The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is seeking commercial companies to provide input on improving DoD’s awareness of intentional disruptions of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), including GPS.
“This solicitation is particularly focused on persistent, large-area coverage of falsified GNSS emitters that result in localized spoofing phenomenology,” per an Aug. 9 DIU notice for the “Harmonious Rook” program. “The GNSS, to include the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network, has proven indispensable to position, navigation, and timing (PNT) capabilities in both DoD as well as the commercial domain. The entire world is dependent on GNSS or GNSS-based systems, yet the GPS architecture and its users are vulnerable to denial and manipulation by adversarial actors. To date, intentional manipulation of GNSS operations have enabled nefarious activities, to include narcotics trafficking, unapproved operation of autonomous vehicles, illegal fishing, and sea-borne piracy.”
According to the solicitation, nation-state use of GNSS jamming or spoofing systems may also extend “beyond the area of conflict, causing deleterious effects on civilian populations.”
“Such activities degrade or deny critical geolocation capabilities and further introduce hazards to safety-of-life-navigation, critical infrastructure, and emergency response services,” per the solicitation.
Solutions desired by DIU include GNSS interference analytics and other areas, including the collection and provision of relevant data needed for GNSS interference analysis–data from automatic identification system (AIS), automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), cellular phones, satellite phones, app-based GNSS metadata, and GNSS receivers.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Nick Estep, the Harmonious Rook program manager at DIU, had the following to say about the origin of the name, “Harmonious Rook.”
“Harmonious because of the synchronicity (space and time) required for position, navigation and timing (PNT),” he wrote in an Aug. 10 email. “Rook because it’s a high altitude crow, and crows are usually associated with electronic warfare (EW). Intentional GNSS disruption is a form of EW that impacts PNT provided by space constellations (20km is pretty high altitude).”