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Over Reliance On GPS

Global Positioning System (GPS) has become a ubiquitous “utility” supporting critical infrastructure depended on by many across the Maritime Industry. Originally developed for providing precision navigation and timing to the United States Military, the Maritime Industry has rapidly developed a strong reliance on GPS. GPS has become an indispensable source of information with significant economic benefits, making it increasingly important that GPS data be available and reliable.

Future satellite designs are being prepared to improve the transmission capability and security of GPS data. However, addressing GPS information outages needs to occur now as the availability and usage of low-cost GPS jamming devices has resulted in a growing threat of GPS signal disruption and increasing the likelihood of future outages to systems that rely on GPS data. Addressing the security of GPS signals and preventing denial of services should be a priority. In the event of a national emergency, the US would probably have to shut the GPS down because as it can be used by potential enemies.

The Maritime Industry may already be dangerously over-reliant on satellite radio navigation systems like GPS… signal failure or interference could potentially affect safety systems and other critical parts of the economy. Sextants, chronometers, and nautical almanacs became artifacts of another, less technological time. Now, a decade later and Navies around the world are having second thoughts. Recent concerns about potential cyber-attacks on global positioning satellite software and data, which could disable or spoof GPS navigation systems world-wide, has led the Shipping companies and US Navy to start teaching navigation more in depth again. While celestial navigation can calculate locations very accurately if done properly, however it is never going to be as instant as GPS. Imagine standing watch on your boat, it is the middle of the night, it is dark, it is foggy, you are in a lot of traffic, and then this happens. A GPS failure. You can simulate this by pulling the plug on the ship’s receiver. Within a few seconds, alarms start to sound as one by one the instruments stop working.

The gyrocompass, the radar, the dynamic positioning: it holds the ship’s position, that is not working. The electronic chart display becomes unusable. Even the ship’s clock stops working. In a series of tests, you will find that almost every bit of kit on the boat uses GPS – even the onboard satellite entertainment system. Losing GPS is not a just theoretical problem. The system works using a fleet of satellites orbiting high above the Earth, but the signal they transmit is weak and can be easily interfered with. Other sat-nav systems – such as Galileo in Europe and Glonass in Russia – have the same vulnerabilities. A little bit of power from a jammer on the frequency used by GPS close to your receiver can deafen it, and it will not be able to hear the GPS signals For example, jamming is a real issue in Korea. There have now been three occasions when the North Koreans have transmitted high-powered jamming in South Korea. The Sun too can knock satellite systems offline, it starts to transmit radio noise during solar storms, so intense that it either makes GPS positions wobble about or causes GPS to be lost across the entire sunlit side of the Earth. In the case of a GPS failure a sextant and charts would save the day.

The grounding and partial-sinking of the Costa Concordia was the fault of human error, because of the reliance of GPS, ECDIS, or AIS. All vessels that rely on e-navigation and GPS, ECDIS, and AIS are susceptible to jamming or cyber attacks, and all such systems can be manipulated by hackers and cyber criminals. It is only a matter of time before the next headline alerts us to the recent grounding of a particular cruise ship, fishing vessel, river-cruising vessel, ferry, or container ship due to the hacking or over reliance of the vessel’s e-navigation system.

Facts about GPS Satellites First GPS satellite launched in 1978 Full constellation of 24 satellites was achieved in 1994 Current constellation consists of over 30 vehicles Satellites are built to last about 10 years Replacements are being built and launched into orbit GPS satellites weigh approximately 2,000 pounds and are about 17 feet across The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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