GNSS Anti-Jam & Anti-Spoof Antenna Technology for Multimodal Transportation
One strategy for toughening receivers is direction-of-arrival sensing. The technique relies on a multi-element GNSS antenna or the equivalent. Such techniques are uniquely well suited to the detection and mitigation of jamming and spoofing attacks on land, air, and sea vehicles. The research team has examined and developed several multi-element technologies such as controlled reception pattern antennas (CRPA) based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and dual polarization antennas (DPA). CRPA and DPA enable spoofing detection as they are sensitive to the direction of arrival (DOA) of each incoming signal. Spoofing can be detected if the indicated DOAs do not align with anticipated DOA or if the DOAs of all satellite signals come from one direction as may be expected with a single-antenna spoofer. Additionally, CRPAs and DPAs can produce nulls, mitigating the effects of interference. The research team proposes two developments with the goal of transferring these capabilities to manufacturers for use in civil applications. (1) CRPA development has not been widely explored for civilian transportation due to export restrictions on the number of antenna elements and their capabilities. However, some restrictions have recently been relaxed. Additionally, the technology to have large arrays of antennas is widely available (e.g., used in 5G technology which have about 1000 elements) and not cost prohibitive (Starlink base stations cost $599). The research team has developed small arrays (4 elements or less) compliant with current restrictions. The research team will explore arrays that meet current restrictions and those that do not, the latter to explore the possible benefits to R-PNT in advanced transportation systems of further relaxation of restrictions. (2) DPA for spoofer detection is a newer technology that utilizes an antenna that can receive both left-hand and right-hand circularly polarized (LHCP, RHCP) signals to induce DOA sensitivity. This concept came out of a 2016 Stanford Ph.D. thesis. The research team later demonstrated that it can be built using COTS parts. The research team flight tested this concept in 2019. Two implementations were tested – one based on COTS GNSS chipset where the estimation of DOA effects took several seconds due to a serial search process needed to find the incoming phase offset between the LHCP and RHCP. The other used custom software receiver processing to directly solve for the phase ambiguity. One challenge with this concept is building a system that can make continuous DOA calculations using COTS hardware. A second challenge is to develop techniques for handling DOA errors and measurement ambiguity (e.g., 180-degree ambiguity).
- Record URL:
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Active
- Funding: $Federal $200,000, Cost-share $100,000
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Contract Numbers:
Illinois Institute of Technology/69A3552348324
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Sponsor Organizations:
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
University Transportation Centers Program
Department of Transportation
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Managing Organizations:
Center for Assured and Resilient Navigation in Advanced Transportation Systems
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL United States 60616 -
Performing Organizations:
Center for Assured and Resilient Navigation in Advanced Transportation Systems
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL United States 60616 -
Principal Investigators:
Lo, Sherman
Psiaki, Mark
- Start Date: 20230110
- Expected Completion Date: 20240930
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program
- Subprogram: University Transportation Centers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Antennas; Computer security; Intelligent transportation systems; Multimodal transportation; Navigation; Satellite navigation systems
- Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Security and Emergencies; Transportation (General);
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01906627
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Center for Assured and Resilient Navigation in Advanced Transportation Systems
- Contract Numbers: Illinois Institute of Technology/69A3552348324
- Files: UTC, RIP
- Created Date: Jan 31 2024 2:12PM