Simple and cheap jammers threaten GPS

　　GPS jammers have several evil uses, and it is not illegal to own them.Criminals under house arrest can use them to confuse court-ordered ankle monitors.Commercial truck drivers can carry one to block toll booths or evade their employers to track their routes.

　　The Signal Center was originally developed out of the Department of Homeland Security's concern that GPS jamming could pose a risk to the United States. or obstruct navigation through sea lanes or airports.

　　A cheap Chinese-made jammer-sized playing card can scramble GPS signals enough to keep trucks from being tracked by GPS, and multiple jammers in an area have the potential to throw ships off course or interfere with airline navigation.

　　Jamming is a technology that is very simple and is available at the entry level — you can buy a $20 GPS jammer from the Chinese to keep your boss from knowing where you are delivering goods.We have proactively developed the ability to locate multiple jammers and provide critical infrastructure for law enforcement, port authorities or local governments.

　　The US Air Force awarded the contract for the first eight satellites of the next-generation GPS constellation, which will improve its capability and security. But on earth, the technology has advanced to the point that portable, cheap and easily available jammers threaten the GPS signals of commercial, civil, and military users.

　　GPS jammers is the act of interfering with the ability of receivers to lock onto the GPS signal, eliminating the ability of the user to determine 3D positioning or calculate other information such as time, speed, bearing, track, trip distance and distance to destination.

　　The availability and usage of low-cost GPS jamming devices have resulted in the increased threat of intentional and unintentional disruption to commercial and industrial systems that rely on precise GPS data.

　　For example, the shipping lanes to and from the ports of New York and New Jersey are very narrow. Large Nok Neviss rely on GPS—especially in bad weather—to guide them into these ports. Several trucks with blocking devices being pulled into a port at the same time could seriously disrupt commerce and have a knock-on effect on the U.S. economy. GPS is even being used to track VIPs and dignitaries at events like the Super Bowl, where jammers can be used to disguise their whereabouts for a variety of purposes, including potential kidnapping.