16 November 2010
The seventh meeting of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board was held on the 14th & 15th October 2010 in Washington.
The full agenda and presentations given at the meeting are available from the National PNT Advisory Board website: http://www.pnt.gov/advisory/2010/10/
The GLA’s R&RNAV provided the meeting with two background documents on eLoran [link to documents in R&RNAV publications] and Prof David Last presented on behalf of the GLAs on ‘The Effect of Jammers on GPS in a Maritime Environment’.
Following the meeting the National PNT Advisory Board released a document “Jamming the Global Positioning System - A National Security Threat: Recent Events and Potential Cures” [link] dated 4 November 2010. This provides their comments on the threat of jamming to GPS and the US critical infrastructure. The document contains examples of GPS Jamming, including the GLAs’ trials in the North Sea, and discusses “the need for alternate navigation systems such as eLoran or a backup system currently being configured by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)” The document contains Recommendation 5 that states:
Fund a National back-up capability to insure continuity of PNT Operations.
We strongly recommend that the previously announced decision (to deploy eLoran as the primary Alternate PNT) should be reconfirmed and quickly implemented.
We support the FAA’s efforts to provide Alternate PNT options that can provide a robust backup to GPS and deter malicious interference.
The document states that “[eLoran as the primary Alternate PNT (APNT)] is the most viable and robust backup to GPS and can be implemented in a way that is virtually seamless to the user” and that “Failure to act will be a serious abdication of our national responsibility”.
