Detection of wireless data jamming and spoofing

• US 9,466,881 B1
• Filed: 09/17/2012
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Exelis Incorporated (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Berry, Robb, Cook, Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): McGue, Frank J
• Application Number:
  US13/621,601
• Time in Patent Office: 1,485 Days
• Field of Search: 342/360, 342/357.59
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/12 executed aboard the object being navigated; Dead reckoning
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/03 Cooperating elements; Interaction or communication between different cooperating elements or between cooperating elements and receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/21 Interference related issues ; Issues related to cross-correlation, spoofing or other methods of denial of service
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/215 issues related to spoofing
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/24 varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching

Abstract

A set of global navigation satellite system receivers is deployed in and moves about a region that may be occupied by a signal jammer or spoofer. The receivers collect truth data from spectral content of the broadcast satellite signal and, optionally, from a set of sensors associated with each receiver from which an independent determination of location can be derived. The truth data are compared with data acquired by the receivers and an alert is issued upon detection of an anomaly. The data from receivers in a region of influence of the jammer or spoofer are aggregated, integrated, and correlated to generate a two-dimensional representation of a region in which the offending signals are present.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a receiver to receive a free-space electromagnetic carrier signal from a transmitter with at least one other receiver, signal power of the carrier signal being distributed over a region of coverage of the transmitter per a known spatial distribution;

an analyzer to compare an actual spatial distribution of the signal power of the carrier signal in the region of coverage with the known spatial distribution of the signal power of the carrier signal in the region of coverage as the receiver is transported along a trajectory therein independently of another trajectory along which the other receiver is transported, the actual spatial distribution being estimated from samples of the spatial distribution of the signal power, each of which comprising concurrent measurements of the signal power by the receiver and the other receiver, the actual spatial distribution of the signal power being continually re-estimated from additional samples of the spatial distribution of the signal power as the receiver and the other receiver are transported along the trajectory and the other trajectory, respectively; and

an interface to alert a user responsive to affirming that a difference between the actual and known spatial distributions of the signal power meets a criterion.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the analyzer compares the actual distribution of the signal power with a known range-squared divergence of the signal power of the carrier signal from the transmitter as the known distribution of signal power.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the receiver attempts to extract data from the carrier signal and generates a jamming alert responsive to a failure to extract the data from the carrier signal and affirming that the difference between the actual and known distributions of the signal power corresponds to that of range-squared divergence of another transmitter located closer to the receiver than the transmitter.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the analyzer includes a power spectral density estimator to generate the measurements of the signal power for locations along the trajectory as the receiver is transported thereon.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 further comprising:

a navigation processor to determine a geographic location of the receiver from information borne in the carrier signal as the receiver moves along the trajectory;

an inertial navigation processor to determine the location of the receiver on the trajectory independently of the determination of the geographic location by the navigation processor; and

a truth processor to compare the location on the trajectory determined by the inertial navigation processor with the geographic location of the receiver determined by the navigation processor, and to generate a spoofing alert responsive to affirming that the location on the trajectory determined from the inertial navigation processor fails to coincide with the location determined by the navigation processor.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the inertial navigation processor includes:

a plurality of sensors to generate respective sensor signals responsive to the receiver being transported along the trajectory;

a heading/distance estimator to receive the sensor signals from the sensors and to determine therefrom a heading and distance from a previous location on the trajectory; and

a position estimator to determine the location on the trajectory from the previously determined location thereon and a change in the heading and distance therefrom determined by the heading/distance estimator.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

a report generator to format for transmission predetermined report data from the receiver and the analyzer upon an alert condition, the report data including the measurements of the signal power from the analyzer;

a local transmitter to transmit the report data to a regional receiver; and

a housing to house therein the receiver, the analyzer, the interface, the report generator and the local transmitter to form a local level transceiver that is transportable over the trajectory of the receiver.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a plurality of the local level transceivers at least one of which including the other receiver;

a data aggregator to receive through the regional receiver the report data from corresponding local level transceivers at which the alert condition is present.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the data aggregator includes a regional data processor to assemble the report data from each of the local level transceivers into the corresponding samples of the signal power and to integrate past and present samples of the signal power into the estimates of the actual spatial distribution of the signal power.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the regional data processor re-estimates the actual spatial distribution of the signal power by integrating report data from alert reporting local level transceivers at predetermined temporal intervals.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the regional data processor determines from the estimates of the spatial distribution of the signal power a region of influence of a service denial device in the region of coverage.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the data aggregator includes:

a footprint processor to determine a location and source type of the service denial device from characteristics of the region of influence.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the plurality of local level transceivers are fixed on a moving platform at predetermined distances one from another.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein a location of a service denying device is determined from a set of the local level transceivers in at least one quadrant of the moving platform.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the actual spatial distribution of the signal power from a regional data processor after the estimation and the re-estimation thereof.

16. A method comprising:

establishing a region of coverage of a transmitter wherein a spatial distribution of at least one transmitted signal parameter is known to within a degree of statistical significance;

transporting a receiver in the region of coverage to measure the transmitted signal parameter along a trajectory therein independently of another trajectory along which another receiver is transported;

estimating an actual spatial distribution from samples of the spatial distribution of the signal parameter, each of which comprising concurrent measurements of the signal parameter by the receiver and the other receiver, the actual spatial distribution of the signal parameter being continually re-estimated from additional samples of the spatial distribution of the signal parameter as the receiver and the other receiver are transported along the trajectory and the other trajectory, respectively;

determining whether the actual spatial distribution of the signal parameter is that of the known spatial distribution of the signal parameter to within the degree of statistical significance; and

generating an alert responsive to affirming that the actual spatial distribution of the signal parameter is other than the known spatial distribution thereof.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

establishing the known spatial distribution of the signal parameter as that of range-squared divergence of signal power from the transmitter.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining whether the actual spatial distribution is that of the known spatial distribution includes:

determining whether a difference between the actual spatial distribution and the known spatial distribution is a spatial distribution corresponding to that of the range-squared divergence of signal power from another transmitter that is closer to the receiver than the transmitter; and

generating a jamming alert responsive to affirming that the difference between the actual spatial distribution and the known spatial distribution is the spatial distribution corresponding to that of the range-squared divergence of signal power from the other transmitter that is closer to the receiver than the transmitter.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining a geographic location of the receiver from information borne in a carrier signal as the receiver moves along the trajectory;

determining the location of the receiver on the trajectory independently of the determination of the geographic location from the information borne in the carrier signal;

comparing the independently-determined location of the receiver on the trajectory with the geographic location of the receiver; and

generating a spoofing alert responsive to affirming that the independently-determined location of the receiver on the trajectory fails to coincide with the geographical location of the receiver.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein estimating the actual spatial distribution of the signal parameter includes:

assembling the measurements of the signal parameter from the receiver and the other receiver into the samples of the spatial distribution of the signal parameter; and

estimating the actual spatial distribution of the signal parameter by integrating across past and present samples of the spatial distribution of the signal parameter.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

fitting the integrated samples of the spatial distribution of the signal parameter to a two-dimensional representation of a region of influence of a service denying device.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving the actual spatial distribution of the signal power from a regional data processor after the estimation and the re-estimation thereof.

23. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with software comprising processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform functions of:

establishing a region of coverage of a transmitter across which a spatial distribution of at least one transmitted signal parameter is known to within a degree of statistical significance;

measuring the transmitted signal parameter by a receiver moving along a trajectory in the region of coverage independently of the trajectory along which another receiver is moving;

estimating an actual spatial distribution from samples of the spatial distribution of the signal parameter, each of which comprising concurrent measurements of the signal parameter by the receiver and the other receiver, the actual spatial distribution of the signal parameter being continually re-estimated from additional samples of the spatial distribution of the signal parameter as the receiver and the other receiver are transported along the trajectory and the other trajectory, respectively;

determining whether the actual spatial distribution of the signal parameter is that of the known distribution to within the degree of statistical significance; and

generating an alert responsive to affirming that the actual spatial distribution of the signal parameter is other than the known spatial distribution thereof.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the processor-executable instructions include additional instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform functions of:

receiving the actual spatial distribution of the signal power from a regional data processor after the estimation and the re-estimation thereof.