Return-Path: <sentto-279987-4309-1011154152-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Tue, 15 Jan 2002 20:12:10 -0800 (PST) Received: (qmail 17971 invoked by uid 510); 16 Jan 2002 04:09:20 -0000 Received: from n20.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.70) by all.net with SMTP; 16 Jan 2002 04:09:20 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-4309-1011154152-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com Received: from [216.115.97.163] by n20.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 16 Jan 2002 03:59:57 -0000 X-Sender: fc@red.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_1_3); 16 Jan 2002 04:09:12 -0000 Received: (qmail 64268 invoked from network); 16 Jan 2002 04:09:12 -0000 Received: from unknown (216.115.97.167) by m9.grp.snv.yahoo.com with QMQP; 16 Jan 2002 04:09:12 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (12.232.72.98) by mta1.grp.snv.yahoo.com with SMTP; 16 Jan 2002 04:09:11 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id g0G4AL508625 for iwar@onelist.com; Tue, 15 Jan 2002 20:10:21 -0800 Message-Id: <200201160410.g0G4AL508625@red.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 20:10:21 -0800 (PST) Subject: [iwar] [fc:USA.Sets.Sights.On.GPS.Security.Enhancements] Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jane's Defence Weekly January 16, 2002 USA Sets Sights On GPS Security Enhancements By Michael Sirak, JDW Staff Reporter, Washington DC With the US military's growing reliance on the precision navigation and timing functions offered by global positioning system (GPS) satellites, the Department of Defense (DoD), led by the US Air Force (USAF), is taking a comprehensive approach to safeguard the integrity of the GPS signal and increase its jam resistance. DoD officials say the measures involve not only increasing the satellites' signal strength and refining their signal-processing capabilities, but also fielding more sophisticated GPS receivers in its aircraft, ships, ground vehicles and weapons like the Joint Direct Attack Munition. "This really is a matter of getting the right systems solution," says Brig Gen Michael Hamel, the air force's director of space operations and integration. "We know that technically [the jamming of GPS signals] can be done. We have seen evidence of the equipment that is available on world markets, but we still don't have a definitive threat that the [GPS] system has to be designed to. So we are trying to take as balanced an approach in terms of what capabilities do you put on the satellite, what kinds of capabilities do you embed in the user equipment and how do you integrate the user equipment into the using platforms." The DoD has a requirement for 24 GPS satellites, but operates 28 satellites for greater accuracy. USAF Maj Ed Rivera, who oversees operation of the GPS constellation at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, said he can guarantee both civil and military user groups that "they will have at least 7m of accuracy". Military users, however, receive more precise real-time accuracy because they operate with encrypted receivers that better compensate for atmospheric error. Over most areas of the Earth, there are between seven and 11 satellites within range, Maj Rivera notes. Three satellites are needed to provide 2-D navigational co-ordinates. Four satellites provide 3-D accuracy, he added. The satellites also provide timing accuracy of up to 80 picoseconds for anywhere on the globe, he said. The satellites, which are currently in the Block II, IIA and IIR configurations, operate approximately 11,000nm above the Earth. They broadcast signals in two military codes, designated P (Y) and one civil code, L1. In March, the USAF plans to launch the seventh of 20 planned Lockheed Martin GPS Block IIR satellites. The DoD is developing a new military code, the M-code, which will provide improved signal-processing techniques for enhanced jamming resistance. It is modernising the remaining Block IIR satellites with the M-code. The first M-code-equipped Block IIR satellite is scheduled for launch in 2003. These Block IIR-M satellites will also feature a second civil code, L2. Starting in 2005, the USAF will begin launching the first of 16 planned Boeing Block IIF GPS satellites that will feature the M-code signal as well as a third civil code, designated L5. The USAF also plans a follow-on GPS Block III constellation that will substantially increase the power of the M-code signal. "The way we will do that is to add additional spot beams that will be able to put more power in particular regions where we are conducting operations or have particular concerns about," Gen Hamel told Jane's Defence Weekly. He added that the service is also looking at how much additional transmission power can be achieved from the Block IIR and Block IIF satellites. Gen Hamel expects the GPS III satellites, which are scheduled for first launch around 2010, will have "somewhere in the range of 100-300 times the transmission power" of the current GPS constellation. Beyond the improvement to the satellites themselves, sophisticated anti-jam and anti-spoof antennas for high-value assets like strike aircraft and precision-guided munitions will also contribute to significant increases in system robustness, he says. To that end, the Air Force Research Laboratory's sensors directorate has developed an Antenna Wave Front Simulator to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-jam GPS antenna electronics units. It also has a GPS Interference and Navigation Tool used to asses the performance of GPS/inertial navigation system-equipped platforms and munitions while they are moving over terrain and through an array of GPS interference and jamming. Further, its Virtual Flight Test system can replicate real-world radio-frequency jamming levels to assess the anti-jam capabilities of actual hardware, according to the lab. Denice Jacobs, team leader in the directorate's electronic warfare technology branch, says these simulation tools can be used both to predict flight characteristics of weapons with anti-jam technologies and to provide post-flight test verification. Equally important, the simulation tools can measure the impact on friendly legacy systems of new anti-jam technologies, she added. Gen Hamel says this 'backward computability' is one of the biggest challenges related to GPS. Because of this, Maj Rivera says, for example, he can currently only increase the power of the GPS signal to 25dB. Otherwise, he says, the strength of the signal would blow out older receivers, mostly on the civilian side. The USAF is also looking at what improvements in GPS accuracy could be achieved with the Block III satellites. Although the service believes greater accuracy would have a high operational payoff, it is weighing the costs of achieving further accuracy refinements, Gen Hamel says. "I think we sometimes get jaded about this," he notes. "We say 'why don't we improve from 3m to 1m [accuracy]?' That is the difference [between one end of a table and the next] measured at 10,000 miles away . . . It isn't just about how accurate can we make GPS. It is about how accurate do you need to be in order to do a useful task, function or mission." In many cases, he says, the GPS system can provide accuracy greater than the geodetic reference system used by the military to map the Earth's surface for targeting purposes. The DoD is also developing other concepts to increase the robustness of the GPS system. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Global Positioning Experiments programme, for example, is exploring the feasibility of housing GPS signal relays on multiple high-altitude unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) or other aerial platforms, which amplify the GPS signal as they pass it downward over a battlefield. The programme has already conducted an aerial demonstration with a US Army Hunter UAV. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Tiny Wireless Camera under $80! Order Now! FREE VCR Commander! 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