The 'GNSS Vulnerabilities 2013: Countering the Threat' event, held at the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) on 13 February, highlighted recent research into the biggest threat to navigation and timing signals in the UK and the best ways to counter it.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto

The event, organised by the ICT Knowledge Transfer Network, presented the latest research in to GPS jamming and also demonstrated the new technologies including intelligent receivers and radio-based backups that will protect against the impact of these jammers.

It is thought that moonlighting van drivers may be to blame for the growing problem of GPS jamming on Britain's roads. Recent research shows that a network of sensors had recently detected up to 100 potentially dangerous jamming incidents a day near a major UK airport. When trying to work out what might be causing such a high level of interference, the researchers noticed that most of it occurred during the week, dropping off at weekends, which ruled out solar weather events that occur randomly. Jamming also increased during rush hour which pointed to commercial vehicles being the culprits rather than, as previously suspected, vehicle thieves trying to foil security tracking systems. So the pattern suggests it might be civilian-sourced jamming devices, most likely to evade tracking within commercial vehicles, when they are moonlighting or using the vehicle for other non-work purposes. Researchers think that van drivers may want to hide unauthorised use of delivery vans, using jammers to confuse the central tracking software now used by all major delivery networks to optimise the supply chain.

Bob Cockshott, Director of Position, Navigation and Timing at the ICT Knowledge Transfer Network and organiser of the conference said

"Our more complete understanding of the risks posed to Global Navigation Satellite Systems is bringing forward new mitigation technologies and approaches. There is no one solution that fits all. Instead we need to combine the right protection and back-up technologies with legal reforms which punish the ownership and use of these jammers, and finally advise government and industry on new commercial and civil policies that will reduce the incentive to jam in the first place."

Read Bob Cockshott's Viewpoint piece on this issue in The Engineer

Find out more about the new technologies deployed to counter the threat of GPS jamming

Find out more about the Position, Navigation and Timing Group of the ICT KTN

For further information, please contact Bob Cockshott