For years, the U.S. military has relied on GPS signals to monitor their locations and carefully track the position of key assets. GPS signals also play a key role in mission planning and strategy development.
However, enemy combatants have become increasingly adept at creating complex GPS environments. Operating in such an environment can put mission objectives, equipment, and, most importantly, personnel at risk.
The latest generation of intelligent nav systems are beginning to leverage state of the art technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence. These technologies are transforming defense strategies and revolutionizing the combat landscape.
Challenges Created by GPS Denial
The most notable concern that arises when operating in a GPS denied environment is that position, navigation, and timing (PNT) data ceases to be reliable. When this occurs, navigation devices might provide inaccurate positional data or may cease to function entirely.
Inaccurate PNT data can cause warfighters to inadvertently go off mission. In a worst-case scenario, they may expose themselves to attack by enemy combatants or fail to accomplish a critical, time-sensitive mission.
The Nexus Between GPS Denial and AI
Nav solutions equipped with machine learning and AI technologies are capable of using advanced algorithms for threat detection purposes. Specifically, these navigation systems can detect an enemy’s attempts to create a GPS-denied environment.
Adversaries often accomplish GPS denial by either spoofing legitimate GPS signals or jamming those signals.
After these signals have been identified, the navigation technology can proactively protect its PNT data. It can emit a pseudo GPS signal, reconfigure its protocols, or communicate with other edge computing devices to locate the threat.
In summation, AI and ML algorithms are perhaps the best line of defense in terms of protecting combat effectiveness in a GPS-modified environment.