De Falcis

VIAVI Solutions — with corporate headquarters in Chandler, Arizona, and offices in 22 countries — makes a wide array of testing solutions for network operators, equipment manufacturers, enterprises, government, aerospace, and railways. I spoke with Nino De Falcis, Senior Director, Global PNT Business Development.

What problem are you addressing?

A GNSS clock is a single point of failure and is at risk of cyber-attacks that are on the rise, such as jamming and spoofing. In a typical configuration, a GNSS legacy clock includes an antenna, a receiver, a holdover oscillator and fan-out input/output. The GNSS antenna is the point of attack for many bad guys. That’s the problem we are addressing in the critical infrastructure that we are serving, including defense, 5G, public safety, utilities, data centers, financial systems and transportation. Bad guys now have also demonstrated that they can jam or even, in Russia’s case, shoot down GNSS satellites, which makes GNSS even more vulnerable, both in space and on the ground. GNSS constellations do not have spoofing detection or mitigation through authentication, except for Galileo’s Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA). Additionally, their signals are not encrypted, so they are easy to spoof and do not work indoors.

What is your solution?

Instead of replacing the hundreds of thousands of legacy GNSS clocks that are deployed, we are just adding our box in line between the antenna and the receiver, as an accessory. We call it the zero-trust multisource PNT clock, and it is our new SecurePNT-6200 product. Additionally, we offer our new suite of SecureTime services, which combines multiple signals of opportunity, coupled with the 6200 clock. We already have Iridium LEO and Inmarsat GEO sources and will soon add support for other future satellites as well as terrestrial sources. You can even aggregate a stand-alone cesium clock into our resilient 6200 clock. Then, we output the legacy signal to feed it to the GPS receiver.

Our resilient multi-source clock aggregates all those signals of opportunity, and then AI sensor fusion weighs, cross-verifies, authenticates, qualifies. It does a lot of processing to select the best uncompromised source. The source is then converted to the legacy GPS L1 signal before feeding it to the GPS receiver. We call it a transcoder and have a patent on this technology. We are the only company offering this solution, though we allow third parties to do the same.

How are you processing your data?

We’re inputting all the constellations — almanacs, ephemerides, etc. — and fusing all those internal and external sources, weighing their quality and estimating the PNT state. We then apply the zero-trust, AI-based jamming and spoofing detection and mitigation. So, we’re doing the authentication, the verification, the qualification, the learning of patterns using all the data sets that we are accumulating between those different sources from GNSS, LEO, GEO or cesium clocks. We can also aggregate sources from the ground, such as eLoran or any terrestrial source that could be activated in the next two or three years. When we switch from one source to another — in the sky, in space, and/or on the ground — we go quickly into holdover so that we don’t have a phase hit during the switchover.

What is your timing source?

Our ground control stations are connected to the NIST to provide a GNSS-independent timing source. So, our solution doesn’t depend on GNSS and its coverage is global and traceable to UTC.

How do LEO and GEO complement each other?

Through Iridium LEO, we’re addressing the encryption, jamming protection, and indoor antenna capabilities that GNSS does not have. However, there are still two missing pieces: spoofing detection and authentication. To address those two gaps of Iridium, we have Fugro Inmarsat GEO, both in L-band and Ku band. Some end users have already approached us and will receive a combination of all three sources — GNSS, LEO and GEO. By the time you get all of those, if anything happens in a critical infrastructure, you’re covered. It is just a matter of your risk profile and how much you want to pay for these services. There is not one service that fits all. The pros and cons of each service are presented in the table above.

What unique capability does VIAVI offer?

We are the only company today that can provide multi-orbit, multi-constellation, multi-band capability. All the solutions — GPS, Iridium and Inmarsat — are L-band, but we are going to come out with Ku band capability, too. Jamming and spoofing Ku band will be much, much more difficult than doing it in L-band, which has already been jammed and spoofed in known warzones, because the frequency is so high and if you get jammed, you can easily switch to a different transponder, and there are many of them. For the defense applications that we are serving, this capability can be the difference between winning or losing a war. We have many engagements with defense accounts, as well as commercial and government accounts and our solution has been embraced very successfully so far.

What performance have you achieved?

We have built spoofing detection into our product for defense-in-depth attacks. We are offering 5 ns accuracy to UTC and can go down to 1 ns accuracy using our new SecureTime eGNSS service. That is breakthrough performance. If you look at GPS, we are at 15 ns with a high-end receiver, but typical receivers are in the 20 ns to 30 ns range, so we’re at least 15 times better than that.

To detect jamming and spoofing, we see all the different signals from space and ground, if any, and map them into our AI fusion software platform that we have, which is our new TrustedPNT technology. These services have been tested and proven in live-sky battlefield scenarios at USAF’s NAVFEST 2024 Test Event in May 2024, including successfully providing assured PNT in a simulated warzone with complete denial of GPS and GNSS services. When attacked, our solution switched from GPS to LEO source and then from LEO to GEO, while surviving the various jamming and spoofing attacks. Once the attack stops, we fail back to GPS. If we add more sources, we will be able to switch from one to another depending on the relevant weaknesses, while amalgamating the different sources to create a solution that is higher in performance than any one constellation by itself.

In conclusion?

Adding an accessory costs a lot less than replacing your legacy clock. Additionally, adding diversified sources from multiple orbits and bands can significantly bolster the robustness and survivability of your overall PNT solution.

Learn more about VIAVI’s new solutions below.

<p>The post VIAVI Solutions adds a box between the antenna and receiver first appeared on GPS World.</p>

Photo: Safran Federal Systems

GNSS — delivering up to millimeter accuracy from 20,200 km in space with a received signal of one tenth of one millionth of one billionth of a Watt — is, in Arthur C. Clarke’s famous definition, “indistinguishable from magic.” Yet, in addition to the inherent errors in the transmission, propagation, and reception of their signals, GNSS are increasingly challenged by jamming and spoofing attacks, especially in and near conflict zones.

For that reason, as any regular reader of this magazine knows, combating jamming and spoofing and building resilience in positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems has been a constant theme of many of our articles and industry news items for years.

The U.S. National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Advisory Board has been focusing on how to “protect, toughen and augment” GPS, with the third word referring both to enhancements to GPS and to the “provision and use of alternate sources of PNT that complement, back up, or replace (partly or entirely) use of GPS.”^(*)

For this cover story, I discussed complementary sources of PNT with executives from four companies that design, produce, and/or operate them. They cover a wide range of complementary PNT technologies. Read the exclusive interviews below: 

• Iridium owns and operates a constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and has global rights for L-band spectrum. This enables it to operate the Satellite Time and Location (STL) system developed by Satelles before it recently became part of Iridium. STL protects critical infrastructure by providing a timing signal that is independent of GNSS constellations and 1,000 times stronger than the GPS signal.
• Spirent Communications’ latest simulation system brings together GNSS and a wide range of other PNT systems. It simulates L-band, S-band, alternative navigation signals, signals of opportunity and emulated inertial outputs. It focuses particularly on the new and emerging LEO constellations, including Xona Space Systems’ PULSAR signals, and enables users to inject new signals via I/Q data files.
• SpacePNT has developed an FPGA-based hardware/software/firmware spaceborne GNSS receiver technology specifically targeting the fast-growing New Space satellite market. The company’s innovations include a precise orbit determination algorithm that can process signals from the Galileo High Accuracy Service and from geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites.
• VIAVI Solutions has developed a system that aggregates signals of opportunity, as well as Iridium LEO and Inmarsat GEO sources; weighs and cross-verifies them; then converts the output to the legacy GPS L1 signal and feeds it to a GPS receiver. It can also aggregate a stand-alone cesium clock.

(*) From Dr. John Betz’s presentation on “Augmenting GPS for Critical Infrastructure” at the April 24, 2024, meeting of the PNT Advisory Board.

<p>The post PNT without GNSS: Exclusive interviews first appeared on GPS World.</p>

Learn more about VIAVI’s new complementary PNT service.

Read about VIAVI’s new resilient PNT solution.

<p>The post JNC 2024: VIAVI Solutions first appeared on GPS World.</p>

Photo: VIAVI

VIAVI Solutions has launched its altGNSS geosynchronous orbit (GEO) SecureTime services designed to deliver nanoseconds-accurate UTC timing through L-Band and Ku-Band satellite signals. It is ideal for critical infrastructure including 5G networks, transportation, data centers, smart grid, high-frequency trading, military and first responder communications and satellite terminals.

The company said that operating independently of traditional GNSS, VIAVI’s altGNSS GEO service is difficult to jam or spoof and offers broad global coverage, further improving resistance to attacks.

SecureTime adds to the portfolio of solutions VIVAI offers for resilient PNT, and features navigation message authentication (NMA), which uses encryption to detect spoofing in any of the signals received from all sources — including GPS that does not support NMA. It builds on VIAVI’s existing multisource assurance, combining signals from government and commercial constellations across GEO, low-Earth orbit (LEO) and medium-Earth orbit (MEO).

These services have been tested and proven in live-sky battlefield scenarios, providing assured PNT in a simulated warzone with complete denial of GNSS signals.

VIAVI will integrate these services into its products and offer receivers for third-party solution providers to integrate into their systems. VIAVI’s SecurePNT 6200 hardware platform is powered by space and terrestrial SecureTime Services and TrustedPNT multisource fusion technology.

VIAVI is showcasing these solutions at the Assured PNT Summit on May 29-30 in Washington, D.C. and the Joint Navigation Conference (JNC) held June 3-6 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

<p>The post VIAVI unveils complementary PNT timing services first appeared on GPS World.</p>

Photo: VIAVI Solutions

VIAVI Solutions has released SecurePNT 6200 with SecureTime services, to enhance the resilience and precision of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) for infrastructure operations globally.  

The solution integrates the Fugro AtomiChron timing service, to improve security against emerging threats to global infrastructures, such as 5G networks, transportation systems and financial services. 

SecurePNT 6200 offers a multi-source PNT service that combines signals from various orbital positions — geosynchronous (GEO), low-Earth Orbit (LEO), and medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) — with traditional GNSS constellations, offering a zero-trust, multisource assurance framework. This setup is designed to protect against the vulnerabilities of public GNSS signals, which are critical for the timing and synchronization of essential services that can be disrupted by jamming, spoofing or satellite attacks. 

The SecurePNT solution incorporates several key technologies to ensure robust protection: 

• Anti-spoofing: Detects and mitigates spoofing attacks, ensuring the integrity of navigation and timing data. 
• Authentication: Extends beyond the Galileo Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA), offering enhanced security measures across all GNSS constellations. 
• Encryption: Protects the integrity and confidentiality of PNT data transmission. 
• High accuracy: Delivers timing accuracy of less than 5 ns, with an optional upgrade to less than 1 ns, all traceable to UTC/NIST standards. 

SecurePNT 6200 can be easily integrated into existing systems. It features VIAVI’s µTranscoder technology, which allows users to upgrade their legacy GPS/GNSS systems effortlessly. This technology allows a simple retrofit of the SecurePNT 6200 between an existing GPS/GNSS antenna and its receiver to improve resilience without the need for extensive hardware modifications. 

The solution aligns with various government and industry standards, ensuring compliance with the latest guidelines from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),   

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other regulatory bodies. SecurePNT 6200 aims to support the security and operational needs of critical infrastructures worldwide.

<p>The post VIAVI launches resilient PNT solution first appeared on GPS World.</p>

Image: Keysight logo

Keysight Technologies has outbid VIAVI Solutions for the acquisition of Spirent Communications, according to Bloomberg News. 

The deal proposed by Keysight values Spirent at 201.5 pence per share, inclusive of a 2.5 pence special dividend, leading to an equity valuation of $1.46 billion, based on information from Keysight and Spirent.  

Following the announcement, Spirent Communications’ stock witnessed an approximate 11% increase, reaching 198.6 pence per share on the London Stock Exchange. 

The intent to purchase comes after VIAVI Solutions extended an all-cash proposal in March 2024 to acquire Spirent for about $1.3 billion. In response to Keysight’s offer, Spirent’s board has retracted their earlier endorsement of VIAVI’s bid. 

The successful completion of Keysight’s acquisition hinges on the acceptance of the offer by investors with at least 75% of the voting rights, in addition to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals. 

<p>The post Keysight outbids VIAVI Solutions for Spirent Communications first appeared on GPS World.</p>

The merger aims to integrate VIAVI and Spirent’s complementary product portfolios and services and to offer a broad spectrum of solutions across various markets and applications.

This collaboration is expected to meet the demands of high-growth sectors such as cloud service providers, enterprise/IT networks, and emerging 5G and 6G technologies, as well as positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) verticals.

As a result of the acquisition, VIAVI aims to accelerate technology development and product innovation, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, security, cloud-native architecture and automation. By using both companies’ joint engineering, research, and development expertise, VIAVI intends to foster innovation, enhance operational efficiency and generate substantial cost synergies.

The partnership is expected to yield annual run-rate cost synergies of up to $75 million within two years post-acquisition.

This acquisition aims to bolster VIAVI’s position as a global provider of test, assurance and security solutions. Moving forward, the focus will be on delivering high-performance, integrated solutions that ensure reliability, efficiency and security across critical network infrastructures and digital ecosystems, VIAVI said.

<p>The post VIAVI Solutions to acquire Spirent Communications first appeared on GPS World.</p>

How many Iridium satellites carry your system?

Mike O’Connor

Iridium has 66 active satellites. There are also several spares on orbit. The satellites were all launched between 2016 and 2018, so they are all relatively new. They cover the entire globe, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so they have universal coverage.

How will your constellation grow?

Today, our Satellite Time and Location (STL) service is offered only over the Iridium satellites. There’s nothing else that we’re discussing publicly. It could expand over time to other satellites. The signal and the capability are flexible. In terms of how Iridium could change, that’s more for Iridium to discuss than us.

Who makes chipsets that can use your system? And how does that work?

We work with partners. For example, with Adtran (through their Oscilloquartz product line), Jackson Labs (now VIAVI Solutions), Orolia (now Safran Trusted 4D). Companies like that provide the solutions that are favored by critical infrastructure providers today. We provide them either reference designs or effectively referenced designs. They ultimately integrate our STL capability into their solutions. We help them to do that. They can use our reference designs or create their own custom designs based on our reference designs. So, that’s the model that we use.

Is the STL receiver on top of a traditional GNSS receiver and passing certain data to it?

STL is used in two ways. In some cases, users are trying to do positioning or timing in an environment where GNSS signals will not reach, such as indoors, or are otherwise unavailable. In those cases, it wouldn’t be overlaid with GNSS, it would just be a standalone solution.

In many other cases, the goal is having a solution that is resilient to an outage, interference, jamming, spoofing, those sorts of things. In that case, the receiver card that might be provided by one of our partner companies would have both GNSS and STL capabilities and would take the best of both worlds. If GPS is jammed or there’s interference, then the STL signal alone would be sufficient to do PNT. However, whenever both signals are available and can be authenticated, then it would use both and leverage the benefits of having two systems.

Does the location calculation take place in a GNSS chip or separately in the STL?

The chain to take measurements of the STL satellite signals is different. It’s not a single chip that’s measuring both satellites, it’s ultimately two chips that are making those measurements. Then how the position calculation and the integration of those signals is done is left to our partners. In some cases, it is proprietary to the partners that are doing that integration work. It can be integrated loosely or tightly.

When it’s just the STL chip, is that usually for timing purposes, or both timing and location?

Generally, an STL-only solution is best suited for timing. It’ll do timing at about 100 ns, depending on what kind of oscillator is being used and the exact configuration of the product.

What positional accuracies can you achieve?

Generally, in the 10 m to 20 m range, depending on the product configuration.

Most of the correction services refer to variables that are not relevant to your system.

That’s right. There are other techniques, such as integrating with other sensors, that can improve the accuracy. The primary uses for STL today are in delivering timing in environments where GNSS is not able to do so today, such as for national critical infrastructure. That’s been our commercial focus as a company.

Who currently uses the STL receivers? Which markets are you targeting first?

Most of our users are in the data center space. Stock exchanges around the world are also using our service as a source of resiliency, and now wireless infrastructure. So, think 5G infrastructure. As 5G networks are rolling out, they need about five to ten times more nodes to cover a geographic area than 4G networks. GNSS has been used for years to time 4G networks, but most 5G network sites — such as femtocells and picocells — are indoors or in places where GNSS is challenged. We deliver that timing service indoors, outdoors, everywhere. So, those are the three commercial markets where we have the highest adoption rates.

You still have plenty of room for expansion in that market before you must start thinking about expanding into other areas.

Yes, there’s plenty of room for expansion into those markets, so I wouldn’t say that they’re fully saturated. We are also looking into other opportunities. We’ve seen interest in the energy area. I think the industry is a little bit slower moving, but the need is ubiquitous, right? We all recognize that a black swan event in our society would really represent a bad day and we want to avoid that.

There are several companies across the industry that are trying to solve that important problem. Everyone involved in critical infrastructure that requires a timing reference — which is anything that is associated with a network activity — should have an alternative or augmentation to GNSS as a timing source. It’s great that we’re seeing tailwinds from the U.S. Government, from the European Union, and from others to try to encourage that adoption. However, there’s still a long way to go before we really feel that that’s been sufficiently covered.

What, if any, have been the major developments in the past year or so?

One of the most interesting things that has happened over the last year and a half has to do with our capability regarding STL. We’ve been demonstrating more publicly, and with more independent authorities, the capabilities, resiliency, and operational characteristics of our service.

For example, the JRC study.

It started with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) a couple years ago, but there’s also been some work done by the Department of Homeland Security and with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). We’ve been working directly with NIST to do some validations, as well as with UK and European organizations. They have subjected STL to rigorous third-party, hands-off technology evaluations. They confirmed the timing accuracy specifications to UTC and validated the operational characteristics of STL, such as the resilience in the absence of GNSS, the ability to receive the signal indoors, and having global availability.

We’re delighted to see the third-party operational evaluation of things that we’ve known all along but are now being evaluated and confirmed by these government sources. Beyond that, of course, there are always going to be technology advancements, both with our company and with other companies.

The real focus of industry right now is on adoption. All the providers of these capabilities ultimately need adoption in industry to remain active and viable. These are good people trying to do the right thing to protect our society. There are many great technology solutions out there to do it. Hopefully, many of these solutions are adopted in the near term. That’s what our focus has been. Our focus has not been on squeezing an extra five nanoseconds out of performance, although, of course, we’re always doing that. I think the important focus of industry should be driving adoption. There are solutions available today, including ours, that are ready to go and are being proven operationally in use.

Can you say more about the study by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC)?

If you look at the summary, all these technologies that were demonstrated worked. Both the DOT report and the JRC report effectively summarize that there are multiple technologies out there today that are ready to go.

<p>The post PNT by Other Means: Satelles first appeared on GPS World.</p>