The vulnerability of GPS signals

means the UK population is at constant risk of losing satellite navigation or possibly the ability to make an emergency call from a mobile phone.


This was the stark warning made by technical experts at yesterday’s global symposium on GPS signal tampering in Teddington.
The one-day event, ‘GPS Jamming and Interference - A Clear and Present Danger’, was organised by the Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN),
a Technology Strategy Board programme.


.At the symposium, industry leaders and academics discussed the natural and sometimes criminal interference that can completely wipe out GPS reception.
‘The strength of a GPS signal is about as strong as viewing a 25W light bulb shining down from a satellite 10,000 miles away,’ said Bob Cockshott, a director
of the Digital Systems KTN. ’It’s no surprise then that GPS signals are vulnerable to natural and, increasingly, criminal interruptions.’

Such criminal tampering is made easy, the experts warn, with jamming devices that are available illegally for under £100. Prof David Last, a past president of the
Royal Institute of Navigation and now a GPS consultant and expert witness to government and law-enforcement agencies, believes that the potential for
serious disruption is a ‘clear and present danger’.

‘A portable jammer in a tall building such as the Gherkin could cover most of London and planes approaching its airports,’ he said.
The implications of GPS vulnerability are being investigated by the Technology Strategy Board grant-funded GAARDIAN.


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