Addressing the Limitations of GPS and GNSS with LEO-based PNT
episode
The Fast Mode Podcasts: Breaking News, Analysis and Updates From Telecoms Industry
22 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
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What are the main vulnerabilities and limitations of GPS and GNSS?
Welcome to the Fast Mode Podcast series. I'm Tara Neal, and with me today is Rohit Braggs, Vice President of Positioning, Navigation and Timing PNT at Iridium. Rohit directs Iridium's commercial PT strategy and execution amid growing demand for resilient alternatives to GPS and GNSS. He is a position navigation and timing enthusiast. with twenty years of contribution to the P T community, with experience in RF engineering, product management, sales, marketing, strategy and MA. Welcome, Rohit. Great to have you on today's episode.
Thank you very much. Good to be here.
Awesome. Okay, so let's dive right in. Um, you know, uh we have just mentioned a couple of terms, um GPS, GNSS, and of course PNT. So um let's discuss a little bit about you know the predecessors, the GPS and GNSS. Okay, what are the main vulnerabilities or limitations of these technologies and how does a LEO based PNT solution provide signal that is way stronger.
Sure. So um at Iridium is a global communications company. And as you mentioned, uh it's focused on kind of transitioning from a communications company to a GPS GNSS services company is leveraging its infrastructure, which is based on a LEO, what we call it, the low earth orbit satellite platform. So, my background, as you mentioned in the introduction, spans two plus decades working at GPS, global positioning systems, GNSS, global navigation satellite systems, which led into what we call resilient position navigation and timing, TNT. So I served various roles and focused heavily on what we call GNSS vulnerability mitigation. This was in order to secure time, provide trusted Positioning systems, especially when it started with global defense and aerospace customers, which kind of translated into global critical infrastructure applications like telecom, banks, financial systems, power grids.
Bom. And all of them were facing increasingly large threats around jamming and spoofing. So this is what led to my work to shape what resilient PNT is all about. So at Iridium, that allowed me to extend my experience to leverage this global low earth orbit satellite platform to build a service that kind of mitigates and protects uh systems that are dependent on GPS and GNSS, because fundamentally GPS and GNSS is extremely weak. So GPS and GNSF satellites originate from twenty thousand kilometers above the Earth's surface in space from what we called a medium earth orbit constellation. And when by the time that signal reaches the surface of the earth, the power level is extremely weak. Hence, it's easy and very susceptible to noise and what we call jamming.
It could be deliberate, it could be unintentional as well too, and any system that relies on that weak GPS GNSS signal is kind of susceptible to some risk.
How does Iridium’s LEO‑based PNT provide a signal that is 1,000 × stronger than traditional GPS?
And that's where iridium constellation comes in. Because of its low earth orbit architecture. It's around seven hundred and fifty to seven hundred and eighty kilometers above the surface of the Earth. So it's twenty-five times closer to the surface of the Earth compared to the GPS GNSS constellation. Hence, that signal is much stronger. And because of that, it is much more difficult to jam, providing better connectivity to signals that require that stronger uh level of RF capability to work on precise timing and positioning technology.
Mm-hmm. Wow. Well that that's really interesting. And I mean, um, I hope you don't mind. I'm gonna ask a very lame uh question here. You know, when we see the um the connection that we have, uh, you know, do you wanna turn on your location uh on your device, right? So which technology are we referring to?
Yeah, so those are called assisted GPS, GNSS technologies. It's a combination. So when we talk about the satellite signal altogether, yes, each cell phone has what we call a GPSS, GNSS chipset that's looking at that signal from the constellations that are twenty thousand plus kilometers on the surface of the earth. So you are actually turning off that signal capability to kind of prevent because Because in that airplane mode, you don't want interference signals coming in.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the main vulnerabilities and limitations of GPS and GNSS?
0:11–3:25
2
How does Iridium’s LEO‑based PNT provide a signal that is 1,000 × stronger than traditional GPS?
3:25–5:51
3
Why does a lower‑orbit (750‑780 km) satellite constellation make the signal harder to jam?
5:51–8:09
4
What cryptographic features make Iridium’s PNT resistant to spoofing?
8:09–11:03
5
How is LEO‑based PNT improving resilience for telecom networks and 5G timing?
11:03–14:23
6
What role does Iridium’s PNT play in maritime navigation and power‑grid stability?
14:23–17:10
7
How does the new Iridium PNT ASIC bring resilient positioning into silicon chips?
17:10–20:03
8
Will LEO‑based PNT become a mainstream backup or primary solution for consumer devices?
20:03–22:23
Speakers
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