We trust GPS like we trust gravity. It just works and gets us where we want to go. But what if someone could trick it into lying to you, and you’d have absolutely no idea?
Unlike jamming, which floods your GPS with noise and at least lets you know something is wrong, spoofing sends fake signals that look completely legitimate. You might be tracking your car or a shipment and think everything is alright when actually the shipment has been routed to someplace else, with you none being the wiser.
That’s GPS spoofing, and it’s a bigger problem than most people realize. This is what the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is trying to solve.
How bad can it really get?
GPS spoofing might not seem bad on an individual level, but it’s a legitimate concern for companies and governments alike. International criminal networks are already using spoofing to steal loaded long-haul trucks.
In one case, thieves spoofed GPS to hijack multiple shipments of specialty tequila from a brand co-founded by Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar. They pulled it off repeatedly because the GPS tracking showed the truck heading exactly where it was supposed to go.
Now imagine that same trick applied to a truck carrying radioactive materials or pharmaceuticals.
So, what’s the fix?
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have built the world’s first highly sensitive, portable GPS spoofing detector that works in real time, even while moving. What makes it special is that it can detect spoofing even when the fake signals are just as strong as the real ones, something no other known system can do.
“Ours is the best in the world,” said Austin Albright, who led the team. “Trucking needs a solution that works without special conditions or dependence on a trusted reference source.”
The detector works independently, without needing a GPS receiver or knowledge of available signals. The team is now working on making it more affordable for widespread use.
Albright sums up the urgency well. Like a carbon monoxide (it’s colorless and odorless) detector catches an invisible danger before it’s too late, this device does the same for GPS, before the cargo, or worse, disappears.