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  • Preparations Move Forward for Next Galileo Launch

     


    Galileo Flight Model #3 (FM3) is readied for the satellite’s fit check on the dispenser that will carry it and FM4 in a parallel arrangement on Soyuz’ next launch. The silver-colored dispenser is partly visible behind two mission team members during this activity in the Spaceport’s S1B payload preparation building.

     

    Both Galileo navigation satellites for Arianespace’s third Soyuz flight from the Spaceport are now in French Guiana, marking a new milestone for this mission scheduled in the second half of 2012, according to Arianespace.

    The Flight Model #4 (FM4) satellite arrived Friday at Félix Eboué International Airport near the capital city of Cayenne, delivered by a chartered Ilyushin Il-76TD cargo jetliner.

    Its FM3 co-passenger remains busy in the Spaceport’s S1B payload preparation building — completing its fit check with the dispenser for the dual-satellite payload arrangement on Soyuz. The dispenser was developed for Arianespace by RUAG Space, and carries the satellites in a parallel arrangement.

    These two spacecraft will join another pair of Galileo satellites launched by Arianespace in October 2011 on Soyuz’ maiden flight from French Guiana. All four are In-Orbit Validation platforms that will enable European industry to validate prototype Galileo-based receivers and services using actual satellite signals, while also allowing performance assessments of the ground system that will maintain the Galileo system’s precision.

    Arianespace is responsible for deploying the entire Galileo constellation, to be composed of 30 satellites in orbit as an independent global satellite navigation system for Europe.

    Galileo launches began with the 2005 and 2008 orbiting of two experimental satellites — GIOVE-A and GIOVE-B — carried on Soyuz vehicles operated from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by Arianespace’s Starsem affiliate. It was followed by October 2011’s maiden Soyuz launch from French Guiana with the constellation’s first two operational satellites.

    Arianespace is able to use a mix of both its medium-lift Soyuz and heavy-lift Ariane 5 launchers in deploying the full Galileo system, demonstrating the company’s flexibility in orbiting satellite constellations.


    The photo shows FM4’s unloading from the Ilyushin Il-76TD cargo jetliner at Cayenne’s Félix Eboué International Airport.


    The fourth Galileo flight model satellite being unloaded at Cayenne Airport in French Guiana on August 17. (Credits: ESA/EADS Astrium – Raoul Kieffer)

  • $3.7 Billion Reasons Why GIS Technology is The Future

    Editor’s note: Although GIS adoption is certainly on the rise, it hasn’t reached critical mass for widespread adoption so I think 2012 is too early to be seen as the Year of GIS. When it does, it will be fueled by widespread location apps in smartphones and adoption of mainstream office apps like Maps for Office.

    When technology historians look back on 2012, they might look at this as the GIS year says Dr. Stephen McElroy, GIS program chair at American Sentinel University.

    “2012 is the year of GIS,” says Dr. Stephen McElroy, GIS program chair at American Sentinel University. “The desire to know where everything is located fuels the current trend in location-based services. As GIS is more accessible and consumable on the Web through a variety of mobile devices, the average person is becoming increasingly impacted by the power of GIS. Soon it will become a pervasive technology that is consumed by a wider audience than ever before.”

    The proof is in a new report from Pike Research. Findings indicate that spending on GIS services, software and tools will increase steadily over the next five years, reaching $3.7 billion in 2017.

    This industry momentum toward GIS is what led to K-12 schools in North Carolina to sign a statewide license for unlimited classroom use of Esri’s ArcGIS software.

    According to Dr. McElroy, K-12 educators are increasingly aware that geospatial competencies must now be included among the core proficiencies of reading, writing and arithmetic. He points out that some schools are undertaking initiatives to incorporate geospatial competencies across the curriculum by adding geospatial exercises and experiences into the standard curriculum. The concept of GIS across the curriculum is a trend that is just now beginning to blossom and illustrates the long-term presence of geospatial thinking at the national, state and local levels.

    To demonstrate just how important GIS is to the U.S. government, Esri, the world’s leading provider of GIS software recently released a new book, ‘Mapping the Nation: Government and Technology Making a Difference.’ It includes more than 100 full-color maps produced by 40 government agencies, showing how GIS technology can be used to evaluate and respond to social, economic and environmental concerns at local, regional, national and global levels.

    “Geography is a common denominator in everything the federal government supports,” says Christopher Thomas, director, government markets – federal, state, local at Esri. “The maps in this book attest to the limitless power of geography and GIS technology. They show how government agencies rely on GIS analysis to facilitate initiatives, improve transparency and deliver strong business models.”

    Add this momentum to the fact that new products are released nearly every week, including CHC’s new LT30 series GPS/GIS handheld collector. The LT30 GPS/GIS is a multi-functional solution that includes built-in GPRS phone and data transmission, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and a versatile RS232 interface to connect to legacy devices.

    Smart Grids Lead the Charge

    Leading the charge for this GIS enthusiasm is the smart grid.

    According to the Pike report, spatial data underlies everything an electric utility does. An intelligent power grid requires deep situational awareness of power generation, transmission, distribution and customer assets in order to optimize performance and to meet reliability commitments.

    Land-based and street-level data, ownership/real estate, vegetation, network topology, GPS location data, census data, and many other forms of geospatial information are critical to the successful performance of the smart grid.

    GIS is a foundational technology linking every activity of an electric utility – including design and construction, asset management, workforce management, outage management, and increasingly, real-time grid operations.

    “The smart grid has energized electric utilities to think creatively about how to improve the delivery of electrical power and the business and workflow processes that enable it,” says Pike Research vice president Bob Gohn. “As the deployment of intelligent field equipment, particularly advanced metering infrastructure, has surged, the applications leveraging this infrastructure are increasingly dependent on GIS-based data for critical real-time performance.”

    Public and private utility providers will need a comprehensive GIS that they can utilize to make key decisions about system-critical issues such as customer database management, streamlined meter reading and blending of renewable (solar, wind, hydro and geothermal) and non-renewable energy resources from coal and nuclear facilities.

    “These industries are looking for people who understand GIS technology, making it an excellent time to make yourself more marketable and consider an online bachelor’s or master’s degree in GIS technology,” says Dr. McElroy.

    The market for GIS professionals at all skill levels has never been better.

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the job outlook (2010-2020) for geographers is growing by 35 percent (much faster than average). For Cartographers and photogrammetrists, the outlook is 22 percent growth (faster than average). For surveying and mapping technicians, the outlook is 16 percent and all of these occupations are expected to grow by 14 percent.

  • Smartphones See Accelerated Rise to Dominance

    Driven by increased demand from developed regions for high-end models, along with an unexpectedly strong push from emerging economies for lower-cost products, smartphones are expected to rise to account for the majority of global cellphone shipments in 2013—two years earlier than previously predicted, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.

    Smartphone shipments in 2013 are forecast to account for 54 percent of the total cellphone market, up from 46 percent in 2012 and 35 percent in 2011, according to an IHS iSuppli Wireless Communications Market Tracker Report from information and analytics provider IHS. The year 2013 will mark the first time that smartphones will make up more than half of all cellphone shipments.

    “This represents a major upgrade for the outlook compared to a year ago, when smartphones weren’t expected to take the lead until 2015,” said Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at IHS. “Over the past 12 months, smartphones have fallen in price, and a wider variety of models have become available, spurring sales of both low-end smartphones in regions like Asia-Pacific, as well as midrange to high-end phones in the United States and Europe. The solid expansion in both shipments and market share this year of smartphones will make them the leading type of mobile phone for the first time, and shipment growth in the double digits will continue for the next few years.”

    By 2016, smartphones will represent 67.4 percent of the total cellphone market.
    Feature Phone Finale
    While still accounting for less than 50 percent of the market this year, smartphones will become the single largest cellphone segment by the end of 2012, surpassing feature phones, reported IHI.The rise of smartphones to a plurality share this year means a fall from grace for feature phones, which are a grade above the most basic, low-cost entry-level phones but lack the sophisticated engineering and abundant functionality of smartphones. Feature phones commanded the wireless market as late as last year with 46 percent market share, but their portion will decrease to 41 percent this year, setting a trend of irreversible decline and progressive weakening in their numbers.

    By 2016, feature phones will be confined to a market share of 28 percent—less than half the share of smartphones by that time.

    A third type of phone, the entry-level and ultra-low-cost handset, will occupy the bottom tier of the market with approximately 14 percent share this year and end up with just 4.2 percent share by 2016.

    Wireless Handsets Get Smart 

    As smartphones become ever more popular and affordable, they will become the focal point of the handset industry, IHS believes. Smartphones will deliver multifunctional capabilities that enhance experiences, while at the same time providing a hardware venue toward increasing average revenue per user, made possible through the extensive data use of smartphone owners.

    Growth of the mobile applications development industry, which turns out innumerable applications on a variety of smartphone platforms, will also help maintain the continuing importance of the smartphone segment.

    Market Segments into Low-end vs. Midrange/High-end Smartphones

    The smartphone market is, in fact, made up of two segments—the midrange to high-end smartphone on the one hand, and low-end smartphones on the other. Already, manufacturers are introducing affordable low-end smartphones equipped with lower memory densities and a more limited feature set into developing countries and emerging markets, encouraging in these regions the use of data plans, which drive greater revenue. Low-end smartphone users will likely be first-time smartphone consumers, and will represent 43 percent of the total smartphone market by 2016.

    In comparison, the midrange to high-end smartphone segment consists of users in the developed countries or in the more industrialized urban areas of some developing nations. This group of smartphone users will continue to outnumber their low-end smartphone counterparts, with more than 700 million midrange to high-end smartphone users forecast by 2016.

    Apple and Google, now the two leading smartphone platforms, are the leaders in the space.

    The intense competition in smartphone platforms has by now resulted in a few casualties, including Symbian from Nokia and WebOS from Palm. No longer will hardware capabilities be the sole determinant of success for smartphones moving forward, IHS believes, as victory in the marketplace will now also rely on many other important factors. These include software capability, a sleek and intuitive user interface, the variety of available applications, strong support from the developer community, and the strength and seamlessness of vertical integration.

    Samsung of South Korea became the overall worldwide leader in handsets during the first quarter, displacing Nokia of Finland, which had occupied the top spot for well over a decade and is now at No. 2. U.S.-based Apple, China’s ZTE and LG Electronics, also of South Korea, rounded out the Top 5, accounting for 75.5 percent of all handset shipments—not just smartphones—during the first quarter, up marginally from 74.7 percent in the fourth quarter last year.

  • GNSS and Positioning for the Future

    August 27, 2012 – September 2, 2012

    Slettestrand | Denmark

    This seven-day workshop is organized by Aalborg and Stanford Universities, and open to anyone interested in satellite positioning and navigation. The workshop is limited to 50 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. It will be held at a Slettestrand resort at the Jutland part of the North Sea.

    Participation fee is 1,000 euros, which covers full board and accommodation at a resort hotel, social events, and airport transportation.

    Topics to be discussed include GNSS Basics, New GNSS, Arctic Navigation, Intelligent Transportation Systems, and Environmental Monitoring.

    Workshop website.

  • Rice University Announces New Mobile Technology they claim Dramatically Increases Data Capacity

    Researchers from Rice University unveiled a new multi-antenna technology that could help wireless providers keep pace with the voracious demands of data-hungry smartphones and tablets. The technology aims to dramatically increase network capacity by allowing cell towers to simultaneously beam signals to more than a dozen customers on the same frequency.

    Details about the new technology, dubbed Argos, were presented at the Association for Computing Machinery's MobiCom 2012 wireless research conference in Istanbul. Argos is under development by researchers from Rice, Bell Labs and Yale University. A prototype built at Rice this year uses 64 antennas to allow a single wireless base station to communicate directly to 15 users simultaneously with narrowly focused directional beams.

    Thanks to the growing popularity of smartphones and other data-hungry devices, the demand for mobile data is expected to grow 18-fold within the next five years. To meet demand, wireless carriers are scrambling to boost network capacity by installing more wireless base stations and shelling out billions of dollars for the rights to broadcast on additional frequencies.

    In tests at Rice, Argos allowed a single base station to track and send highly directional beams to more than a dozen users on the same frequency at the same time. The upshot is that Argos could allow carriers to increase network capacity without acquiring more spectrum.

    "The technical term for this is multi-user beamforming," said Argos project co-leader Lin Zhong, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and of computer science at Rice. "The key is to have many antennas, because the more antennas you have, the more users you can serve."

    Zhong said the theory for multi-user beamforming has been around for quite some time, but implementing technology has proven extremely difficult. Prior to Argos, labs struggled to roll out prototype test beds with a handful of antennas.

    "There are all kinds of technical challenges related to synchronization, computational requirements, scaling up and wireless standards," he said. "People have really questioned whether this is practical, so it's significant that we've been able to create a prototype that actually demonstrates that this works."

    Argos presents new techniques that allow the number of antennas on base stations to grow to unprecedented scales. The Argos prototype, which was built by Rice graduate student Clayton Shepard, uses an array of 64 antennas and off-the-shelf hardware — including several dozen open-access test devices called WARP boards that were invented at Rice's Center for Multimedia Communications. In tests, Argos was able to simultaneously beam signals to as many as 15 users on the same frequency. For wireless carriers, that performance would translate to more than a six-fold increase in network capacity. Zhong said the base-station design can be scaled up to work with hundreds of antennas and several dozen concurrent users, which would result in much higher capacity gains.

    "There's also a big payoff in energy savings," Shepard said. "The amount of power you need for transmission goes down in proportion to the number of antennas you have. So in Argos' case, we need only about one-sixty-fourth as much energy to serve those 15 users as you would need with a traditional antenna."

    Zhong and Shepard said Argos is at least five years away from being available on the commercial market. It would require new network hardware and a new generation of smartphones and tablets. It might also require changes in wireless standards. Those are big hurdles, but Zhong said the potential benefits of multi-user beamforming technology make it a very likely next big step for the wireless industry.

    "The bandwidth crunch is here, and carriers need options," Zhong said. "They're going to pay close attention to any new technologies that may allow them to serve more customers with fewer resources."

    Research co-authors include Hang Yu and Narendra Anand, both of Rice; Li Erran Li and Tom Marzetta, both of Bell Labs; and Yang Richard Yang of Yale University. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, Bell Labs, Alcatel Lucent and the Air Force Office of Sponsored Research.

  • USGS Crowdsourcing: Looking at New Ways to Map Structures in Colorado

    The United States Geological Survey (USGS) announced that in light of swiftly changing technical landscapes and increasing uses of social networking, the USGS is exploring a new approach to the volunteer program, and is launching a project to test options for volunteer participation in providing data to The National Map.

    The project involves mapping man-made structures and facilities, such as schools and fire stations, in the state of Colorado. Using an internet mapping application, volunteers can help the USGS update The National Map by correcting or adding information about structures.

    “Even members of the public who can’t tell a sandstone from a rhyolite but have internet access can now help the USGS keep its popular maps up to date through our new experiment in crowd sourcing,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “Correctly locating and identifying fire stations, police stations, schools, and hospitals not only makes USGS maps more useful, but can literally save a life.”

    Over the past two decades, the USGS National Geospatial Program sponsored various forms of volunteer map data collection projects. Volunteers helped the USGS improve its maps during this period, by annotating paper maps, collecting data using GPS units, and submitting data using a web-based tool. However, in 2008, the volunteer mapping program was suspended as new methods for using volunteer data were being studied.

    In recent years, new web- and mobile-based technologies have made it easier to create, combine, and share maps. Recent events have shown how well these technologies support the rapid and relevant production of geographic information.

    If the Colorado pilot project is successful in attracting volunteers and capturing data for use in The National Map, the program may be expanded to other areas in the future.

    This project offers volunteers an opportunity to participate in providing data to The National Map and US Topo map products. For more information, interested Colorado volunteers can visit the National Map Corps website.

  • URISA Announces 2012 GIS Hall of Fame Inductees

    URISA (Urban and Regional Information Systems Association) announced their 2012 GIS Hall of Fame inductees. URISA established the GIS Hall of Fame in 2005 to recognize and honor the most esteemed leaders of the geospatial community. To be considered for the GIS Hall of Fame, an individual’s or an organization’s record of contribution to the advancement of the industry demonstrates creative thinking and actions, vision and innovation, inspiring leadership, perseverance, and community mindedness. Hall of Fame inductees are individuals or organizations whose contributions and accomplishments have moved the geospatial industry and user community in a better, stronger direction.

    This year, the GIS Hall of Fame Nomination Committee, composed of URISA Past Presidents, proposed five federal agencies that have made substantial contributions to the GIS community and profession. The URISA Board of Directors unanimously approved each nominee.  URISA is pleased to announce the 2012 GIS Hall of Fame inductees:

    • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    • Natural Resources Canada
    • Statistics Canada
    • United States Census Bureau
    • United States Geological Survey

    Representatives from each agency will be in attendance at URISA’s 50th Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon, where each will be inducted into the URISA GIS Hall of Fame during the Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, October 3, 2012.

    “The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is thrilled to be receiving this award from URISA and is immensely proud of the many USGS employees who have pioneered the application of GIS in the programs we carry out on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the citizens of our Nation”. — Mark DeMulder, Director, USGS National Geospatial Program

    “NASA is honored by this recognition from a leader in the use of geospatial data and tools across sectors.  This honor is truly a tribute to the many people who design and operate the Earth-observing satellite missions, process and deliver the data, and analyze the measurements to benefit all humankind.” — Michael H. Freilich, Director of the NASA Earth Science Division

    “Statistics Canada is honored to be recognized by the URISA GIS Hall of Fame for its leadership role in advancing GIS technology for the production and dissemination of statistical data in Canada. The Agency is most proud of its staff who have partnered with organizations in Canada and internationally to develop and adopt innovative GIS solutions to meet increasing and evolving user needs.” — Rosemary Bender, Assistant Chief Statistician, Informatics and Methodology, Statistics Canada

    “The U.S. Census Bureau is honored to be inducted into the URISA GIS Hall of Fame, which recognizes the achievements of Census Bureau staff for its technological innovations for making GIS data available to the nation.” —  Thomas L. Mesenbourg, Acting Director, Census Bureau

    “Natural Resources Canada is proud to be recognized for its scientific and technological accomplishments in geomatics. This honour is a reflection of the dedication and professionalism of our staff and partners who have advanced geomatics innovation in Canada and beyond.” —  The Honourable Joe Oliver, P.C., M.P., Minister, Natural Resources Canada

    The 2012 inductees will join the following esteemed members of URISA’s GIS Hall of Fame, each of which is profiled online:

    • 2005 Inductees: Edgar Horwood, Ian McHarg, Roger Tomlinson, Jack Dangermond, Nancy Tosta, and the Harvard Lab
    • 2006 Inductee: Gary Hunter
    • 2007 Inductees: Don Cooke and Michael Goodchild
    • 2009 Inductees: Will Craig and Carl Reed
    • 2010 Inductee: C. Dana Tomlin
    • 2011 Inductees: William Huxhold and Barry Wellar

  • Esri Releases New Version of ArcGIS for AutoCAD Plug-in

    Esri announced the latest release of ArcGIS for AutoCAD plug-in, Esri’s free AutoCAD plug-in, improves the ability to exchange data and information between the ArcGIS and AutoCAD platforms. ArcGIS for AutoCAD users with read/write access to ArcGIS for Server feature services can now edit geodatabases through AutoCAD. This enables easier data dissemination between CAD and GIS users across the enterprise, reduces the duplication of work, and increases efficiency.

    According to the announcement, CAD professionals can use the free downloadable application to add, create, and edit GIS data within AutoCAD drawings. For example, users can add maps and map services from enterprise or cloud servers, such as ArcGIS Online, to their drawings, giving the design a geographic context and a common operating picture for the organization.

    “ArcGIS for AutoCAD is the interface to the ArcGIS system and all of its rich data content, sharing, and data management,” states Esri CAD product manager Don Kuehne. “The possibilities presented by the combination of AutoCAD and ArcGIS services to automate editing and data maintenance workflows are going to result in an exponential leap in value for those who take advantage of them.”

    The new release also includes access to image services and a geolocation service for navigating within an AutoCAD drawing. AutoCAD 2010/2011/2012 (32-bit and 64-bit) systems are supported. To learn more about or to download the new release of ArcGIS for AutoCAD, visit esri.com/autocadapp.

  • OGC Hires Lew Leinenweber and Bart de Lathouwer to Fill Key Technical Positions

     

    The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) announced it has appointed both Lew Leinenweber and Bart de Lathouwer to the position of Director, Interoperability Programs. These are key technical positions in the OGC Interoperability Program.

    "OGC members will benefit greatly from the leadership that Lew and Bart will bring to OGC Interoperability Program (IP) initiatives," said George Percivall, Chief Architect and Executive Director, OGC Interoperability Program. "Lew brings a wealth of experience from leading prior OGC initiatives, including the fourth OGC Web Services Testbed (OWS-4) and the Geo-Decision Support Services (GeoDSS) activity. As the first member of the OGC IP Staff in Europe, Bart begins what we anticipate will be an exciting and broad-ranging program of OGC projects focused in Europe."

    OGC announced that Lew will begin by leading the OGC Climatology-Hydrology Information Sharing Pilot, Phase 1 (CHISP-1) that will advance hydrology services using open standards in an operational, cross-border setting, creating a model for use around the world.  Lew brings exceptional experience with the OASIS Emergency Data Exchange Language (EDXL) and NIEM (National Information Exchange Model). His experience will be a critical asset as the OGC works to advance open geospatial standards in the area of information sharing for intelligence and homeland security applications.  

    Further, OGC announced that Bart will lead the OGC element of the COBWEB ("Citizen OBservatory WEB") project recently awarded by the European Commission. COBWEB focuses on crowdsourcing of geospatial environmental information, addressing privacy and security elements.  Bart will also represent OGC in the EO2HEAVEN (Earth Observation and Environmental Modelling for the Mitigation of Health Risks) project and the GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) Architecture Implementation Pilot. He leads project development in Europe on many fronts, with particular emphasis on Building Information based on his successful service at Autodesk. This work will support adoption of the OGC CityGML standard for storage and exchange of virtual 3D city models.

  • SuperGIS Server 3.1 Supports Integration with OpenStreetMap

    SuperGeo announced that SuperGIS Server 3.1 Value Edition, a GIS server developed by SuperGeo for enterprises, supports the integration with OpenStreetMap.

     

    According to the announcement, SuperGIS Server 3.1 is designed for enabling the organizations to create, manage, integrate and publish a variety of spatial services. Therefore, the spatial data in all types as well as GIS functions can be applied to desktop, mobile and web applications over the Internet.

    The company reports that to provide developers with a flexible server structure, the newest SuperGIS Server 3.1 Value Edition aims to optimize the ability to integrate with other sources. In addition to Google Map services and the services published by ArcGIS Server, the services, published by SuperGIS Server 3.1, can be overlaid with OpenStreetMap services. Administrators are able to publish map services and overlay these services with OpenStreetMap after building SuperGIS Server website. Therefore, the contents of the map website would be richer and more flexible.

  • Polar Launches Integrated Training Device, RC3 GPS

    Polar, a heart-rate training technology company, has released the RC3 GPS wrist device, a new training device with fully integrated GPS.

    The RC3 GPS has been developed to provide sports and fitness enthusiasts with an all-in-one training device with the GPS technology built in. Ergonomically designed, with naturally placed buttons, the RC3 GPS has a breathable wristband for maximum comfort, Polar said. Weighing 58 grams and measuring 1.37-centimeters in depth, the device has a huge digital display that makes it easy to read and customizable, allowing a user to display up to three rows of training data.

    The RC3 GPS combines the latest GPS technology with “Smart Coaching” — training guidance and features developed by Polar over the last 35 years. The device contains a wide range of easy-to-use heart rate based features including “Sports Profile,” where users preselect a sport and can monitor intensity specific to the demands of that discipline, and “Training Benefit,” where instant intuitive feedback is given straight after exercise.

    The RC3 GPS also includes the “Back to Start” GPS feature that directs users back to their starting point in the shortest distance possible. RC3 GPS users can now check out the more adventurous routes and explore them knowing that at the touch of a button they can be directed back to their starting place.

    The RC3 GPS uses SiRFstar IV technology. It has a 250 mAH Li-Pol fixed rechargeable battery that allows users to train for up to 12 hours without the need to recharge.

  • Taking It to the House

    U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security; Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Management; Hearing, July 19, 2012:  Using Unmanned Aerial Systems Within the Homeland: Security Game Changer?

    Testimony by Todd E. Humphreys, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin. [Excerpted. Prof. Humphreys is a co-author of the article “Drone Hack” in the August issue of GPS World.].

    The vulnerability of civil GPS to spoofing has serious implications for civil unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as was recently illustrated by a dramatic remote hijacking of a UAV at White Sands Missile Range.

    Hacking a UAV by GPS spoofing is but one expression of a larger problem: insecure civil GPS technology has over the last two decades been absorbed deeply into critical systems within our national infrastructure. Besides UAVs, civil GPS spoofing also presents a danger to manned aircraft, maritime craft, communications systems, banking and finance institutions, and the national power grid.

    Constructing from scratch a sophisticated GPS spoofer like the one developed by the University of Texas is not easy. It is not within the capability of the average person on the street, or even the average Anonymous hacker. But the emerging tools of software-defined radio and the availability of GPS signal simulators are putting spoofers within reach of ordinary malefactors.

    There is no quick, easy, and cheap fix for the civil GPS spoofing problem. What is more, not even the most effective GPS spoofing defenses are foolproof. But reasonable, cost-effective spoofing defenses exist which, if implemented, will make successful spoofing much harder.

    I recommend that for non-recreational operation in the national airspace civil UAVs exceeding 18 lbs be required to employ navigation systems that are spoof-resistant.

    More broadly, I recommend that GPS-based timing or navigation systems having a non-trivial role in systems designated by DHS as national critical infrastructure be required to be spoof-resistant.

    Finally, I recommend that the DHS commit to funding development and implementation of a cryptographic authentication signature in one of the existing or forthcoming civil GPS signals.

    Complete testimony (PDF) covers:

    • The potential vulnerabilities of U.S. national transportation, communications, banking and finance, and energy distribution infrastructure;
    • What does it take to build a spoofer? Buy a spoofer?
    • Range and required knowledge of target.
    • Fixing the problem:
      • Jamming-to-noise sensing defense;
      • Defense based on SSSC or NMA on WAAS signals;
      • Multi-system multi-grequency defense;
      • Single-antenna defense;
      • Defense based on spread-spectrum security codes on L1C;
      • Defense based on navigation message authentication on L1C, L2C, or L5;
      • Correlation prole anomaly defense;
      • Multi-antenna defense;
      • Defense based on cross-correlation with military signals.