WASHINGTON VIEW
he U.S. government appears down their eLoran infrastructure while to be closing in on a deci- other, less-friendly nations — including sion about whether to revive Russia — are moving to upgrade their plans for an enhanced Loran eLoran-type systems. T(eLoran) system, as a backup for the Although the outcome of the U.S. position, navigation, and timing (PNT) deliberations on a national system information provided by GPS signals. would appear to be a separate issue A study launched by the interagency from overseas eLoran developments, group coordinating GPS-related policy the two are actually closely linked, has been weighing options since last experts insist. If the United States fails fall after two members of Congress sent to go ahead with its own eLoran, they pointed letters asking about the lack of said, other nations will drop their trans- mitters — including NATO countries whose systems could be important in ongoing areas of conflict. GNSS VULNERABILITY DRIVES PROPOSAL “Whether countries like it or not, the U.S. is kind of the de facto PNT leader, even if we don’t have an eLoran system U.S. Nears eLoran Decision with up,” asserted UrsaNav president and CEO Chuck Schue. “There is no doubt Broad International Implications in the global community that if the U.S. moves forward with eLoran, other folks will as well. There’s no doubt about that. DEE ANN DIVIS progress on establishing a GPS backup If the U.S. does not move forward with (details at
24 InsideGNSS MARCH/APRIL 2015 www.insidegnss.com WASHINGTON VIEW
interiors, urban canyons, underground no department has been willing to step were down for seven hours and the oper- computer rooms, forest depths, and even forward and risk a fiscal hit. ation of two other cranes was degraded. underwater installations. The crane incident, which Coast Given its capabilities, and the fact Pressure Mounts in the U.S. Guard speakers at a separate March con- that the annual estimated cost for run- In the years since the demise of the orig- ference on marine cybersecurity hinted ning a nation-wide eLoran system is a inal eLoran plan, the number of GNSS also occurred in the New Jersey area, relatively modest $50 million, the PNT jamming incidents has been mounting. was caused by another jammer-toting community came to consensus years ago In the two most widely publicized inci- trucker, according to Coast Guard Rear that eLoran was the best backup for GPS. dents affecting operations at the Newark Admiral Marshall B. Lytle. Lytle has That was before the Obama administra- airport, truckers were caught with small been tapped to lead implementation of tion canceled eLoran in 2010, ostensibly jammers that hampered the operation of the Coast Guard’s new cybersecurity ini- as a budget-reduction move. the facilities’ air traffic equipment. It took tiative that, although still not officially A number of the old Loran-C stations years for officials to figure out that the released, appears to encompass inter- have been dismantled since then. Con- intermittent interference in the first case ference with the GPS signal. The Coast gress put a stop to the teardowns in 2014 was being caused by a jammer-equipped Guard is also the designated contact with a bill ordering the U.S. Coast Guard, vehicle. The second case was resolved point for reports of GPS interference, which ran the original Loran system and more quickly and in 2013 trucker Gary according to a best-practices guide on remains responsible for the sites, to stop P. Bojczak was handed a $32,000 fine. improving robust timing and frequen- taking them apart until a final decision GPS jammers are also hampering cy sources issued in January to critical on eLoran could be reached. operations at the nation’s ports. Doz- infrastructure owners and operators by That was followed by the congres- ens of incidents have occurred in which the Department of Homeland Security sional letters — and the feds have been jammers had been placed in shipping (DHS). ruminating on the issue ever since. containers to mask the location of stolen The primary hang-up, as previously goods, according to the FBI. In 2014 a Coast Guard in the lead? reported, has been determining which jammer shut down two automated cranes Given its emerging cybersecurity role agency will take responsibility for the sys- when it caused them to lose their lock and prior experience as managers of tem. From the agencies’ point of view that on the GPS signal. Brett Rouzer, chief Loran-C, the Coast Guard appears to be means who gets stuck with the bill. Their of Maritime Critical Infrastructure and the agency most likely to land the job of anxieties are well founded. Congress has Key Resources Protection at the Coast managing the government’s side of an a habit of handing agencies tasks without Guard’s Cyber Command, told a confer- eLoran PPP — although other agencies giving them the money to do the job, and ence early this year that the two cranes such as the Department of Transporta- tion (DoT) or DHS might still be tapped. “They (the Coast Guard) obviously have done it before. They obviously are a military organization; so, they know how to protect [the system],” said Schue, who further noted the agency’s technical and contracting expertise. As for the private sector participants in a possible PPP, Schue said his firm had joined forces with another company to pursue the opportunity but would not take the lead. Schue declined to name the other company, as did an indepen- dent source who had spoken with the new player about its plans. “We thought it would be better if another company did it, so it’s not ‘Here’s those UrsaNav guys again,’” Schue told Inside GNSS. “We need to make sure that folks see that we’re not the only ones that are interested or that understand that this is a problem that we need to do Nominal eLoran system design for maritime users. Source: International Loran Association something about.”
26 InsideGNSS MARCH/APRIL 2015 www.insidegnss.com CRADA to enable the private The interest in the United States is sector to demonstrate eLoran coming from telecommunication provid- to potential customers. ers and from broadcasters, said radionav- DHS is leading the CRADA igation expert David Last. “It’s coming effort, he said. Now that the from people who are pushing bits around kerfuffle over the agency’s 2016 and [for whom] the standards required of budget has been resolved he is them are going up and up, and their need optimistic an announcement to acquire timing indoors is increasing.” of the CRADA would be seen The CRADA enables the private sec- in the Federal Register as early tor partners to directly demonstrate as May 1. Although Schue did Loran’s advantages to potential custom- not know if the Coast Guard, ers using signals from the remaining U.S. which is part of DHS, would sites. Although UrsaNav has data from its be involved, it seems likely as work overseas, which indicates eLoran is the agency still manages the more than capable of supporting the tim- Prof. David Last Loren-C sites, some of which would be ing needs of the new 4G LTE networks, activated under the agreement. U.S. customers want to see results using UrsaNav had been in the middle of Most of the customers are expected the U.S. system, said Schue a cooperative research and development to be interested in eLoran as a backup for “Even though the system and the agreement (CRADA) with the Coast timing data. Precise timing is essential to performance is absolutely transferable, Guard testing the use of eLoran for tim- maintaining the function of the power we understand that we need to convince ing synchronization when the Loran grid, the Internet, cell phone networks, our telecoms and our electric power grid system was shut down. Schue said the and other infrastructure such as the government is now working on a new nation’s financial systems. Continued on page 30
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Continued from page 27 only have Norway and France announced they will turn off their stations; France [operators] and our financial markets. has made it clear it intends to dismantle We need to be able to show them on our their installations. Sites for eLoran are turf, with our stuff here, that they can carefully placed; once gone, the network get the very same results with the tech- will be difficult to reconstitute. nology said Schue. “It’s a very objective Moreover, explained George Shaw, and transparent way of presenting real principal development engineer with the results on air with real signals, which is GLA, the French and the British subsi- always better than slide-ware and papers dize the station in Denmark; so, if France and studies.” pulls out, the Danish stations future is also in jeopardy. New Opportunities, Worries Without signals from at least three A robust eLoran system offers users more transmitters to enable eLoran’s trilater- than just a backup capability, noted Last. The system’s ability to penetrate inside buildings is a huge a financial advantage As things stand in to companies, like telecom operators, when they need to get precise timing Europe eLoran will data indoors. cease to exist after Telecoms, which currently synchro- the 31st of December nize much of their networks with GPS, are increasingly putting cellphone base because the French stations inside malls and other buildings, and the Norwegians he said. As things stand, they currently will switch off their have to run an antenna up to the roof to get the GPS signal. In a large build- stations. ing, however, the demand for sky access for antennas and receiving dishes makes rooftops prime real estate. Getting an ation-based positioning, said Shaw, the antenna on top of the building can cost United Kingdom with its one station, a firm some $5,000 a year, said Last. will only be able to provide precise tim- “If you have a tall building with a ing — and that will be limited. Losing huge number of occupants and you want the transmitters, he said, “could poten- a space on the roof, you pay through tially be the end of the option for eLoran the nose for it,” said Last. “Now eLoran in Europe.” delivers that timing indoors at ground And losing the European network level, even under the ground.” could come at a particularly ticklish Last works with the General Light- time. house Authority (GLA), which manages the eLoran system for the United King- Russia and the Ukraine dom and Ireland. The GLA announced The Russians, said both Shaw and an initial operating capability for their Last, are upgrading their Chayka sys- eLoran network just last October. But tem, which is similar to Loran, into an now that network — in fact, the entire enhanced or eChayka. And they are European network — is in jeopardy. doing something similar, they said, with “As things stand in Europe,” Last said, the military version of their network. “eLoran will cease to exist after the 31st A story in OE Watch, an informa- of December because the French and the tional publication from the Defense Norwegians will switch off their stations.” Department’s foreign military studies The European network consists of office that summarizes foreign press nine broadcasting stations: one each in articles, said in September 2013 that the the U.K., Denmark, and Germany; two Russians were replacing their RSDN-10 in France, and in four in Norway. Not [Long Distance Radio Navigation Sta-
30 InsideGNSS MARCH/APRIL 2015 www.insidegnss.com tion] ground-based, long-range navigational radar systems … TO BE EVEN BETTER! with new Skorpion systems. The story cited a report from the Russian newspaper Izvestiya saying Skorpion was designed to replace signals from GLONASS, the Russian GNSS system, if they were suppressed during a conflict. Skorpion transmitters, it said, will be able to provide coverage over 1,000 kilometers, are easier to operate, and can be synchronized with GLONASS. Lundvold Photo: Sindre “The commissioning of the Skorpion will take place in four stages,” OE Watch reported. “Three systems of the Transbaykal circuit will be replaced in 2013–15, four systems of the North Caucasus chain in 2016–17, four in the Far East in 2017–19, and three systems in the South Urals circuit in 2019–20.” New receivers able to use GLONASS, GPS, RSDN, and Skorpion are also being delivered to the Russian Army. “The replacement of ground systems is conditioned firstly,” wrote OE Watch, “by the need to ensure national security in respect of radio-navigation.” The eChayka network also provides coverage over Ukraine Certain missions demand unsurpassed precision, and the Baltic states, explained Shaw, an area that is not covered stability and reliability. Having perfect control by the current European eLoran system. That can be changed, and fully understanding the smallest detail is however, if the current European network were to be expanded. what it takes to be a world leader. Shaw gave a presentation to NATO in December that showed how the European system could be extended to cover With this in mind, we developed the Inertial Eastern Europe and beyond into Turkey. Moreover, he told Measurement Unit STIM300, a small, utra-high defense officials, that a transportable, rapidly deployable, performance, non-GPS aided IMU: tactical eLoran has already been demonstrated. But expand- ing Europe’s eLoran network will not be possible, he noted, if • ITAR free France and Norway pull out. • Small size, low weight and low cost The U.S. Decision • Insensitive to magnetic fi elds Last said he believed there was increasing pressure in Europe • Low gyro bias instability (0.5°/h) from the defense communities to act with regard to eLoran. • Low gyro noise (0.15°/√h) “The question is,” said Last, “whether we’re going to have an • Excellent accelerometer bias instability (0.05mg) Eastern Europe with a clear fallback to an eLoran-type system, • 3 inclinometers for accurate leveling and Western Europe switching its off.” “It is my understanding, from what I’ve heard,” agreed STIM300 is the smallest and highest performing, Schue, “that our DoD and other MODs — ministries of commercially available IMU in its category, defense in other foreign, friendly countries — have been talk- worldwide! ing amongst themselves about vulnerabilities of systems, how to overcome or mitigate those vulnerabilities, (and) what would be the best alternative. And eLoran continually comes up and A miniature IMU is continually supported in those communities.” Weight: 0,12 lbs (55g) The real support needs to come from the United States, Volume: 2,0 cu. in. (35cm3) however, said Shaw, in the form of support for it’s own eLoran Available now – contact us to discuss your application network. “We’re very keen that France and Norway see that this is an important system to protect and preserve and that there is actu- ally a wider interest in it across the world,” he said, adding, “The U.S. is very influential, and if the U.S. is going to stand up and say, ‘We’re bringing eLoran back’ — that in itself would be a When size, performance and robustness matter very powerful message, especially to our friends in Norway.” [email protected] • www.sensonor.com www.insidegnss.com MARCH/APRIL 2015 InsideGNSS 31