GNSS

Study on GNSS authentication and security improvements

The E-GIANTS (European GNSS Improved Authentication Solutions) project was commissioned by the European Commission and technically supervised by EUSPA. The project responds to the growing threat posed by quantum computing to traditional cryptographic methods, which could compromise the security of GNSS services in the coming decade. The study highlights that while quantum computers threaten classic asymmetric cryptography (like RSA and ECDSA), symmetric mechanisms— properly configured—remain secure, guiding the project’s design choices.

The project’s scope encompassed three main work objectives:

1. SBAS and OSNMA Key Management: Focused on developing a comprehensive authentication solution for Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) and the Galileo OSNMA (Open Service Navigation Message Authentication) service, using symmetric cryptography to ensure bandwidth efficiency and post quantum resilience. The solution centres on a TESLA-based (Timed Efficient Stream Loss-tolerant Authentication) protocol, optimised for low authentication latency (about 1 second) and robust message recovery using Reed-Solomon encoding.

2. Additional Dissemination and Improvements of OSNMA: Proposed and validated improvements to the Galileo OSNMA protocol, including the distribution of cryptographic material via secure internet protocols (MQTTS and NTPs) for receivers with connectivity. These enhancements reduce authentication delays, improve cold-start performance, and introduce strategies for cross-constellation authentication, paving the way for integrating GPS and Galileo authentication in the future. The project also explored post-quantum resistant Merkle tree architectures for OSNMA, though further study is needed for large-scale deployment.

3. SBAS Authentication for Non-Aviation Users: Extended authentication solutions to new SBAS services (EGNOS-Next), particularly for non-aviation sectors like maritime, road, and rail. The approach adapts the TESLA-based protocol to high data rate channels (E5C/E5D), ensuring rapid, authenticated access to critical navigation and integrity messages for a broader user base.

Key outcomes of the project include:
• Post-Quantum Resilience: By relying on symmetric cryptography and hash-based structures, the solutions are designed to withstand attacks from future quantum computers, avoiding the bandwidth-heavy hybridisation of classic and post quantum asymmetric algorithms.
• User-Centric Design: Extensive stakeholder interviews shaped requirements, emphasising minimal receiver hardware/ software impact, low authentication delays, and standardised, interoperable solutions.
• Enhanced OSNMA Protocol: The project identified improvements to the OSNMA framework, including asynchronous broadcasting of subframes across the Galileo constellation. This ensures more consistent authentication performance, even in areas with limited satellite visibility. Additionally, the proposal for cross-constellation authentication aims to extend OSNMA’s capabilities to non-Galileo satellites, enhancing its versatility.
• Secure Data Distribution: A new method for distributing cryptographic material to GNSS receivers with internet connectivity was introduced, identifying MQTTS (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport over TLS) and NTPs (Network Time Protocol) as the most suitable network protocols. The implementation of non-SIS services, either independently or in conjunction with SIS, was found to improve authentication, especially in challenging environments.
• System-Level Roadmap: A detailed deployment plan was developed, outlining a roadmap for standardisation, prototyping, and phased implementation, aligning with EGNOS V3 service upgrades and future GNSS receiver capabilities. The roadmap emphasises security analysis, system design, and integration with existing GNSS infrastructure.
• Key Management Innovations: The project addressed vulnerabilities in current cryptographic practices, including the risk of quantum computing threats to classical asymmetric algorithms like ECDSA. Recommendations for resilient key management strategies were proposed to future proof authentication systems.

By integrating these advancements, the project underscores the importance of robust authentication in maintaining the integrity of GNSS services. The findings and technical proposals from E-GIANTS will contribute to the evolution of Galileo and EGNOS’s capabilities, ensuring its role as a trusted enabler for critical infrastructure across Europe and beyond.

The E-GIANTS consortium recommends further prototyping and experimentation to validate full-scale implementations, as well as continued analysis of internet based cryptographic material distribution and time synchronization services. Standardization activities are underway to harmonize these authentication mechanisms across European and global SBAS systems. www.euspa.europa.eu

Japan to launch another positioning satellite

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will launch an additional Michibiki positioning satellite aboard an H3 rocket on Dec. 7.

The launch is scheduled to take place between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture. The Michibiki satellite system serves as the Japanese version of GPS, offering precise positioning to centimeter-level. Currently, five Michibiki satellites are in operation. www.japantimes.co.jp

Galileo R&D tests new uplink antenna

Galileo relies on ground-based uplink stations (ULS) to maintain accurate positioning for users worldwide. These stations transmit essential data to the satellites, including the information required to compute the satellites’ orbits and clock corrections. Traditionally, such messages are sent using dish antennas. However, a new type of ground uplink antenna – a phased array antenna – was recently tested at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) site in Redu, Belgium.

While traditional ground stations, using dish antennas, rely on mechanical steering to track and maintain contact with a single satellite, phased array antennas use electronics to steer the radio waves and communicate with satellites. This enables faster satellite pointing and re pointing, improved reliability over the station’s lifetime and simultaneous communication with multiple satellites.

The ability of one phased array antenna to contact multiple satellites at once could be useful for satellite constellations, such as Galileo Second Generation (G2), which is currently under development. Phased array antennas for uplink could be a more efficient system capable of transmitting more data to more satellites. This could support new and improved services and reduce the number of ground stations and amount of maintenance needed. www.esa.int

ESA inaugurates new deep space antenna in Australia

At an Oct. 4 event in New Norcia, Western Australia, ESA marked the completion of a new 35-meter antenna for communicating with spacecraft throughout the solar system. The antenna is the second at New Norcia and the fourth in ESA’s Estrack network worldwide. It is called New Norcia 3 and will support communications with ESA spacecraft once it begins operations, expected next March. spacenews.com

ICAO Assembly condemns GNSS radio frequency interference

The ICAO Assembly has endorsed the determination of its governing Council that recurring incidents of GNSS Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) originating from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the territory of the Russian Federation constitute infractions of the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation.

Through two Resolutions, the ICAO Assembly condemned the DPRK and the Russian Federation for the infractions and urgently called upon them to comply strictly with their obligations under the Convention. The Assembly also deplored the fact that incidents of GNSS RFI originating from the DPRK and the Russian Federation have continued to recur in disregard of the concerns repeatedly expressed by the ICAO Council about the harmful impact of GNSS-RFI on the safety and security of international civil aviation.

The Assembly reiterated the paramount importance of preserving the safety and security of international civil aviation through strict compliance with the principles enshrined in the Chicago Convention and its Annexes. It also recalled Assembly Resolution A41-8, which recognized that the spectrum used by GNSS should be free from harmful from any form of jamming or spoofing affecting civil aviation. www.icao.int

NSI field-tests specialized navigation software

The Virginia Tech National Security Institute (VTNSI) is helping plot a course toward safe navigation when traditional GPS fails.

Researchers in the institute’s Mission Systems Division recently kicked off a series of field-tests aimed at further validating the magnetic field-based geolocation software patented by AstraNav. The company’s software based magnetic-field based geolocation solution (M-GPS), aims to provide devices and vehicles with reliable, accurate navigational data, including in GPS-denied and network-denied environments. Testing of the software is being carried out across land, sea, and air systems, including underwater uncrewed vehicles, uncrewed aerial systems, and crewed aircraft as part of an expanding multi-year partnership. news.vt.edu

Korea to test high-precision, real-time GPS service

South Korea will launch a test operation of a new GPS-based positioning service in October that works without an internet connection. The system, called the Gridded Virtual Reference Station (G-VRS), provides real-time location data with centimeter-level accuracy, making it useful in remote areas. GPS does not itself require an internet connection but devices typically use VRS systems that do rely on internet access improve location accuracy by creating a virtual network of reference points.

According to the National Geographic Information Institute, the G-VRS is designed to complement the current VRS system. It said the G-VRS system has proven accuracy similar to the existing VRS in actual environments. GNSS control points have been installed across the country, including four on Jeju Island and one in Gageodo, an island off the southwestern coast. The state plans to install additional points on four islands, including Ulleungdo, about 120 kilometers off Korea’s eastern coast, to operate 103 control points in total by the end of this year. www.koreaherald.com

Major Research Chair in Resilient GNSS navigation launched

CMC Electronics have partnered with École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS) to create the CMC Electronics Industrial Research Chair in Resilient GNSS Navigation. The five-year chair, valued at over $6 million, unites CMC’s world leading avionics expertise, led by Dr. John Studenny, internationally recognized GNSS navigation expert and standards contributor, with ÉTS’s renowned LASSENA laboratory under Professor René Jr. Landry, a renowned expert in aerospace navigation and cybersecurity.

The Chair will tackle critical threats to aviation GNSS navigation, including jamming and spoofing. CMC and ETS will develop spoofing-resilient GNSS receivers capable of real-time detection, mitigation, and total recovery from spoofing attacks, setting a benchmark in aviation safety and integrity. cmcelectronics.ca

Maxar wins AIDC deal

Maxar Intelligence entered into a partnership with Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) to deploy it’s Raptor software suite across Taiwan’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry. The software is designed to enable autonomous drones to navigate precisely and extract accurate ground coordinates in the absence of GPS. www.satellitetoday.com

Mass production of mosaic-G5 modules

Septentrio starts volume shipments of the recently announced mosaic-G5 modules. Measuring only 23 mm by 16 mm and weighing as little as 2.2 grams mosaic-G5 enables reliable positioning without performance compromises for commercial UAVs, robots, GIS devices and many other size and power-constrained industrial applications. septentrio.com

TDK launches DRIVE to unlock control-grade accuracy

TDK Corporation has launchesd Trusted Positioning DRIVE, an integrated GNSS and INS software solution, designed for advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS), robotic, and off-road vehicle platforms. It provides centimeter to decimeter level accuracy in real-world environments where GNSS alone is unreliable, providing customers the ability to scale and commercialize advanced control technologies economically.

Toyota and Australian scientists test GPS alternative

Toyota, the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ), and Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) have begun field tests of an Australian-developed navigation system designed to work in tunnels, buildings, and other places where conventional GPS does not work well.

The new Local Positioning System (LPS) is tested by attaching sensors to cars and e-scooters, then using custom software to gauge performance in “degraded road environments” such as tunnels and business districts where ‘urban canyons’ disrupt GPS signals.

It’s the culmination of over two decades’ worth of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) research work to build patented algorithms and hardware sensors, which have been tested for over two years with government transport bodies and the likes of Ford. https://ia.acs.org.au

CHC Navigation introduces visual lidar GNSS RTK receiver

CHC Navigation (CHCNAV) has released the ViLi i100, its flagship visual-lidar GNSS RTK receiver. It offers consistent, centimeter-level accuracy, even where conventional GNSS receivers face limitations. Powered by the enhanced SFix 2.0 engine, the ViLi i100 maintains 5 cm accuracy while moving within a 20 m radius in GNSS-denied environments. It utilizes 860,000 points per second of laser data with SLAM-based algorithms to reconstruct its position without direct reliance on satellite signals. This capability allows for uninterrupted work in tunnels, under viaducts or within deep construction zones, providing a continuous workflow. www.chcnav.com

GPSIA urges Trump administration to tackle jamming and spoofing

The GPS Innovation Alliance (GPSIA) has released a set of recommendations that provides a roadmap for the Trump Administration to adopt a coordinated, whole-of-government approach to address the growing threat of harmful interference to the transportation industry resulting from jamming and spoofing of GPS, which risks public safety and impedes commerce. The recommendations call for executive branch agencies to:
• Accelerate the procurement and launch of modern GPS satellites and include anti-jamming and spoofing technology upgrades in ground systems. Prepare a program plan that ensures GPS is technologically more advanced than China’s and Europe’s GPS-like systems.
• Strengthen enforcement and coordination across the U.S. government to rapidly identify and respond to interference events and crack down on illegal sales and use of jamming devices.
• Streamline regulatory and certification processes to accelerate adoption of advanced technologies such as jam- and spoof-resistant antennas, modern GPS signals, and anti spoofing signal authentication.
• Deter interference through public statements and diplomatic engagement, making clear the United States will not tolerate harmful jamming and spoofing outside conflict zones that risks public safety and impedes commerce. www.gpsalliance.org