LOCALIZED JAMMING OF NAVIGATION SIGNALS

• US 20080169958A1
• Filed: 05/16/2007
• Published: 07/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Ferrell, Barton G., Cohen, Clark E., Gutt, Gregory M., Whelan, David A., Brumley, Robert W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,554,481 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/14
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/015 Arrangements for jamming, spoofing or other methods of denial of service of such systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/02 Details of the space or ground control segments
• 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 19/07 providing data for correcting measured positioning data, e.g. DGPS [differential GPS] or ionosphere corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/11 wherein the cooperating elements are pseudolites or satellite radio beacon positioning system signal repeaters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/12 wherein the cooperating elements are telecommunication base stations
• 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 19/31 Acquisition or tracking of other signals for positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/47 the supplementary measurement being an inertial measurement, e.g. tightly coupled inertial
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/28 with jamming and anti-jamming mechanisms both included in a same device or system, e.g. wherein anti-jamming includes prevention of undesired self-jamming resulting from jamming
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/42 characterized by the control of the jamming frequency or wavelength
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/43 characterized by the control of the jamming power, signal-to-noise ratio or geographic coverage area
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/90 related to allowing or preventing navigation or positioning, e.g. GPS

Abstract

Various approaches to localized jamming of navigation signals are provided. In one embodiment, a navigation signal comprises at least a portion of a low earth orbit (LEO) signal provided by a LEO satellite. A noise source is filtered to provide a plurality of filtered noise signals in a plurality of frequency bands. The navigation signal is spread over a plurality of channels of the LEO signal. The channels are distributed over the frequency bands and a plurality of time slots. A pseudo random noise (PRN) sequence is generated. The filtered noise signals are modulated using the PRN sequence to provide a plurality of modulated noise signals. The modulated noise signals are broadcast over an area of operations to provide a plurality of jamming bursts corresponding to the navigation signal. The jamming bursts are configured to substantially mask the navigation signal in the area of operations.

Claims

1. A method of performing localized jamming of a navigation signal, wherein the navigation signal comprises at least a portion of a low earth orbit (LEO) signal provided by a LEO satellite, the method comprising:

filtering a noise source into a plurality of frequency bands to provide a plurality of filtered noise signals in the frequency bands, wherein the navigation signal is spread over a plurality of channels of the LEO signal, wherein the channels are distributed over the frequency bands and a plurality of time slots;

generating a pseudo random noise (PRN) sequence corresponding to a modulation sequence used by the LEO satellite to spread the navigation signal over the channels;

modulating the filtered noise signals using the PRN sequence to provide a plurality of modulated noise signals; and

broadcasting the modulated noise signals over an area of operations to provide a plurality of jamming bursts corresponding to the navigation signal, wherein the jamming bursts are configured to substantially mask the navigation signal in the area of operations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the jamming bursts are further configured to substantially mask the navigation signal only in the area of operations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigation signal is a civilian navigation signal, wherein the LEO signal further comprises a military navigation signal spread over another plurality of channels of the LEO signal distributed over another plurality of frequency bands and another plurality of time slots, wherein the jamming bursts are further configured to not substantially correspond to the military navigation signal in the area of operations.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the civilian navigation signal exhibits a first power level distributed over its associated channels, wherein the military navigation signal exhibits a second power level distributed over its associated channels, wherein the second power level is greater than the first power level.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the jamming bursts exhibit a power level greater than the first power level.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the military navigation signal is associated with a greater number of channels than the civilian navigation signal.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising upconverting the modulated noise signals prior to the broadcasting.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the channels of the LEO signal are distributed over the frequency bands in a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) configuration, and over the time slots in a time division multiple access (TDMA) configuration.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the LEO satellite is selected from the group consisting of an Iridium satellite and a Globalstar satellite.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by a jamming device located in the area of operations.

11. A jamming device configured to perform localized jamming of a navigation signal, wherein the navigation signal comprises at least a portion of a low earth orbit (LEO) signal provided by a LEO satellite, the device comprising:

a noise source adapted to provide a noise signal;

a plurality of filters adapted to filter the noise signal into a plurality of frequency bands to provide a plurality of filtered noise signals in the frequency bands, wherein the navigation signal is spread over a plurality of channels of the LEO signal, wherein the channels are distributed over the frequency bands and a plurality of time slots;

a pseudo random noise (PRN) sequence generator adapted to provide a modulation sequence used by the LEO satellite to spread the navigation signal over the channels;

a plurality of oscillators adapted to modulate the filtered noise signals using the PRN sequence to provide a plurality of modulated noise signals; and

an antenna adapted to broadcast the modulated noise signals over an area of operations to provide a plurality of jamming bursts corresponding to the navigation signal, wherein the jamming bursts are configured to substantially mask the navigation signal in the area of operations.

12. The jamming device of claim 11, wherein the jamming bursts are further configured to substantially mask the navigation signal only in the area of operations.

13. The jamming device of claim 11, wherein the navigation signal is a civilian navigation signal, wherein the LEO signal further comprises a military navigation signal spread over another plurality of channels of the LEO signal distributed over another plurality of frequency bands and another plurality of time slots, wherein the jamming bursts are further configured to not substantially correspond to the military navigation signal in the area of operations.

14. The jamming device of claim 13, wherein the civilian navigation signal exhibits a first power level distributed over its associated channels, wherein the military navigation signal exhibits a second power level distributed over its associated channels, wherein the second power level is greater than the first power level.

15. The jamming device of claim 14, wherein the jamming bursts exhibit a power level greater than the first power level.

16. The jamming device of claim 14, wherein the military navigation signal is associated with a greater number of channels than the civilian navigation signal.

17. The jamming device of claim 11, further comprising an upconverter adapted to prepare the modulated noise signals for broadcasting.

18. The jamming device of claim 11, wherein the channels of the LEO signal are distributed over the frequency bands in a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) configuration, and over the time slots in a time division multiple access (TDMA) configuration.

19. The jamming device of claim 11, wherein the LEO satellite is selected from the group consisting of an Iridium satellite and a Globalstar satellite.

20. The jamming device of claim 11, wherein the jamming device is adapted to be located in the area of operations.

21. A jamming device configured to perform localized jamming of a navigation signal, wherein the navigation signal comprises at least a portion of a low earth orbit (LEO) signal provided by a LEO satellite, the device comprising:

means for filtering a noise source into a plurality of frequency bands to provide a plurality of filtered noise signals in the frequency bands, wherein the navigation signal is spread over a plurality of channels of the LEO signal, wherein the channels are distributed over the frequency bands and a plurality of time slots;

means for generating a pseudo random noise (PRN) sequence corresponding to a modulation sequence used by the LEO satellite to spread the navigation signal over the channels;

means for modulating the filtered noise signals using the generated PRN sequence to provide a plurality of modulated noise signals; and

means for broadcasting the modulated noise signals over an area of operations to provide a plurality of jamming bursts corresponding to the navigation signal, wherein the jamming bursts are configured to substantially mask the navigation signal in the area of operations.