The American Meteorological Society has released a report highlighting GPS’ vulnerability to space weather events, such as solar flares, and recommending ways to build resilience.
The last solar maximum was in 2000, when GPS was still in its infancy. Over the last decade more and more mission-critical systems have come to rely on GNSS and GPS, so a failure of the system during the next solar maximum in 2013 could be catastrophic.
From the report:
“Today, the vulnerabilities of GPS are well categorized, and it is understood that space weather is the largest contributor to single-frequency GPS errors and a significant factor for differential GPS. Primary space weather effects on GPS include range errors and loss of signal reception. The GPS industry faces several scientific and engineering challenges to keep pace with increasingly complex user needs: developing receivers that are resistant to scintillation and improving the prediction of the state of the ionosphere. With GPS modernization, the use of additional signals is expected to reduce errors caused by the ionosphere. However, there are several steps that can be taken now to reduce the vulnerability of GPS and its applications to space weather.”
The report is based on a series of workshops held in 2010 where participants agreed on a set of recommendations for creating robustness. The most critical recommendation was to strengthen the integrity and robustness of the GPS system and services by:
- Completing the modernization of the GPS enterprise.
- Ensuring backup systems.
- Developing better space weather predictions.
- Setting standards for satellites and receivers to handle extreme space weather conditions.
- Examining GPS resilience through an all-hazards lens.
The report is available for free from http://www.ametsoc.org/atmospolicy/spacewxGPS.html
