GPS Vulnerable
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GPS Vulnerable
'Andrew Dempster - University of New South Wales' Researchers have warned that GPS systems are becoming increasingly vulnerable to accidental interference or deliberate jamming, raising concerns about reliability and security. Professor Andrew Dempster, of Australia's University of New South Wales School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems, said GPS is relied upon for an ever-increasing number of applications including navigation, vehicle and freight tracking, and location-based smart phone services.
However low-powered GPS signals are easily drowned out by other sources which are increasing in number, said Professor Dempster, among them cheaply obtained jamming units that can be used by criminals to knock out tracking systems.
'GPS signals are weak and can easily be out punched by poorly controlled signals from television towers, devices such as laptops and MP3 players, or even mobile satellite services,' he said.
Professor Dempster spoke at a workshop on GPS vulnerability organized in Canberra by UNSW’s Australian Center for Space Engineering Research (ACSER). The workshop addressed unintended and intentional disruption threats, including the risks of GPS jamming and 'spoofing' – where a false GPS signal is created – being used in terrorist activity.
'This is not only a significant hazard for military, industrial and civilian transport and communication systems, but criminals have worked out that they can jam GPS,' he said.
Professor Dempster said his research team had detected interference in GPS signals caused by a television tower in Sydney’s northern suburbs. While they had not detected any criminal jamming activity, Professor Dempster said overseas criminals are already using jammers.
The UNSW team are working with the University of Adelaide and private company GPSat Systems on an Australian Research Council-funded project to develop jammer-detection technology.
'Our research will produce a system that can accurately geolocate the position of a jamming signal, and hopefully track a moving vehicle carrying a jammer,' Professor Dempster said.
'Australia has tough laws that ban jamming, but the risks to GPS keep growing and there’s a need not only for new solutions but for more awareness and greater preparedness, particularly by industry when committing to using GPS when designing complex systems.'
oh dear....another engineer who doesn't understand fuzzy logic...how do you jam a signal that operates at 100 times lower than background radiation?
A hint....the answer is neither yes nor no
A hint....the answer is neither yes nor no
GPS Jammers & Newark Airport!
Well you may like to read this!
It's not actually cars using the jammers.
It's trucks and couriers.
They are jamming the signals from their own built-in GPS's so the boss can't track them!
It's not actually cars using the jammers.
It's trucks and couriers.
They are jamming the signals from their own built-in GPS's so the boss can't track them!
Last edited by Capt Fathom; 12th Mar 2011 at 05:19. Reason: New Link AIN Online
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OZBUSDRIVER, the answer is, "with ease."
Relatively weak carriers on 1575.42MHz 1227.60MHz will be more than enough to overload the front end of a GPS receiver and essentially render it deaf.
As someone else just pointed out, couriers and taxi drivers do it all the time, and jammers are readily available, albeit illegally, on the web for under $50.
Spoofing is more challenging, but even that's doable, hence why the military use the encrypted (and therefore, authenticated) P(Y)-code and M-code signals for anything important.
Relatively weak carriers on 1575.42MHz 1227.60MHz will be more than enough to overload the front end of a GPS receiver and essentially render it deaf.
As someone else just pointed out, couriers and taxi drivers do it all the time, and jammers are readily available, albeit illegally, on the web for under $50.
Spoofing is more challenging, but even that's doable, hence why the military use the encrypted (and therefore, authenticated) P(Y)-code and M-code signals for anything important.
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Can happen to RADAR just as easily as GPS.
One of the TV towers in Perth unintentionally jammed the Kalamunda RADAR.
It took quite some time to find the source of the jamming.
One of the TV towers in Perth unintentionally jammed the Kalamunda RADAR.
It took quite some time to find the source of the jamming.
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Wonder where Binghi is ? this extract from an academic treatise from a qualified Professor of Electrical Engineering would seem to vindicate all he was saying and the super qualified busdriver and others equally qualified howled him down.
Karma, the wheel turns, I will bet a Professor suitably qualified against the masses any given day.
Karma, the wheel turns, I will bet a Professor suitably qualified against the masses any given day.
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Joker
You are flying along with a jammer planted in your back seat by a naughty person your GPS is jammed, and maybe the the guy formatting off your left wing, but he is going to have a hard time jamming me in SEQ or FTDK in FNQ from where you are
.
Now considering a really high powered jammer could muck up a small area, that would be way less trouble than than the radar outage already mentioned. As for navigation, well you are a far smarter man than that, you do not need me to explain the rest.
As any professor will tell you facts maybe facts but in isolation they are almost meaningless. Applied to the real world, that is where you test the hypothesis and facts to see how they really affect you and others.
When you can shut down the whole of Australia's GPS system from one $50 device I will be impressed and Forkie will be in a world of hurt!
By the way with the numbers of dodgy cabie's around Mascot, surely there would be a stream of ATSB reports from the airlines about FDE failures by now.
You are flying along with a jammer planted in your back seat by a naughty person your GPS is jammed, and maybe the the guy formatting off your left wing, but he is going to have a hard time jamming me in SEQ or FTDK in FNQ from where you are
.Now considering a really high powered jammer could muck up a small area, that would be way less trouble than than the radar outage already mentioned. As for navigation, well you are a far smarter man than that, you do not need me to explain the rest.
As any professor will tell you facts maybe facts but in isolation they are almost meaningless. Applied to the real world, that is where you test the hypothesis and facts to see how they really affect you and others.
When you can shut down the whole of Australia's GPS system from one $50 device I will be impressed and Forkie will be in a world of hurt!
By the way with the numbers of dodgy cabie's around Mascot, surely there would be a stream of ATSB reports from the airlines about FDE failures by now.
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Jetstar use P-RNAV as a primary source for IFR reference, (CASA 71/11 Airbus 330-202 exemption), such local interference could be catastrophic?
No?
No?
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Maybe Frank....Maybe, but they would need to be sitting in the aircraft concerned, that would make them a suicide jammer.
I am sure the crew are quite well trained in how to conduct a missed approach when the loss of a navaid happens?
No?
And what stops same said suicide jammer from inflicting the same kind of trouble with a VHF device on say.....a ILS frequency just at the minima on a murky day? No this could be done from a safe distance if said suicide jammer was a little more chicken.
Whole thread is not even rating on the storm in a teacup scale.
I am sure the crew are quite well trained in how to conduct a missed approach when the loss of a navaid happens?
No?
And what stops same said suicide jammer from inflicting the same kind of trouble with a VHF device on say.....a ILS frequency just at the minima on a murky day? No this could be done from a safe distance if said suicide jammer was a little more chicken.
Whole thread is not even rating on the storm in a teacup scale.
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Keep in mind the article mentioned in the original post was talking about a lot more than aviation, which in the grand scheme of things is just one very, very small user of GPS.
GPS craps out? No problems. I've got VOR, ILS, NDB, or if the weather's nice I've also got a bag full of charts, a compass and two eyeballs.
GPS craps out? No problems. I've got VOR, ILS, NDB, or if the weather's nice I've also got a bag full of charts, a compass and two eyeballs.
Wonder where Binghi is ? this extract from an academic treatise from a qualified Professor of Electrical Engineering would seem to vindicate all he was saying and the super qualified busdriver and others equally qualified howled him down.
Joker 10, you obviously never read what i wrote as i never thought much of jamming as being a problem.
A brief recap of my concerns; GPS is a gift to terrorists as a targeting system. In one possible scenario terrorists will use very cheap GPS guided UAV bomb's to hit targets in Oz.
Also using GPS as a targeting system is a simple way to 'get at' an increasingly GPS reliant Australia. i.e, how do you stop terrorists using GPS as a targeting system, you turn it off or restrict its use - Terrorist mission accomplished.
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What terrorist mission?
You really think terrorists are going to spend all that time building a GPS guided UAV with enough explosives to do damage? Just because GPS is now cheap and widely available? Spending millions of dollars on weapons with all the latest gadgets to accurately hit targets is something the military do. If you're a terrorist, use the KISS principle - Keep It Simple Stupid - especially if you want it to be effective.
We live in a world where everyone over the age of 16 (or maybe it's 18 in Victoria, either way), is able to drive a vehicle with the stored chemical energy equivalent to two sticks of dynamite, while the sales of nitrate-based fertilizer is strictly controlled. So if I wanted to attack a target, which path would I go down? $1.30/litre and crash petrol filled cars in to my target! The fact that nobody is crashing petrol filled cars in to targets probably means there isn't anyone out there who wants to do it?
The fact that we're misdirecting millions of dollars on "security" which really does nothing but make people "feel" safe is just plain dumb. I mean seriously, take out every laptop and scan it separately to see if the battery has been replaced with cemtex, but leave the laptop power supply which could just as easily be stuffed with cemtex in the bag with all your other crap? Don't bother scanning cd players, mobile phones, ipods, separately, even though they're just as capable of being stuffed full of Cemtex? Ask people to turn their laptop on to prove it if there's any doubt. You gotta be joking right? Lets try blowing something up here in a terminal filled with 10,000 people as opposed to letting it through with only 100 on an Ejet out over the Great Australian F*** All)?
The whole idea is about as bright as no electronic devices during take off or landing as it may interfere with aircraft navigation devices? You expect me to believe that ****? My iPod is going to bring down a 737 if I listen to music on takeoff? Doubt it. Is it really that hard to tell people the truth? "Personal Entertainment Devices may distract you from listening to our instructions in an emergency should we need to evacuate the aircraft, the chances of an evacuation are significantly higher near the ground than at 37,000' so we ask you to turn that **** off until we're in the cruise"
The terrorists won along time ago, they don't have to do anything now. Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt has taken over and people are too stupid to realise and see the big picture.
You really think terrorists are going to spend all that time building a GPS guided UAV with enough explosives to do damage? Just because GPS is now cheap and widely available? Spending millions of dollars on weapons with all the latest gadgets to accurately hit targets is something the military do. If you're a terrorist, use the KISS principle - Keep It Simple Stupid - especially if you want it to be effective.
We live in a world where everyone over the age of 16 (or maybe it's 18 in Victoria, either way), is able to drive a vehicle with the stored chemical energy equivalent to two sticks of dynamite, while the sales of nitrate-based fertilizer is strictly controlled. So if I wanted to attack a target, which path would I go down? $1.30/litre and crash petrol filled cars in to my target! The fact that nobody is crashing petrol filled cars in to targets probably means there isn't anyone out there who wants to do it?
The fact that we're misdirecting millions of dollars on "security" which really does nothing but make people "feel" safe is just plain dumb. I mean seriously, take out every laptop and scan it separately to see if the battery has been replaced with cemtex, but leave the laptop power supply which could just as easily be stuffed with cemtex in the bag with all your other crap? Don't bother scanning cd players, mobile phones, ipods, separately, even though they're just as capable of being stuffed full of Cemtex? Ask people to turn their laptop on to prove it if there's any doubt. You gotta be joking right? Lets try blowing something up here in a terminal filled with 10,000 people as opposed to letting it through with only 100 on an Ejet out over the Great Australian F*** All)?
The whole idea is about as bright as no electronic devices during take off or landing as it may interfere with aircraft navigation devices? You expect me to believe that ****? My iPod is going to bring down a 737 if I listen to music on takeoff? Doubt it. Is it really that hard to tell people the truth? "Personal Entertainment Devices may distract you from listening to our instructions in an emergency should we need to evacuate the aircraft, the chances of an evacuation are significantly higher near the ground than at 37,000' so we ask you to turn that **** off until we're in the cruise"
The terrorists won along time ago, they don't have to do anything now. Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt has taken over and people are too stupid to realise and see the big picture.
You really think terrorists are going to spend all that time building a GPS guided UAV with enough explosives to do damage? Just because GPS is now cheap and widely available? Spending millions of dollars on weapons with all the latest gadgets to accurately hit targets is something the military do. If you're a terrorist, use the KISS principle - Keep It Simple Stupid - especially if you want it to be effective.
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The biggest danger to GPS is the possibiliy of it being downgraded by the US military. A stand off over Taiwan is a likely scenario,. The sooner another GPS provider is available the better.
Folks,
Probably a bigger threat to all GPS use is the advance of Gen4 telephone systems.
There is a huge controversy going on in the US right now about wireless phone operators being licensed to use spectrum very close to the GPS frequency band.
Testing of GPS receivers close to the transmission towers has shown disastrous results, despite "assurances" by the phone equipment manufacturers.
We will have exactly the same problem here, with the Dept. of Communications planning to auction off the same spectrum.
Tootle pip!!
Probably a bigger threat to all GPS use is the advance of Gen4 telephone systems.
There is a huge controversy going on in the US right now about wireless phone operators being licensed to use spectrum very close to the GPS frequency band.
Testing of GPS receivers close to the transmission towers has shown disastrous results, despite "assurances" by the phone equipment manufacturers.
We will have exactly the same problem here, with the Dept. of Communications planning to auction off the same spectrum.
Tootle pip!!
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LeadSled, what's even worse is that the USA has form for this sort of thing.
Back around 2000, the FCC granted 800MHz licenses to mobile phone operator Nextel (who is only by technicality licensed as a trunked radio network). Nextel's Motorola iDEN network made nearby safety-critial emergency services trunked radio systems unusable.
The solution was for Nextel to pay to move EVERY public safety 800MHz user to another part of the band away from the interference, upgrade the firmware on ALL their 800MHz radios for the new bandplan, and replace ALL of their older radios that couldn't be rebanded, a US $2.5bn exercise.
Imagine the cost of doing something like this for GPS?
Back around 2000, the FCC granted 800MHz licenses to mobile phone operator Nextel (who is only by technicality licensed as a trunked radio network). Nextel's Motorola iDEN network made nearby safety-critial emergency services trunked radio systems unusable.
The solution was for Nextel to pay to move EVERY public safety 800MHz user to another part of the band away from the interference, upgrade the firmware on ALL their 800MHz radios for the new bandplan, and replace ALL of their older radios that couldn't be rebanded, a US $2.5bn exercise.
Imagine the cost of doing something like this for GPS?
Hmmm, seems all the reading i do on terrorist UAV developments has GPS mentioned..
"...Achieving successful autonomous flight of a UAV is a daunting task for any terrorist group, even were they to have all the necessary technical skills.
...Clearly, access to flight management systems not subject to export-control restrictions would save substantial development time and reduce the risk of catastrophic failure and detection.
...cost in the neighborhood of $5,000, while providing complete autonomous operation, a GPS-aided autopilot...
Still, the complexity and risks involved in achieving successful autonomous flight make the terrorist acquisition of a UAV a low-probability, but high-consequence threat, at present. But this assessment could change due to the rapid pace of technological change in all the technologies relevant to unmanned flight...
...it is impossible to conceive of an affordable and highly effective nationwide defense against these low-flying threats..." ...i suppose they could turn off the civvy GPS..
NTI: Issue Brief: Unmanned Air Vehicles as Terror Weapons: Real or Imagined?
.
"...Achieving successful autonomous flight of a UAV is a daunting task for any terrorist group, even were they to have all the necessary technical skills.
...Clearly, access to flight management systems not subject to export-control restrictions would save substantial development time and reduce the risk of catastrophic failure and detection.
...cost in the neighborhood of $5,000, while providing complete autonomous operation, a GPS-aided autopilot...
Still, the complexity and risks involved in achieving successful autonomous flight make the terrorist acquisition of a UAV a low-probability, but high-consequence threat, at present. But this assessment could change due to the rapid pace of technological change in all the technologies relevant to unmanned flight...
...it is impossible to conceive of an affordable and highly effective nationwide defense against these low-flying threats..." ...i suppose they could turn off the civvy GPS..
NTI: Issue Brief: Unmanned Air Vehicles as Terror Weapons: Real or Imagined?
.
