on autopilot by sending a slightly stronger navigation signal, making the receiver think it is somewhere other than where it is. Iran claims to have done something similar, capturing a U.S. military drone in 2010. Humphreys has also shown (on paper) how time-stamps on automated financial transactions could be altered through spoofing. This could do things like reverse the buy-sell equation at a stock exchange, allowing someone to sell at a higher price before buying at a lower one.

    The Government Solution

    What is to be done? The challenges have been extensively documented and discussed since at least the 1990s. In 2004, President Bush issued the National Space Policy (NSPD-39) that addressed the problem. Although portions of it are still classified, contained within the publically releasable section was direction for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to, in coordination with the Department Homeland Security (DHS): “develop, acquire, operate, and maintain backup position, navigation, and timing capabilities that can support critical transportation, homeland security, and other critical civil and commercial infrastructure applications within the United States, in the event of a disruption of … space-based positioning, navigation, and timing services.”

    eLoran Recommended. In response, the two departments consulted numerous experts and commissioned a study by the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) to determine what system or systems should be procured. The IDA study team, which included Brad Parkinson, widely recognized as the father of GPS, unanimously recommended that an existing and outdated nation-wide navigation system called Loran-C be greatly updated and modernized to eLoran. Such a system would provide a navigation and timing signal comparable with and complementary to GPS. They concluded that:

    “eLoran is the only cost-effective backup for national needs; it is completely interoperable with and independent of GPS, with different propagation and failure mechanisms, plus significantly superior robustness to radio frequency interference and jamming. It is a seamless backup, and its use will deter threats to US national and economic security by disrupting (jamming) GPS reception.”

    What the IDA did not find, but that has since become evident, is that establishing an eLoran system could be an important part of a network to identify and locate jamming attempts. Since all eLoran transmitters would be synchronized with GPS, and many navigation receivers would have both GPS and eLoran sensors, differences between the two systems could be immediately detected and reported.

    The body in charge of coordinating navigation and timing issues for the federal government is the National Space-Based Position Navigation and Timing Executive Committee (NPEC). It is chaired by the Deputy Secretaries of Transportation and Defense. Responding to early briefings on the IDA report (which was not formally published until 2009), the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security in 2007 told the NPEC that they had decided eLoran was the right answer. After further federal deliberations over how to create an eLoran system, 2008 saw:

    • A press release by DHS saying that the department would implement eLoran, using the old Loran-C infrastructure (February 7, 2008)
    • The DHS 2009 Budget in Brief (February 2008) propose transferring legacy Loran-C systems and $34.5 million/year from Coast Guard to the National Protection & Programs Directorate (NPPD) within DHS, stating:

    “The FY 2009 budget transfers the budget authority for the LORAN C system from the United Sates Coast Guard to the NPPD. The Department, acting as Executive Agent, will begin development of enhanced eLORAN as a backup for GPS in the homeland.”

    • The National PNT Executive Committee endorse the above decisions (March 2008).

    Failure to Launch

    Unfortunately, DHS funding for 2009 came as part of a continuing resolution, and the Congress did not see fit to approve the transfer of funds from Coast Guard to NPPD.

    This was because influential members of Congress wanted the nation to have eLoran, but were concerned about the lack of a plan for transition of this important capability from one agency to another. The administration was asked to develop and submit a plan with with the next budget cycle. A year later, though, no plan had been presented, and the President’s request (and enacted legislation) for 2010 contained no request to move and upgrade the system. In fact, it contained provisions for shutting down and defunding the old Loran-C system without providing funds for NPPD or any other agency to establish the new eLoran capability.

    No Solution at All. What happened between one budget year and the next to take the nation from “solution-in-hand” to “no solution at all” is not a matter of public record. Internal administration budget deliberations are not generally released to the public. It does appear, though, that a new administration putting together its first real budget quite rightly wanted to shut down an antiquated system, but did not understand the importance of a new one. This, and many other factors, unquestionably played a role.

    Movement Backward

    Without any funding, DHS has since conducted several studies and experiments, but has done very little of substance to address this critical infrastructure issue. While Department of Defense (DOD) officials talk about the need for resilience, experts throughout government and industry decry the lack of action, and the Department of Transportation still has acquiring “backup position, navigation, and timing capabilities” on its to-do list, none have seen fit to move forward on their own.

    Felling Towers. Worse, DHS is actually reducing the nation’s ability to create eLoran and a wide-area interference detection and mitigation system. An ongoing effort to fell towers and dispose of equipment from the legacy Loran-C system will significantly increase the cost and time-to-operation of the new system the nation needs.

    The Way Forward

    Fortunately, awareness and understanding of the problem within government, and the general public has continued to grow.

    The U.S. National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board published a seminal white paper in 2010 on the topic, strongly recommending the establishment of an eLoran system. Todd Humphreys, the UK navigation authority, and others have provided numerous graphic demonstrations of the folly of relying upon just one electronic navigation system, and how things can go horribly wrong. Some of these have been well publicized. Other incidents are known only to a few.

    There are also signs that the U.S. intelligence, cyber, and defense communities are becoming more and more concerned. North Korea’s repeated jamming of satellite navigation and timing signals has delivered a particularly powerful lesson. South Korea has reacted by committing to establishment of a robust eLoran system. The UK has established an eLoran system and is expanding it. Russia and China have retained their versions of Loran-C and are using it to augment satellite services. Russia has announced it will upgrade its system to eLoran in cooperation with the UK, and China may not be far behind. Saudi Arabia is upgrading its system to eLoran, and India has plans for an eLoran network in the near future. In December, Iran announced it has established a land-based system with “powerful transmitters” that is “completely different with GPS.”

    Allies, adversaries, and economic competitors are augmenting satellite services with strong terrestrial ones. The United States will soon be one of only a small number of major economies that does not have a strong, difficult-to-disrupt terrestrial system protecting its critical infrastructure and providing value-added utilities. DOD’s chief information officer expressed interest in eLoran as part of DOD’s pivot to the Pacific. But providing a system at home is not in Defense’s job description, nor should it be.

    Respected leaders at the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security still see this as an important issue that needs to be addressed. The question for them now is not one of technology. The technology decision made in 2008 has since been revalidated by a plethora of academic papers, risk estimates, and white papers. eLoran still appears to be the most effective and least expensive solution available. DOT and DHS must resolve questions of governance and how to fund the system in one of the most difficult federal budgetary climates in decades.

    How? The answer could lie in a public-private partnership (P3). In such an arrangement, the government would bring its interests and the infrastructure it owns to the table. An entity in the non-profit sector or industry would provide investment to refurbish the infrastructure, stand up, and operate the system. Such a P3 enterprise could not only pay for itself, but be an on-going source of revenue for both the government and the private entity.

    The Business Model: Demand

    A well-configured eLoran system can provide navigation accuracy to within 8 to 10 meters and timing accuracy to within 30 nanoseconds. This meets the needs of an estimated 95 percent of users in the United States. While eLoran does not offer the sub-meter precision of a high end, augmented GPS/GNSS system, it has its own advantages. In addition to being very difficult to disrupt, its high-power (typically 400 kW transmitters), low-frequency (100 kHz) signal easily penetrates and is usable underground, inside buildings, and underwater — where satellite and cell phone signals on much higher frequencies cannot reach.

    The UK experience with eLoran and private surveys in the United States have shown high commercial demand for a ubiquitous, wireless, precise, and resilient time and navigation service. Power companies want to synchronize grids with a signal that can’t be disrupted by a delivery driver trying to avoid being tracked by his boss. Cell phone companies would be happy to have alternative timing capability in their networks, provided through inexpensive eLoran receivers. Operators of autonomous vehicles want a robust navigation signal and guaranteed communications. And it would be welcomed by the many users who, research shows, rely upon GPS/GNSS time for mission-critical applications, and who have no secondary source on which to fall back in the event of a disruption.

    Since eLoran easily penetrates inside buildings, underground, and underwater, it can be used for timing and navigation in many places where no other navigation and timing sources are available. For example, it has been used for underground and underwater navigation. When paired with an accurate satellite signal before going underground or submerging, eLoran could enable a navigation receiver to maintain a comparable level of precision for several hours. Even after that, it would provide the navigator an accurate underground/underwater compass, and a good position.

    The eLoran navigation and timing system now in operation in the United Kingdom also generates revenue by transmitting data. While the full potential of this third-party data-channel capability is still being explored, the ability to assure data delivery to, and communicate with such areas is appealing to many commercial and government organizations. Potential first-responders and commercial benefits appear almost limitless.

    The Business Model: Costs

    The cost for the P3 to standup and operate an eLoran system in the United States would be exceptionally low. Most of the needed infrastructure is already owned by the federal government in the form of the sites for the shuttered Loran-C system. Many of these still have transmission towers and other equipment that could be repurposed. Re-using this infrastructure and equipment would greatly reduce both the time and expense needed, compared to standing up the new system from scratch.

    Operating and maintenance costs would also be low. Solid-state equipment, remote monitoring, and other advances in technology make the process of re-establishing a transmission site fairly inexpensive. Today’s eLoran transmitting site consists of a tower, an equipment enclosure for the transmitter, a fence, and a backup generator. With only a modest investment to refurbish existing infrastructure, regular outlays to service capital debt would be minimal, at best.

    Some estimates predict that a terrestrial precise navigation and timing system, such as the one established in the United Kingdom and the one up for contract by South Korea, could be established in the continental United States within three years and for approximately $40 million, if the existing infrastructure were repurposed. Operating costs are estimated at approximately $16 million per year.

    Business Model: Revenues

    Significant national and homeland security concerns, high demand, and low cost (especially compared to any government space program) — clearly, but for a series of unfortunate bureaucratic reasons, eLoran would have been established in the United States, probably as a government-owned and operated system, long ago.

    But high demand and low cost are also excellent ingredients for a business enterprise, provided there are sources of revenue. An eLoran P3 could have multiple sources of revenue. Depending upon the type of partnership and business model(s) the government selected, surplus revenue could also be generated to help fund other programs or offset the deficit. Some of the possibilities include:

    ◾    Guaranteed Delivery Data Transmission. As mentioned earlier, eLoran’s high power and low frequency mean that the signal penetrates where few others will. In addition to navigation and timing information, which are inherent in the basic signal, low-rate data can also be included between the primary pulses. The highest demonstrated data transfer rate to date has been 1300 bps, which is fine for texting and issuing commands. Many believe that, with a modicum of research, that rate can be much higher. As the owner of the high-power transmitter network, the P3 would generate revenue the same as any telecommunications provider: by charging per message or for time on the network.

    Applications could include:

    • Assured wireless control of remote equipment and vehicles, including indoors, underground and underwater;
    • Information delivery to first responders and other crews regardless of location — especially good for pre-programmed emergency and operational commands to evacuate, use another procedure, and so on.
    • Immediate device updates and reprogramming. The ability to reach all of the enabled devices on a given network at the speed of light and virtually simultaneously has unlimited potential.

    ◾    PNT Interference Detection and Monitoring. One of the biggest challenges to countering jamming satellite navigation and timing signals is the lack of a detection network. The eLoran transmitter and receiver network will continuously synchronize with GPS/GNSS signals and instantly detect when differences between the two dissimilar systems occur. Instant reports could be generated to inform federal, state, and local authorities of the anomalies and their locations. Mobile disruptors could even be tracked as they drove down the highway, sailed through the port, or flew across the sky. The P3 could generate revenue by contracting to provide such information to private parties and government agencies concerned about interference incidents.

    ◾    Licensing Receivers. One of the simplest ways to generate revenue and endow the P3 would be for the government to assess a small fee on every eLoran and satellite navigation receiver sold in the United States. A one dollar fee per unit could generate more than $20 million per year and fund operation of the entire system. Such a fee could be discontinued as other sources of revenue from the system made it unnecessary.

    ◾    Broad-based User Fees. Since navigation and timing signals are essential to so much U.S. critical infrastructure, a case could be made that the cost to endow the P3 should be spread as broadly as possible across the technologies it supports. For example, a temporary 8-cent fee on every monthly U.S. cell phone and electric bill for just one year could provide enough funding to endow the P3 in perpetuity.

    ◾    Value-Added Services For High-End Users. More than 90 percent of the users of precise time in the United States require it at the microsecond (1,000 nanoseconds) level of accuracy. eLoran can provide a signal accurate to 30 nanoseconds. To achieve that level of precision, the eLoran network transmits data that compensates for low-frequency signal propagation over non-homogenous terrain. This correction data could be encrypted. Most users would access the signal at the microsecond level of accuracy for free. Revenue could be generated by charging those who desire the higher level of precision a fee for the encrypted portion of the signal.

    eLoran is an essential national and homeland security capability. The above list of potential revenue sources is just a sampling of the many ways a P3 could be funded. The point is that financing the enterprise need not come from tax dollars, and should not be an obstacle to its creation.

    The Public-Private-Partnership

    The U.S. government has had some great successes solving previously intractable problems through public-private-partnerships. Probably the best known of these are the P3s formed for housing on military bases. Establishing a business model that has private partners constructing and managing on-base housing produced more and higher quality housing for our troops.

    Such arragnements must be carefully managed, however.  Both the Congressional Budge Office and the Office of Management and Budget are understandably concerned that P3s may get a project going, but soon the costs may fall entirely on the government.

    Success in any endeavor often depends upon its execution. The type of partnership the government selects and creates will be key. While, at its heart, a P3 is just a contract, the nature and provisions of government contracts are endlessly varied. Issues to address will include how the infrastructure is provided, if it is to be retained in perpetuity by the government or will be conveyed to the private party, what length of contract will allow the private partner to recoup its initial investment, and the business model(s) to be pursued.

    The type of governance will also be important. Models vary from establishment of a self-funded government corporation to oversee daily operations, to an agency-supervised, performance-based contract that only requires regular reports on system availability and performance.

    Of course, the concerns of CBO and OMB must be met. Fortunately, the federal government is not without experience with P3s. Also, there are many supporting resources available, such as the National Council for Public Private Partnerships.

    We Have to Do It

    Establishing a public-private partnership will bring together the best of both the government and the private sector. For its part, the government will bring the legacy infrastructure and its interest in safeguarding the public good to the table. The private sector will bring financing, technical know-how and innovation. A better system for America will result than would have been possible if either were to act alone.

    It is unquestionably in our urgent national interest to address the problem now, before jamming becomes more widespread, or we have a larger, more damaging event. The need is clear. The technology exists and works great. All that remains is for dedicated leaders within government and the private sector to work together and implement the solution.


    Dana A. Goward is the president and executive Director of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to educating people about the need for and encouraging resilient navigation and timing ecosystems with services that complement each other and have different failure modes. See www.RNTFnd.org.

  • Qinetiq, Rockwell Demonstrate Multi-Constellation Galileo/GPS Secure Positioning for Governmental Applications

    On August 30, QinetiQ and Rockwell Collins demonstrated the first joint satellite navigation positioning using live signals from the encrypted governmental services from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) GPS Precise Positioning Service (GPS-PPS) and the new European Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS). The signals on GPS L1 and L2, together with Galileo PRS L1A and E6A, were processed and combined to form multi-frequency, multi-constellation position fixes.

    Positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services provided by GNSS, such as GPS and the forthcoming Galileo system, are essential to underpinning both commercial and economic activity (the EC estimates 6-7% of the developed world’s GDP) and the delivery of governmental responsibilities including the safety and security of citizens.

    GNSS systems such as GPS and Galileo make use of very low power signals and are subject to inadvertent interference, deliberate jamming and spoofing (where an attacker generates a false signal masquerading as a valid one to mislead a user receiver). Attacks on GNSS may range from low-level criminal nuisance (a delivery driver stopping their employer tracking them), enabling theft of high-value vehicles fitted with trackers, through to state-sponsored attacks. This is potentially a significant concern for a wide range of governmental users including law enforcement, security and emergency services, critical national infrastructure, transport and defense users. The use of multiple independent, secured navigation services provides significant improvements to navigation robustness and, along with other measures, offers substantial counters to these threats.

    “This has been our first opportunity to explore how secured navigation services on GPS and Galileo can be used together to provide users with critical reliance on PNT with robust and continuous navigation services,” Nigel Davies, Head of QinetiQ’s Secured Navigation Group said. “QinetiQ is proud to be a key, long-term contributor to the Galileo Programme, having been working closely with the European Space Agency (ESA), the European GNSS Agency (GSA), European industrial partners and European Member States since 2003.  QinetiQ and Rockwell Collins wish to thank ESA, the EC and GSA for support in accessing Galileo, as well as the UK Space Agency, UK Satellite Applications Catapult and the UK MOD for their support.”

  • Loctronix Offers Software-Defined Radio Module

    Loctronix Offers Software-Defined Radio Module

    Loctronix ASR-2300
    Loctronix ASR-2300

    Loctronix Corporation, a provider of unified positioning solutions for GNSS-challenged environments, is making available its new software-defined radio (SDR) module, the ASR-2300, for developing high-performance positioning, navigation and timing, and communication applications.

    The ASR-2300 will be on display September 16-19 at the Institute of Navigation annual meeting, ION GNSS+ 2013, in Nashville, Tennessee.

    “The ASR-2300 delivers advanced SDR capabilities in a small, mobile form-factor enabling developers to readily create and field complex SDR-based solutions. The module moves SDR out of the lab and into production, providing the critical piece for tapping advanced, multi-sensor/signals of opportunity for high-performance PNT,” stated Michael Mathews, Loctronix’ CEO and founder.

    According to Mathews, “The ASR-2300 is unique amongst the growing number of SDRs, having multiple, fully-integrated RF paths supporting reception of GNSS, cellular, ISM band, and UHF signals of opportunity. The ASR-2300 will benefit SDR developers working on demanding scientific, military, aerospace and commercial/industrial applications.”

    The ASR-2300 is a multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) transceiver module incorporating two wideband Field Programmable RF (FPRF) transceivers (300 MHz to 3.8 GHz) from Lime Microsystems, 10-axis accelerometer/gyro/compass/barometer sensors, and a large programmable FPGA capable of over 300 MiB/sec sustained communications with a host processor via USB 3.0 interface.  The module’s nine integrated RF path options and low size, weight, and power characteristics contribute to ease of integration and portability. Accommodating both internal 1 PPM TCXO or external frequency reference, multiple ASR-2300s can be inter-connected via an expansion port and/or UART interface, supporting real-time reception / transmission of 4, 6, 8 or more signals without the need for significant additional hardware.

    With on-board flash for storing developer customizable firmware and FPGA logic, the ASR-2300 can be configured to operate in a variety of different power profiles, maximizing battery life without requiring a host processor.  The modules will be factory-programmed with only the RF receiver capabilities enabled.  Developers can enable transmit functionality by modifying the firmware and waveforms.

    The A2300 Open Source Project at Myriad RF

    To encourage innovation in PNT and communications applications, Loctronix has partnered with Lime Microsystems to provide the source materials for the ASR-2300 module under open source licensing at the Myriad RF project.

    “The broad utility of the ASR-2300 makes it an ideal platform for prototyping and developing advanced applications in the communications and PNT markets. Developers can make their own boards using the documents and design database contained in the A2300 project and/or purchase hardware, development kits, support services, and licensed waveforms directly from Loctronix,” Mathews said.

    “Encouraging collaboration between the open source community and industry is a natural way to promote innovation and accelerate growth of SDR technology. We are delighted to partner with Loctronix to make their innovative ASR-2300 SDR design available to open source developers for creating advanced SDR applications,” said Lime Microsystems CEO Ebrahim Bushehri, Ph.D.

    The open-source software package includes basic drivers for Linux and Windows environments enabling both GNU Radio and embedded C/C++ developers to interface with the ASR-2300 module.  Developers can obtain source code and design documents for modifying the ASR-2300 to suit their own applications.

    The ASR-2300 will be available from Loctronix this November. Adaptors, antennas, and a housing kit will also be available that provide a variety of configuration options supporting bench-top testing to wearable, battery-operated field demonstrations.

  • GPS Source Awarded Contract for DAGR Distributed Device

    GPS Source Awarded Contract for DAGR Distributed Device

    The GLI-FLO by GPS Source.
    The GLI-FLO by GPS Source.

    GPS Source has received an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract with a maximum value of $16,613,430 for the procurement of defense advanced global positioning system receiver distributed devices (D3).  The Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., was the contracting activity (W15P7T-13-D-C116).

    GLI-FLO was developed by the defense contract engineering firm, GPS Source.  GLI-FLO is a DAGR Distributed Device (D3) that can replace the position, navigation and timing (PNT) role currently required of the DAGR or other GB-GRAM devices inside a fixed vehicle platform. Designed as a single, secure access point to multiple devices requiring PNT data on a fixed vehicle platform, it saves space, weight and power (SWaP).

    “The GLI-FLO contract award is an important milestone in GPS Source’s initiative for the defense market,” said Robert Horton, CEO of GPS Source. “Getting this award was a complicated process, but it helps fulfill our vision of continual innovation in GNSS Signal Availability, especially for the warfighter. We look forward to continuing to provide manufacturing and engineering support services to the Department of Defense.”

  • Spectracom Teams with Geodetics For Rugged PNT Equipment

    Spectracom Teams with Geodetics For Rugged PNT Equipment

    Spectracom announced today a strategic partnership with Geodetics Incorporated of San Diego, California. The partnership includes a variety of initiatives to enhance each company’s customer reach, channels, products and technology.

    The partnership includes a distribution agreement for Geodetics’ Geo-iNAV inertial navigation products. Spectracom will offer Geo-iNAV alongside its portfolio of precision timing, test and simulation equipment. Geo-iNAV is a fully integrated GPS-aided inertial navigation system that provides real-time, high-precision positioning and navigation solutions for manned and unmanned air, sea and ground vehicles. It combines GPS and sensor fusion to achieve centimeter-level real-time positioning and navigation for dynamic platforms.

    “In line with our long heritage in delivering robust precision time and frequency products and services, we understand the challenges our customers face to adopt and adapt new and often disparate GPS and GNSS technologies,” said Spectracom President and CEO, Lisa Withers. “We believe our partnership with Geodetics will help to simplify the integration of complex positioning, navigation and timing technologies and provide our customers with a broad range of GPS and inertial navigation platforms readily suited for today’s dynamic and mobile environments.”

    Geodetics President and CEO Lydia Bock added, “Spectracom’s global reach immediately widens the playing field for our inertial navigation products and technology. They have a keen sense of customer’s needs for the convergence of PNT in both military and commercial applications.”

    As the GNSS eco-system expands to support mission critical applications, so must the prevalence of interoperability and signal fidelity, and ultimately PNT applications must be able to withstand the temporary loss of GPS due to factors such as signal obscuration, Spectracom said. As such, contemporary GNSS signal management solutions must be resilient to various GPS impairments as required of the application. Geo-iNAV delivers this capability through six configurations. It is available in commercial as well as SAASM GPS configurations as well as a choice of IMU depending on accuracy requirements. It offers a low SWaP (size, weight and power) profile for autonomous vehicles and payloads on manned vehicles to meet a wide range of applications.

    As a part of Spectracom’s broader initiative to provide a comprehensive portfolio of GNSS signal management products, systems and services, the Geo-iNAV is the first in a series of compact and rugged solutions specific to PNT applications. In addition to simplifying complexity for its customers with contemporary, modular platforms, Spectracom’s market reach, together with the technical strengths of their partners such as Geodetics will accelerate time to market and aggregate the resources necessary to support unique and changing needs for precision references, simulation and signal test and analysis.

  • Brecht-Clark Replaces Russo as PNT Coordination Office Director

    brecht-clark-W
    Jan Brecht-Clark, director of the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing.

    Dr. Jan Brecht-Clark is the new director of the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing. She has held the post since December 17, 2012. The previous director, Anthony Russo, is now the chief program engineer in the Space Communications and Navigation Division of NASA.

    The National Coordination Office for Spaced-Based PNT is the permanent staff of the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing. It is the central node within the government for GPS-related policy matters.

    Brecht-Clark is a Senior Executive Service (SES) official from the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). She is recognized in the areas of research and policy development related to transportation safety and security. She has more than 30 years of experience with federal and state government offices as well as industry firms.

    In 2011-2012, Brecht-Clark served for 19 months as the Counselor for Transportation with the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Appointed by the Secretary of Transportation, she managed a team of professionals from across DOT, working to assist the government of Afghanistan in developing their governance capacity over transportation assets and responsibilities. Her team assisted the Afghan government in the design and approval of both a civil aviation authority and a railroad authority.

    Russo served as the director from January 19, 2010, to December 14, 2012. During that time, he was also an SES official from the DOT’s RITA. Russo also served as deputy director of the National Coordination Office from 2007 to 2009. During that time, he was an active duty Air Force Colonel representing the Department of Defense.