GPS jamming is an act of overwhelming satellite navigation receivers with powerful

radio signal Radio waves (formerly called Hertzian waves) are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the lowest frequencies and the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies below 300 gigahertz (GHz) and wavelengths g ...

s that drown out the signals from

GPS satellites GPS satellite blocks are the various production generations of the Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System (GPS) used for satellite navigation. The first satellite in the system, Navstar 1, was launched by the United States Air ...

, rendering the receiver unable to calculate its position or time accurately. Such jamming can disrupt various

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

-dependent devices, from vehicle and aircraft navigation systems to

precision agriculture Precision agriculture (PA) is a management strategy that gathers, processes and analyzes temporal, spatial and individual plant and animal data and combines it with other information to support management decisions according to estimated varia ...

and mobile phone networks. In

civil aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, which can be both private and commercial. Most countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and ...

, GPS jamming can disrupt ADS-B transmission. GPS jamming is a particular type of

GNSS A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geopositioning. A satellite navigation system with global coverage is termed global navigation satellite system (GNSS). , four global systems are op ...

interference Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to: Communications * Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message * Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extra ...

. Under

ITU The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established ...

rules, countries are obliged to eliminate harmful interference through GPS jamming and spoofing, but the ITU lacks effective enforcement measures. The

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

legal framework requires that countries should implement appropriate prevention and mitigation of GPS jamming and spoofing. Under the ICAO's

Montreal Convention The Montreal Convention (formally, the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air) is a multilateral treaty adopted by a diplomatic meeting of ICAO member states in 1999. It amended important provisions of ...

, countries shall make GPS jamming and spoofing punishable. In the United States, the operation, marketing, or sale of any GPS jamming equipment is prohibited under federal law.

Occurrences

GPS jamming may be used by countries when conducting

military exercises A military exercise, training exercise, maneuver (manoeuvre), or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore the effects of warfare or test tactics and strat ...

and drills, but under

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

recommendations they should recognize the harmful impact of such jamming to civil aviation and exercise utmost caution. In civil aviation,

Eurocontrol The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, commonly known as Eurocontrol (stylised ''EUROCONTROL''), is an international organisation working to achieve safe and seamless air traffic management across Europe. Founded in 1963, Eur ...

outlined two major hotspots of GPS jamming: Eastern Turkish airspace to Iraq, Iran, Armenia (extending to

Armenia–Azerbaijan border The Armenia–Azerbaijan border (; ) is the international border between the Armenia, Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. Estimates of the border's length vary from to . European routes European route E002, E002 and E ...

) and Southern Cypriot airspace towards Egypt, Lebanon and Israel. Following

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Russia used GPS jamming to support its military activity and in an effort to harass NATO nations. In December 2022 and January 2023, GPS jamming was noted in northern Poland, southern Sweden, southeastern Finland, Estonia and Latvia. In April 2023, Russia, to counter Ukrainian drone attacks, deployed GPS jamming in 15 of its regions, including

Ivanovo Ivanovo (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Russia and the administrative center and largest city of Ivanovo Oblast, located northeast of Moscow and approximately from Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Russia, Vladimir and Kostroma. ...

Vladimir Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria (). Etymology ...

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl (; , ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers. ...

Ryazan Ryazan (, ; also Riazan) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 C ...

Kaluga Kaluga (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia. It stands on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Its population was 337,058 at the 2021 census. Kaluga's most famous residen ...

and

Tver Oblast Tver Oblast (, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was known as Kalinin Oblast (). Population: Tver Oblast is a region of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno. Much o ...

that surround

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. GPS-guided Ukrainian drones frequently target infrastructure and residential areas in Moscow and Moscow Oblast.

Countering

GPS jamming is seen as not as insidious as GPS spoofing. It has been encountered on long-haul flights (particularly to Russia) and airline pilots are able to counter such jamming. Flickering readings instantly reveal GPS jamming and there are multiple

checklists A checklist is a type of job aid used in repetitive tasks to reduce failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention. Checklists are used both to ensure that safety-critical system preparations are carried out completely ...

to handle it.

References

{{reflist

External links

GPSjam.org (daily maps of GPS interference)"Dual-Satellite Geolocation of Terrestrial GNSS Jammers from Low Earth Orbit"

Occurrences

Countering

References

External links

See also