A Way To Track U.S. Soldiers?

Image from DARPA

US Army Seeks New Technology To Replace GPS -- France24/AFP

AFP - The US army is working to limit its dependence on GPS by developing the next generation of navigation technology, including a tiny autonomous chip, the director of the Pentagon's research agency said Wednesday.

DARPA, the research group behind a range of spy tech and which helped invent the Internet, was also the driving force behind the creation of the Global Positioning System, director Arati Prabhakar said at a press conference.

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My Comment: The possibilities for this technology are unlimited .... and a way to track everyone.I can only imagine what the future may hold.

An Alternative To GPS?

A U.S. Army 2nd Lieutenant Uses An Army Issued Smartphone To Pull Up A Map For Afghan Villagers United States Army via Wikimedia

New Ground-Based Indoor Positioning Tech Is Accurate Down To Just A Few Inches -- Popular Science

Locata's technology goes where GPS can't, delivering a signal one million times stronger than those beamed from satellites.

Indoor navigation is most certainly the holy grail for positioning system makers right now. Satellite-based location technologies like GPS work wonderfully out under the open sky, where signals bounced from satellites to receivers on the ground are unhindered by man-made structures or natural obstructions. Take that same technology into the subway or a large shopping mall, and the signal goes dead. But a new ground-based positioning system called Locata could soon replace or augment satnav using radio signals that are a million times stronger than GPS signals, indoors or out.

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My Comment: The military will love this .... if it works.

Russia's GPS Network Is Put On Hold

RIA Novosti / Oleg Urusov

Russian Military's Support Of GLONASS On Ice After Corruption Scandal, Technical Failures - Report -- RT

The Russian Defense Ministry has reportedly refused to adopt GLONASS, the country’s rival to GPS, due to its technical shortcomings. One of the system’s 24 satellites has malfunctioned, and besides, GLONASS is still in its testing phase.

­The malfunctioning satellite will not be operational any time soon as it has already exhausted its power after 96 months in service, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports. And due to a difference in orbit inclination, no existing reserve satellite can substitute it.

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My Comment: After a decade of war the U.S. has clearly shown the value of GPS systems for precision bomb strikes. Not having this essential network is a significant loss for the Russian military.

Update: A link to how China and other countries are trying to develop their own GPS system.

China's Beidou Satellite Navigation System Is Now Global

The LM-3C launch vehicle carrying a Beidou satellite into orbit in November, 2010 (Photo: China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology)

China's Beidou Satellite Navigation System Goes Global -- People`s Daily Online

As an independently-developed-and-operated global satellite navigation system, the Beidou satellite navigation system of China is embracing the world with a more open attitude while providing a new choice of navigation services for the world and winning a greater say for China to keep a foothold in the international satellite navigation field.

The 7th conference of the International Committee on Global Satellite Navigation System (ICG) was recently held in Beijing. The conference gathered some 240 conferees from 16 countries and regions as well as 18 international organizations, and focused on such main topics as compatibility and interoperability, service improvement and capability building of the satellite navigation systems.

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My Comment: No mention in any Chinese press release on the GPS military applications that this technology now presents itself for China`s armed forces.

The Dangers Of Drones Being Dependent On GPS

Drone Hijacking? That’s Just the Start of GPS Troubles -- Danger Room

On the evening of June 19, a group of researchers from the University of Texas successfully hijacked a civilian drone at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico during a test organized by the Department of Homeland Security.

The drone, an Adaptive Flight Hornet Mini, was hovering at around 60 feet, locked into a predetermined position guided by GPS. Then, with a device that cost around $1,000 and the help of sophisticated software that took four years to develop, the researchers sent a radio signal from a hilltop one kilometer away. In security lingo, they carried out a spoofing attack.

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More News On How Hackers Can Target And Hijack A Drones Via Through It's GPS

EXCLUSIVE: Drones vulnerable to terrorist hijacking, researchers say -- FOX News
Drone "hijackings" in U.S. raise security concerns -- CBS
UAVs can be hijacked and turned into weapons – researchers -- Defence Web
New Hack-Proof GPS Could Be Huge for Military -- Mashable

Update: Future Drones Will Autonomously Navigate the Skies Without GPS -- Gizmodo

New Smart Weapons Will Not Use GPS

DARPA Seeks To Wean Smart Weapons Off GPS With Hybrid Inertial Navigation System-On-A-Chip -- Military & Aerospace

ARLINGTON, Va., 18 April 2012. Navigation and guidance experts at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., are trying to reduce the military's reliance on Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite guidance for advanced munitions, mid- and long-range missiles, and other weapons by creating a navigation-system-on-a-chip that combines traditional and atomic inertial guidance technology.

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More News On DARPA Research To Fins An Alternative To GPS For Smart Weapons

DARPA wants navigation chip to guide smart weapons -- Defense Systems
C-SCAN For GPS-Denied Areas -- Shadow Spear
DARPA exploring miniature, atomic sensor systems as alternative to GPS -- Network World
New sensor sought to enable military missions in GPS-denied areas -- Physorg
Wanted: Atomic inertial navigation system -- UPI

My Comment: I guess advances in jamming GPS signals are raising concerns in some quarters.

Will America's Military GPS Infrastructure Be Jeopordized By A Start-Up With Political Connections In Washington?

Broadband Firm Returns Fire In GPS Battle -- DoD Buzz

Virginia broadband startup LightSquared fired right back after the House Armed Services Committee hearing at which government officials said its network would jam military GPS. The narrative that LightSquared is a deep-pocketed political octopus that wants to imperil military readiness just isn’t true, CEO Sanjiv Ahuja said in a statement.

Here were his exact words:

Regulators from both parties understand LightSquared’s approach will create more competition in the marketplace, put downward pressure on the prices paid by consumers, create good paying jobs in the tech sector, and give Americans access to thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhe most modern cellular technology.

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Previous Post: Is The White House Influencing Testimonies From Pentagon Officials To Favor Political Donors?

More News On How America's Military GPS Infrastructure May Be Jeopardized By A Start-Up With Political Connections In Washington

Billionaire Backer Disputes Charges That Company Sought White House Help to Influence Testimony -- FOX News
LightSquared Founder Denies Ties With WH, Political Favors -- FOX News
LightSquared investor: Suggestion of influence peddling 'disgusting' -- The Hill
Fox turns LightSquared political -- The Register
LightSquared Signal Interferes with Gov’t GPS Receivers -- GPS Tracking
Shelton: GPS and LightSquared network cannot currently coexist -- Fierce Government IT
Department Seeks to Protect GPS Operations -- Defpro
Congress addressing GPS vs. Lightsquared battle -- Western Farm Press
House Republicans Want Answers on the White House Allegedly Trying to Influence a General's Testimony -- FOX News

My Comment: More questions are being raised .... and despite the denials from LightSquared that they tried to influence a General's testimony .... the question that needs to still be answered concretely by LightSquared is .... will America's military GPS infrastructure be impacted by this new technology as the Pentagon is claiming that it will.

US Military Reconnaissance Plane Forced Down By North Korean Electronic Attack

U.S. soldiers get off Korean Air aircraft at the Korean Air Force Airport in Daegu to participate in the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle joint exercises on March 8.

N.Korea Jammed U.S. Reconnaissance Plane GPS -- Chosun Ilbo

A U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft made an emergency landing during annual South Korea-U.S. military exercises in March when North Korea jammed its GPS device, it emerged Thursday.

According to a report the Defense Ministry submitted to Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Kyu-baek of the National Assembly's Defense Committee, the RC-7B took off from its base at 8:30 p.m. on March 4 but had to make an emergency landing about 45 minutes later due to disruption of its GPS functions by jamming signals transmitted from Haeju and Kaesong in North Korea at intervals of five to 10 minutes that afternoon.

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More News On North Korea's GPS Jamming Attack

US military plane in electronic attack from North Korea -- Herald Sun
US Military Plane Forced Down By North Korean Electronic Attack -- FOX News
N.K. boosts electronic warfare capabilities -- The Korea Herald
N. Korea developing new devices to jam GPS signals: defense ministry -- Yonhap News Agency
New North Korea GPS jamming device has 100 kilometre range -- Mobile Magazine
N.Korea Developing High-Powered GPS Jammer -- Chosun Ilbo
North Korea GPS jamming device has 100km range -- Uber Gizmo

WNU Editor: This is making news now!!! We first blogged about North Korea's GPS jamming capabilities in March.

GPS System Can Detect Secret Nuclear Tests

GPS System Can Detect Secret Nuclear Tests -- Field Technologies

This week researchers at Ohio State University revealed they have a new tool for detecting illegal nuclear explosions: the Earth’s global positioning system (GPS). The discovery was announced this week at a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) meeting.

Researchers have discovered that nuclear tests leave a mark on the part of the upper atmosphere known as the ionosphere. After a nuclear explosion, there is a change in ionospheric electron density, as a bubble of disturbed particles spread out from the test site and across the planet. As the GPS signal passes through the edge of the bubble, the change in electron density disturbs the signal in a noticeable way.

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More News On How The GPS Can Detect Nuclear Explosions

GPS Could Support Nuclear Test Detection -- Global Security Newswire
GPS can spot clandestine nuclear tests -- UPI
GPS data can detect buried nuke tests -- Columbus Dispatch
GPS stations trace nuclear explosions, summon end to underground mushroom clouds? -- Endgadget
GPS Stations Can Detect Clandestine Nuclear Tests -- Space Daily
GPS used to detect illegal nuclear tests -- TG Daily

North Korea Is Jamming GPS Signals In The South

N. Korea Jammed S. Korea GPS Devices -- Inquirer.net/AFP

SEOUL-- North Korea used jamming equipment to block South Korean military communication devices last week, a report said Sunday, amid high tension over the joint drills between Seoul and Washington.

Yonhap news agency said strong jamming signals sent across the border on Friday had caused minor disruptions to phones and navigational devices using GPS (Global Positioning System) at military units near the capital Seoul.

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Update #1: N.Korea behind GPS signal disruption in South: reports -- Reuters
Update #2: ‘NK jams GPS signals to disrupt Korea-US drills’ -- Korea Times
Update #3: N. Korea Sends Jamming Signals to Disrupt S. Korea-US Joint Military Exercise -- Arirang News

My Comment: This is disquieting news. GPS positioning and targeting is a crucial element of the West's military arsenal. The last thing that you would want to hear is information that these signals are being jammed and/or distorted.

Faulty GPS Units In Afghanistan Causes Problems For Soldiers Who Use Them

Polish Troops on the Ground in Afghanistan Polish Ministry of National Defence

Polish Soldiers in Afghanistan Given Faulty GPS Units That Say They're Still In Poland, Or Maybe Africa -- Popular Science

In Afghanistan, perhaps more so than in a small Polish town, it’s important to know exactly where you’re going. So you can imagine the frustration felt by Polish troops serving in Afghanistan when faulty GPS equipment told them that they weren’t in Afghanistan, but in one of several African nations or back home in the small town of Zielona Gora in Western Poland.

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My Comment: Of all places where a faulty GPS unit is a definite no-no, Afghanistan is the last place where you want to have this type of problem.

A New GPS System For The U.S. Military

GPS 2F-1 being completed at Boeing (Source: Boeing)

First Block 2F GPS Satellite Launched, Needed to Prevent System Failure -- Daily Tech

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has become an important part of global commerce, a far cry from its roots as a purely military system designed to aid in guiding Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. Everything from oil tankers to running shoes now incorporate GPS technology, thanks to shrinking designs and mass production.

Although the first Block I satellite was launched in 1978, the GPS network didn't achieve initial operational capability until December 1993. The GPS network requires a minimum of 21 satellites in medium Earth orbit to ensure global coverage, and a full network of 32 satellites is preferred for optimal performance and reliability.

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A Delta 4 rocket blasts off with the GPS 2F-1 navigation satellite aboard for the U.S. military and civilian services. United Launch Alliance

More News On A New GPS System Being Established

Glitch shows how much US military relies on GPS -- AP
GPS glitch hit some military systems in January -- AP
Air Force Launches First Next-Gen GPS Satellite -- FOX News
New GPS satellite successfully launched -- Tech Connect
First-of-its-kind satellite for GPS launched into space -- Space Flight Now
GPS is getting an $8 billion upgrade -- San Francisco Chronicle
GPS upgrade aims to see more, do more -- Seattle Times

Advances In Technology To Track Our Soldiers

Keep moving to fix a position (Image: Chad Hunt/Corbis)

Motion Sensors Could Track Troops When GPS Cuts Out -- New Scientist

KNOWING where troops are during combat operations can be a matter of life and death - but GPS technology used to track troops is fragile, the signal easily lost. Now a UK company is developing a lightweight, wearable tracker that can provide location cover when GPS is down.

The system uses novel software to decipher position data from the signals generated by cheap microchip-based motion sensors - like those used in the Nintendo Wii and Apple iPhone.

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My Comment: This is going to save lives.

DARPA Plans Lightning-Based GPS For Underground Warfighters

Lightning Strikes for Navigation So if lightning strikes position a, b and c ... NASA

From Popular Science:

DARPA envisions a future in which U.S. Special Forces or spooks have to assault underground bases. And the Pentagon agency wants to give those warriors an underground navigation system that works on lightning bolts, The Register reports.

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More Satellites Over Afghanistan

Afghanistan's mountains can weaken or block satellite signals that help guide American troops. Moises Saman for The New York Times

More Satellites Will Act as Eyes for Troops -- New York Times

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. — Across the unforgiving terrain of Afghanistan, American combat forces have come to rely on satellites as well as their rifles and body armor to carry out missions effectively, and to stay alive.

But American units have found that satellite signals are weakened and even blocked outright by the breathtaking peaks and backbreaking valleys of Afghanistan — making it hard to pinpoint the troops’ location, navigate on patrol, identify friend from foe in battle or call in bombs and artillery when under attack.

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My Comment: Another example that illustrates the importance of net-ware in a conflict zone.

Update: Sat-nav systems under growing threat from 'jammers' -- BBC

Air Force Searches For Alternatives To GPS

Echo, NASA's first communications satellite, was a passive spacecraft based on a balloon design created by an engineer at the Langley Research Center. The Mylar satellite measured 100 feet in diameter and could be seen with the naked eye from the ground as it passed overhead. (Photograph by NASA)

From Popular Mechanics:

As the administration dismantles its only backup system, the Air Force looks at replacements to guard against the Pentagon's over-reliance on GPS satellites.

Last week, the Air Force's Chief of Staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, gave voice to a chink in the U.S. military's armor, one that many know about but few like to discuss in public: Without satellites, modern militaries lose most of their edge. "It seemed critical to me that the joint force reduce its dependence on GPS (Global Positioning System)," he told attendees at a national security conference in Washington.

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My Comment: I am surprised that the military is focusing on this weakness only now. One would think that with so much of our military dependent on such technologies, backups and alternative systems would have been developed and installed (a long time ago).

U.S. Air Force Urgently Seeks Alternatives To GPS

GPS Satellite Please don't shoot me U.S. Army

From Popular Science:

GPS may now reside in everything from our cars to our smart phones, but it once all began as a military application. So it's perhaps ironic, if not entirely shocking, that the head of the U.S. Air Force said today that the military needs to wean itself off dependence on a GPS network vulnerable to jamming and satellite-killing vehicles. DOD Buzz reports that officials have confirmed that GPS has been "jammed or interfered with recently."

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Update: U.S. Air Force: GPS a security risk; alternatives needed -- Smart Planet

China To Have Global Satellite Navigation System By 2015

From China View:

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- China plans to complete its independent global satellite navigation system by launching about 30 more orbiters before 2015, a space technology official said Sunday.

China plans to send 10 navigation satellites into the space in 2009 and 2010, said Zhang Xiaojin, director of astronautics department with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) told China Central Television (CCTV).

The plan is to establish a global navigation system consisting of more than 30 satellites by the year of 2015. The system will shake off the dependence on foreign systems, Zhang said.

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Update: China Mastering Satellite Navigation Age -- Defense Technology News