08 March 2011
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) has published a report on GNSS Vulnerability. The study on which the report was based involved a wide range of organisations with knowledge in this area, including GLA R&RNAV, Ordnance Survey and experts from the aviation, timing and communications sectors.
The report draws attention to the heavy dependence of transport, communications, finance and critical infrastructure on GNSS for positioning and timing. The vulnerability of GNSS to interference, accidental and deliberate, is highlighted. For example the signal can be affected by natural phenomena, such as solar storms, noise from faulty equipment and deliberate jamming.
The report points out the importance of backup systems, in particular eLoran, which is uniquely suitable because it is complementary to GNSS, using terrestrial, high-power transmitters operating on low frequencies. The full report and RAEng press release are available from the RAEng website.
