UK GPS Jammer Use Revealed
Date: Wednesday, February 22 @ 10:28:39 UTC
Topic:
A study by The Sentinel research project (SErvices Needing Trust In Navigation, Electronics, Location & timing) has, for the first time, revealed the levels of GPS jammer us in the UK.
The study used 20 roadside monitors to detect the presence of GPS jammers and, in one location alone, more than 60 GPS jamming incidents were detected in a six month period.
GPS jammers are illegal to use but small, portable devices are widely available. GPS is commonly used to track commercial vehicles and most jammers are used by drivers to thwart this. The study group believe there may be as many as 450 occurrences every day of GPS jammer usage.
Jammers vary wildly in effectiveness and power output. A recent study by GPSWorld of 18 commercially available receives showed an effective range that varied from 300 meters up to 6 kilometers. The danger of such devices affecting critical safety systems is obvious. In 2009 investigators discovered that problems with a navigation aid at Newark airport in the US were caused by a GPS jammer used in a truck that passed each day.
Data from Sentinel monitors have already be used to identify one driver using a GPS jammer but with increasing reliance on GPS for navigation, safety systems, financial market transactions and mobile telephone and power network operation, the project hope to develop better detection systems that can detect jammers and identify the vehicle in which is it being used.
Source: BBC News, GPS World, Economist
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