Testing times: How badly are drones affected by GNSS spoofing?

Accurate and reliable positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) systems powered by global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are a necessity for the effective operation of all manner of vehicles. Accurate positioning information is vital for both efficiency and safety of many applications. Therefore, it is critical to effectively test against threats an unmanned autonomous system (UAS) might encounter.

The Bundeswehr Technical and Airworthiness Centre for Aircraft (WTD-61) used a Spirent mobile GNSS simulation platform to investigate how drones are affected by GNSS spoofing, and we share the test results of UAS vulnerability to spoofing in this case study.