Did you know that, even while you’re sitting at your desk, you’re still highly dependent on satellite navigation systems (e.g. GPS, Galileo) working correctly?
Apart from the location info as used by the satnav in your car, any GPS receiver also provides accurate timing information. This synchronization to the satellites' on-board atomic clocks is usually accurate to just several nanoseconds (1x10-12). Timing functionality from satellite navigation systems (GNSS) is nowadays highly integral in systems and networks we use continuously throughout the day.
Examples using this information include the electrical power grid, international money transfers and mobile phone networks. Loss of timing and/or positioning information could bring all these systems down, potentially causing big problems for society.
Due to the increase in crowdedness of the radio frequency spectrum and the decrease in costs of (digital) radio equipment, the probability of incidents caused by radio signal interference on the GPS and Galileo frequencies is growing by the day. Typical incidences range from jammed frequencies due to wrongly tuned transmitters, to also deliberate ‘spoofing’ of receivers causing them to output wrong times and positions.
