- Aviation, maritime and telecoms agencies raise alarm over increase in jamming and spoofing of satellite navigation systems
GENEVA, Switzerland – Increasing incidents of interference with aviation, maritime and other satellite telecommunications services mean states must urgently enhance the protection of a critical radio-frequency band, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and International Maritime Organization (IMO) said with “grave concern” in a joint statement.
These cases of harmful interference are in the form of jamming and spoofing that disrupt Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) operating in the frequency bands allocated to the Radio Navigation Satellite Service (RNSS).
Global Navigation Satellite Systems are constellations of Earth-orbiting satellites that provide positioning, navigation and timing services worldwide that are critical for the safety and efficiency of civilian aircraft, maritime vessels, humanitarian assistance vehicles, as well as for time synchronization of telecommunications networks.
“Global Navigation Satellite Systems are critical to our safety on land, at sea and in the air,” said ITU secretary-general Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “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 joint statement cosigned by the three UN agencies requests members states to:
- Protect the RNSS from transmissions that can adversely cause harmful interference degrading, interrupting or misleading signals used for civilian and humanitarian purposes;
- Reinforce resilience of the systems which rely on RNSS for navigation, positioning and timing in relation to this type of interference;
- Retain sufficient conventional navigation infrastructure for contingency support in case of RNSS outages and misleading signals, and develop mitigation techniques for loss of services;
- Increase collaboration between radio regulatory, civil aviation, maritime, defence and enforcement authorities; and
- Report cases of harmful interference affecting RNSS to the appropriate telecommunication, aeronautical and maritime authorities, and to the ITU Radiocommunications Bureau, to enable the monitoring of the situation.
“Protecting radiocommunications systems from harmful interference is at the core of ITU’s mandate,” said Mario Maniewicz, director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau. “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.”
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.
ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau supports the global management of radio-frequencies in accordance with the Radio Regulations, the international treaty on shared use of the radio-frequency spectrum.
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