What Would Happen Without GPS/GNSS Signals?

PNT Executive Order

What Would Happen Without GPS/GNSS Signals?

“We can’t afford to wait for a major PNT disruption to trigger action. Key initiatives like the PNT Executive Order provide essential awareness that these threats exist and confirm the need to respond today with proven solutions that can keep critical infrastructure running smoothly.”

Jean-Yves Courtois
CEO, Orolia

The Executive Order on Resilient PNT

According to NIST, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, It is estimated that GPS/GNSS signal disruption could result in $30-$45 billion in economic losses over a 30-day period, not to mention the impact of system failure for most systems that rely on GPS signals. Today, nearly everything relies on these signals- from your mobile phone to your car’s route guidance system, up to the power grid, satellite systems and other critical infrastructure.

The important information that GPS/GNSS signals deliver is accurate Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) data, which are critical data elements required for most technologies to function today. These signals can be disrupted unintentionally by environmental conditions or intentionally with jamming and spoofing. Spoofing is often worse than jamming because a rogue actor intentionally causes the signal to deliver false information, and the system operator will not even know it’s happening.

To help mitigate these risks, on February 12, 2020 the federal government issued an Executive Order on Strengthening National Resilience through Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Services.

Keep up with latest developments about the PNT Executive Order, get invited to PNT industry events, and learn more about how industry can help protect critical infrastructure. Sign up here.

Highlights of the Executive Order
  • It fosters the responsible use of PNT services by critical infrastructure owners and operators to strengthen national resilience to GPS/GNSS signal threats.
  • This initiative is led by critical federal agencies: The Departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, Defense, and Transportation.
  • “Critical infrastructure” includes:
    • The electrical power grid
    • Communications infrastructure and mobile devices
    • All modes of transportation
    • Precision agriculture
    • Weather forecasting
    • Emergency response
  • “PNT services” means any system, network or capability that provides a reference to calculate longitude, latitude, altitude, or transmission of time or frequency data, or any combination thereof.
  • The order requires the Secretaries of Commerce, Defense, Transportation, and Homeland Security to identify systems, networks and assets dependent on PNT services, and to develop a plan to test these systems’ vulnerabilities and develop “PNT profiles.”
  • Following is a timeline that shows when each state of the plan must be implemented.

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Click to see the Executive Order Timeline

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Click to see the Executive Order Milestones

How The Executive Order Affects You

There will be increased emphasis on:

  • Solutions that provide backup to GPS/GNSS and alternate sources of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
  • Products and solutions that can detect and mitigate disruptions such as GPS jamming and spoofing. See our jamming and spoofing resource center.
  • Products that will maintain or enhance the security, robustness and redundancy of PNT capabilities.

How Orolia Can Help

As the world leader in Resilient PNT solutions, Orolia is in a unique position to support the Executive Order. We can serve as an expert resource for federal agencies, critical infrastructure owners and the private sector to test PNT vulnerabilities, recommend proven Resilient PNT technologies and backup options to strengthen systems, and share best practices on continuous improvement and ongoing system monitoring.
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At Orolia, we’ve been Resilient PNT experts for more than forty years, and we’re the only provider of comprehensive PNT solutions to make critical infrastructure more resilient – from testing and simulation to interference detection and mitigation (IDM), as well as resilient PNT network systems. When failure is not an option, the world’s most GPS/GNSS-reliant systems trust Orolia.

Sign Up for Resilient PNT Updates

Keep up with latest developments about the PNT Executive Order, get invited to PNT industry events, and learn more about how industry can help protect critical infrastructure. Sign up here.