EO 13905 – Responsible Use of PNT Services

Yesterday the President published a new executive order in the Federal Register (85 FR 9359-9361) on “Strengthening National Resilience Through Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Services”. EO 13905 will require actions by various agencies of the Federal Government to “foster the responsible use of PNT services by critical infrastructure owners and operators”.

Definitions:

Section 2 of the order provides a listing of the critical definitions used; they include:

PNT services – any system, network, or capability that provides a reference to calculate or augment the calculation of longitude, latitude, altitude, or transmission of time or frequency data, or any combination thereof.

Responsible use of PNT services – the deliberate, risk-informed use of PNT services, including their acquisition, integration, and deployment, such that disruption or manipulation of PNT services minimally affects national security, the economy, public health, and the critical functions of the Federal Government.

PNT profile – a description of the responsible use of PNT services—aligned to standards, guidelines, and sector-specific requirements—selected for a particular system to address the potential disruption or manipulation of PNT services.

PNT Profiles

Section 4 of the Order requires the Department of Commerce (DOC) to develop PNT profiles. Those profiles will {§4(a)}:

• Enable the public and private sectors to identify systems, networks, and assets dependent on PNT services;

• Identify appropriate PNT services;

• Detect the disruption and manipulation of PNT services; and

• Manage the associated risks to the systems, networks, and assets dependent on PNT services

PNT profiles will be referenced in the Coast Guard’s Federal Radionavigation Plan.

DHS will develop a plan to “test the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure systems, networks, and assets in the event of disruption and manipulation of PNT services.” The results of the tests will be used to update PNT profiles.

Where appropriate, PNT profiles will be referenced in Federal acquisition contracts “with the goal of encouraging the private sector to use additional PNT services and develop new robust and secure PNT services.”

DOT, DOE and DHS will develop pilot programs “to engage with critical infrastructure owners or operators to evaluate the responsible use of PNT services.” These pilot programs will help inform efforts by the Director of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to develop a national plan “for the R&D and pilot testing of additional, robust, and secure PNT services that are not dependent on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).” In support of this effort, the DOC will “make available a GNSS-independent source of Coordinated Universal Time, to support the needs of critical infrastructure owners and operators”.

Commentary

This is not the first presidential policy on PNT issues. In 2004, President Bush updated the 1996 based policy document on U.S. Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Policy. That effort, however, was based upon optimizing the use of the GPS based GNSS. Since that time, it has become obvious that spoofing the satellite signals has become an operational reality, posing a potential danger to the continued use of GNSS based PNT. This potential danger was publicly recognized as early as 2014 by the PNT Advisory Board. In 2015 DOT started looking at the use of the eLoran system as an alternative to GNSS PNT.

It will be interesting to see how DOC and the rest of the government deals with the PNT profiles mandated in this EO. The large the number of ‘profiles’ developed the more useful they will be for private sector use in the internal evaluation of the use of PNT services. On the other hand, minimizing the number of profiles developed will make things easier for government agencies to develop broad, minimally specific guidance documents.

Of particular usefulness would be detailed information on how to ‘detect the disruption and manipulation of PNT services’. Again, user/operators will be best served by the most detailed information available. Government agencies, however, may feel better served by providing only the most generic information.

DHS Announces PNT Study

Yesterday the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD published a brief notice in the Federal Register (81 FR 65390) announcing a study to define and validate current and future positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) requirements for critical infrastructure. The requirements defined and validated by the study will support key decisions in the development of complementary PNT solutions.

The announcement notes that:

“Accurate PNT is essential for critical infrastructures across the country. Currently, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is the primary source of PNT information. However, GPS signals are susceptible to both unintentional and intentional disruption leaving critical infrastructure vulnerable to operational impacts from disruptions. Due to the essential need for precise timing within many of the critical infrastructure sectors, DHS will initially focus the study on timing requirements within the electricity and wireless communications sectors. Subsequently, DHS will engage additional sectors and expand the study to include positioning and navigation requirements.”

DHS is currently soliciting participants in the electricity and wireless communications sector. Interested parties should contact John Dragseth, NPPD, DHS, John.Dragseth@dhs.gov, 703-235-9467; or Sarah Mahmood, S&T, DHS, Sarah.Mahmood@hq.dhs.gov, 202-254-6721.

DOT Request for Comments on Alternative Timing Services

The Department of Transportation published a request for comments in Monday’s (available on-line today) Federal Register (80 FR 15268-15269) about the possible use of an enhanced Long Range Navigation (eLoran) system as a complementary positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) capability as an alternative to the current use of the GPS system.

In the event of a GPS system failure there is currently no backup for many of the services provided by that system. One of the systems under consideration for a backup is the eLORAN system. DOT is asking for feedback in the following areas:

∙ A brief description of your application(s) of positioning, navigation, and timing services;

∙ The positioning, navigation, and/or timing performance required for a complementary PNT capability during a disruption of GPS that could last for longer than a day;

∙ The availability and coverage area required for a complementary PNT capability;

∙ The willingness to equip with an eLoran receiver to reduce or prevent operational and/or economic consequences from a GPS disruption;

∙ The current and planned availability of e-Loran capable user equipment; and

∙ The other non-eLoran PNT technologies or operational procedures, currently available or planned, that could be used during a disruption of GPS for longer than a day.

Control system owners, vendors and integrators that use GPS for control system timing issues should consider submitting comments to DOT on this issue. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # DOT-OST-2015-0053). Comments should be submitted by May 22^nd, 2015.

NASA Announces PNT Advisory Board Meeting – 12-10-14

Today NASA published a meeting announcement in the Federal Register (79 FR 67469) for the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board in Washington, DC on December 10^th, 2014. Readers of this blog may be interested in this meeting because the GPS system is used for timing coordination in many control systems.

The agenda includes:

• Examine emerging trends and requirements for PNT services in U.S. and international arenas through PNT Board technical assessments.

• Update on U.S. Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Policy and Global Positioning System (GPS) modernization.

• Prioritize current and planned GPS capabilities and services while assessing future PNT architecture alternatives with a focus on affordability.

• Examine methods in which to Protect, Toughen, and Augment (PTA) access to GPS/Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) services in key domains for multiple user sectors.

• Assess economic impacts of GPS on the United States and in select international regions, with a consideration towards effects of potential PNT service disruptions if radio spectrum interference is introduced.

• Explore opportunities for enhancing the interoperability of GPS with other emerging international GNSS.

The meeting is open to the public and no advanced registration is required, but there is limited seating. There are no indications that the meeting will be web-cast or be made available via other electronic means; odd from a technology based organization like NASA.