The aviation, maritime and telecoms agencies of the UN have warned that countries need to better protect the satellite signals aircraft and ships use for positioning and navigation
“Grave concern” in the increasing number of jamming and spoofing of satellite navigation systems has prompted the joint statement to member states from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and International Maritime Organization (IMO), they said.
Jamming and spoofing disrupts Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) operating in the frequency bands allocated to the Radio Navigation Satellite Service (RNSS) and states must act to urgently enhance the protection of the critical radio-frequency band, the statement said.
GNSS is a catch-all term used to describe the constellations of satellites that provide positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services worldwide. GNSS include the USA’s GPS, Europe’s Galileo, China’s BeiDou and Russia’s GLONASS.
The systems are critical for the safety and efficiency of civilian aircraft, maritime vessels, humanitarian assistance vehicles, as well as for time synchronization of telecommunications networks.
Jamming is an unnecessary transmission, or the transmission of superfluous signals, or the transmission of signals without identification. Spoofing is the broadcast of GNSS-like signals that can cause a GNSS receiver in a vessel or aircraft to calculate erroneous positions and provide false guidance.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin Doreen Bogdan-Martin, secretary-general of the ITU said, "GNSS are critical to our safety on land, at sea and in the air. Member States should ensure the uninterrupted operation of these systems for everyone's safety and the resilience of essential services that our lives depend on."
The ITU Radiocommunication Bureau is the UN body Which supports the management of radio-frequencies in accordance with an international treaty.
Mario Maniewicz, director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau said, “Protecting radiocommunications systems from harmful interference is at the core of ITU's mandate. We call on our members to make responsible use of the radiofrequency spectrum, which is a precious, natural and shared resource we rely on for communicating, travelling and working in our daily lives."
The joint statement requests member states to:
- Protect RNSS from jamming and spoofing
- Improve the resilience of the systems which use GNSS signals for PNT
- Retain infrastructure that provides cover in case of GNSS outages and misleading signals
- Increase collaboration with regulators and enforcement authorities
- Ensure cases of interference are reported to the authorities and the ITU Radiocommunications Bureau, to enable the monitoring of the situation.