NOAA and NASA Pursuing GPS Augmentation Plan
NOAA is making plans with NASA for what could result in a high accuracy and robustness service (HARS) that augments GPS, members of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board heard Wednesday. Board members also discussed a draft presidential transition issue paper urging the President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration to bolster reliable national PNT capabilities.
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The paper warns that the past four years “have seen massive increases in threats and disruption of GPS signals around the globe,” with aviation particularly affected. Moreover, GPS’ capabilities “are being surpassed” by other national satellite navigation systems, it argued.
NOAA acting Director-National Geodetic Survey Shachak Pe'eri said GPS end users "are starving" for a higher-accuracy service that would better enable autonomous vehicles and precision agriculture. HARS would use NOAA's service delivery platform and NASA's global differential GPS service to provide real-time GPS corrections online, he said.
Authorization and funding of HARS are major hurdles, Pe'eri acknowledged. He added that NOAA hopes it can finalize the cost of operation and sign a memo of understanding with NASA during the next two years and get budget authorization for HARS in FY 2027. Christine Bonniksen, NASA Langley Research Center deputy director-flight projects, predicted a PNT Advisory Board endorsement would help secure NOAA funding.
John Betz, Mitre fellow emeritus and head of an advisory board subcommittee, said when comparing GPS with China’s BeiDou global navigation satellite system, GPS “is still a leader" in reliability and adoption. But BeiDou has more operational features, in part due to delays in GPS modernization, he said. In a presentation, Betz said there are widespread concerns that the U.S. government hasn’t taken urgent and practical steps to protect and augment GPS use. He said the reliance on fragile GPS puts the U.S. economy and national defense at unnecessary risk.
Karen Van Dyke, the Department of Transportation's director-PNT and spectrum management, said the lack of automated PNT situational awareness -- detecting and attributing incidents of jamming or spoofing of GPS signals -- is a concern because jamming and spoofing are growing problems for transportation, defense and the nation's critical infrastructure. Spoofing is routine adjacent to conflict zones around the world. In addition, commercial aircraft are encountering jamming and spoofing far from conflict zones. Van Dyke said the government's reliance on user reports of GPS interference isn't sufficient. "We on the government side should already know" before the self-reports come in, she said.
Even once there is an automated system for detection, tackling the interference source is a sizable challenge, said Van Dyke. In addition, the FCC spectrum enforcement bureau “is not well staffed.” Board members discussed the ability of law enforcement agencies to get involved and how that's complicated because the penalties for interference are civil, not criminal.