October 2020: This recent article from BBC explores the modern world's dependence on GPS and some possible position, navigation, and timing alternatives. We depend on GPS for everything from turn-by-turn navigation to banking transactions, but the system has some critical vulnerabilities to jamming and spoofing.
“There is a growing recognition of the need to protect, toughen, and augment GPS,” Humphreys said, "There is also the remote threat that the whole GPS constellation could be rendered inoperable in the initial salvo of a war targeting the US economy by attacking critical infrastructure.”
Many research groups are developing possible alternatives like terrestrial, inertial, and even celestial navigation, but none of these have been able to fully replace GPS.
October 2020: Dr. Peter Iannucci's recently-submitted paper, Fused Low-Earth-Orbit GNSS, was highlighted in the MIT technology review for its expected impact on the US Army's navigation technologies. The paper proposes to leverage low-earth-orbit internet constellations, like SpaceX's Starlink, to provide strong, jam-resistant positioning signals that augment the existing GPS. The need for this augmentation is emphasized by the recent emergence of low-cost GNSS jammers and spoofers, which have been appearing across the globe. Dr. Iannucci and his coauthor Dr. Humphreys are optimistic that this technology will prove indispensable for high-integrity navigation.
September 2020: The Department of Transportation recently allocated nearly 2 million dollars to fund a new University Transportation Center (UTC) whose members include Ohio State University, the University of California Irvine, and the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Zak Kassas, an RNL alumnus, is the Principal Investigator of the overall multi-university center. Dr. Humphreys will lead the center's effort at UT Austin. “We beat out at least a dozen other teams vying for this UTC,” Humphreys explains. The UTC will focus research on highly-automated transportation systems, with an emphasis on safety, security, and reliability. Read the full article here.