Why GPS Doesn't Work

Dark clouds are looming on the horizon of our otherwise exciting GPS future. With increasing frequency, the military is jamming or spoofing GPS over huge swaths of airspace. A typical GPS NOTAM for Albuquerque center covers a radius of 237 NM at 10,000 feet, 207 NM at 400 feet and 165 NM at 50 feet daily for most of a week. Pilots in the Southwest have become accustomed to these NOTAMs, but theyre becoming more frequent and expanding to other areas of the country.

jmiller

Tuesday, October 01, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Increasing military GPS jamming and insidious spoofing are becoming frequent and widespread, posing significant safety risks to civil aviation by affecting nearly all modern aircraft systems.
Aviation's heavy and growing reliance on GPS for navigation and surveillance (NextGen, ADS-B) creates a critical vulnerability, as there is no widely adopted or practical backup system for civil aircraft.
Current regulations and pilot preparedness for GPS interference are largely inadequate, especially for RNAV-only approaches in challenging terrain, though pilots can request to "stop buzzer" to halt jamming in emergencies.

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Dark clouds are looming on the horizon of our otherwise exciting GPS future. With increasing frequency, the military is jamming or spoofing GPS over huge swaths of airspace. A typical GPS NOTAM for Albuquerque center covers a radius of 237 NM at 10,000 feet, 207 NM at 400 feet and 165 NM at 50 feet daily for most of a week. Pilots in the Southwest have become accustomed to these NOTAMs, but they’re becoming more frequent and expanding to other areas of the country.

Jamming is bad enough, but there’s been little talk of spoofing. GPS spoofing occurs when the GPS signal is replicated in a manner that provides incorrect location information. For example, at the Geneva Motor Show, a spoofing attack reported show-car locations, not in Geneva, but in Buckingham, England, in the year 2036.