1.4 - Testing GNSS Receivers Robustness Against Spoofing attempts

Event
etc2016 - 36. European Telemetry and Test Conference
2016-05-10 - 2016-05-12
Nürnberg, Germany
Chapter
1. Positioning & Timing
Author(s)
L. Perdue, H. Sasaki - Spectracom Corp., Rochester (USA), G. Boime, E. Sicsik-Paré - Spectracom SAS, Les Ulis (FRANCE)
Pages
33 - 39
DOI
10.5162/etc2016/1.4
ISBN
978-3-9816876-2-0
Price
free

Abstract

Spoofing as it applies to GNSS/GPS is an attempt to deceive the GNSS/GPS receiver by broadcasting signals that the receiver will use instead of the live sky signals. A test system for spoofing allows testing the three major factors to consider in a spoofing attack, time synchronization to the signals to be spoofed, power level of the spoofing signal compared to the live sky signals, and accuracy of the position obtained by the spoofing signal to that of the actual position of the device being spoofed.
Receivers can provide some indications that something out of the ordinary is happening during a spoofing attack. But if the system the receiver is integrated into does not monitor or attempt to use these indications, it is difficult to identify a spoofing attack. Understanding how a receiver will respond in a spoofing attack is the key to detecting spoofing. For example, using multiple GNSS systems will prevent a spoofing attack consisting of only GPS. This is only true if the receiver is set up to monitor this type of information.
The spoofing test system allows full control over key parameters in a completely closed system that will not interfere with actual GNSS signals. Each of these variables is described in detail and a sample of three popular, widely-used GNSS receivers test presented. Test results include variations of time, power, and position. Tests are performed using GPS only and also a combination of GPS and GLONASS systems to understand if multi-GNSS is an effective method to overcome spoofing attacks. Using a spoofing test system will allow a user to better understand the GNSS receiver behavior and harden the system against spoofing attacks.

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