With increased reliance on GPS for navigation, targeting, and guidance, the threat of jamming and signal spoofing is significant. These threats create a greater risk in mission success and potentially increased casualties in U.S. and Allied force operations. GPS jamming can cause receivers to operate with a large navigation error, or with a failure to acquire the GPS signal altogether. GPS spoofing can potentially cause a receiver to report incorrect or false navigational data. Under this Phase I funding, MAXIM Systems will review engineering and campaign level DoD modeling platforms, define requirements for more granular GPS degradation models and their integration with established platforms, and build a proof of concept. Focused on realistic warfare scenarios, the goal of this work is to effectively bridge the gap between high fidelity engineering based GPS models and overarching campaign level models. Key to this process will be defining an automated data sharing design allowing the models to be executed quickly on a large scale to facilitate their use in mission planning and execution, with accurate representations of degradation in different types of unit level equipment and terrain environments.
Benefit: GPS degradation is a well known phenomena, particularly within the DoD. In both Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, opposition forces attempted to jam the signal using noisy radio frequency circuits broadcasting over the GPS range to lessen the effectiveness of various guided weapons. Though the DoD has mandated new changes to GPS equipment since 2002 to prevent these problems, more than 90% of the U.S. military uses some civilian or legacy systems that can still be compromised. Modeling of GPS jamming and spoofing with current industry tools is both slow and non-specific. Models do not translate well to the campaign level, and thus cannot give mission planners the granular details needed that allow them to convert the vulnerabilities of specific equipment to effects on the battlefield. With MAXIMs improved GPS models and understanding of model linking capabilities, the company will create a prototype that shows how GPS degradation equates to fewer targets destroyed, and the related costs to the warfighter. Commercial aviation and logistics, utilities, and both network and cellular communications will also be able to leverage these models to prevent theft and better position resources to counteract interference problems across this $34 billion industry.
Keywords: Gps, Jamming, Spoofing, Campaign Modeling, Navigation Tool Kit, Giant, Naval Simulation System, Netwars
