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January 2020: Key infrastructure of the United States, including cell-phone networks, financial markets, the electric grid, and emergency services, all depend on GPS timing signals for basic operation. A large-scale, coordinated attack could be accomplished by only a dozen or so people with the right equipment, spread out across the country. “There is no foolproof defense,” Humphreys […]

December 2019: Researchers at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), a nonprofit that analyzes global conflict and security issues, have published evidence suggesting that GPS signal spoofing is behind maritime AIS (automatic identification system) disruptions in Shanghai. Data aggregated over many weeks showed ship locations appearing at different locations in large “rings: on the eastern bank

December 2020: Dr. Todd Humphreys has been investigating spoofing in Shanghai for quite some time. In this article for Inside GNSS, Humphreys offers a detailed analysis of ship positioning data and insight as to what’s going on in Shanghai.

November 2020: Dr. Peter Iannucci presented to the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board at their semi-annual board meeting on November 20, 2019. His presentation, titled “Augmenting GPS with PNT from LEO”, is available online. “The National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board provides independent advice to the U.S. government on GPS-related policy, planning, program management, and funding profiles in

October 2019: The Army Futures Command (AFC) has named the University of Texas Radionavigation Lab (RNL) and Applied Research Laboratories (ARL) as its strategic partners in assured positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT). Interviewed by GPS World, Dr. Humphreys revealed that RNL’s main focus will be “… leveraging the tens of thousands of communications satellites projected

July 2019: For weeks, a mysterious source of GPS interference has been affecting aircraft in the Middle East. Since last spring, pilots flying through airspace around Syria have noted that their GPS systems have displayed the wrong location or even stopped working entirely. A few weeks ago, the issue spread to Israeli airspace when pilots started

July 2019: Todd Humphreys was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for 2019. The PECASE is the highest honor given by the United States government to scientists and engineers beginning their research careers. Nominated for the PECASE by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Dr. Humphreys is also a recipient of the UT Regents’

June 2019: Dr. Todd Humphreys presented to the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board at their semi-annual board meeting on June 6, 2019. His presentation, titled “GNSS Radio Frequency Interference Detection from LEO”, is available online. “The National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board provides independent advice to the U.S. government on GPS-related policy, planning, program management,

April 2019: A yearlong study by security experts with the Washington-based think tank C4ADS conducted by identified a pattern in which GPS devices near Putin and his entourage suddenly gave incorrect readings. The researchers also identified five buildings associated with the Kremlin that appeared to employ the technique on a rolling basis. The researchers theorize that one reason “spoofing” is

February 2019: During Brexit negotiations, the EU said the UK cannot retain full access to its Galileo satellite program after Brexit. In November, the UK government officially announced it would be pulling out of the system to concentrate on scoping an alternative system. “Going it alone” could permit the UK to design a system built