Robust technologies and countermeasures ensure safe navigation at any time.
In recent months and years, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has been exposed to a growing number of jamming and spoofing attacks worldwide. Interference and manipulation of GNSS information can affect the accuracy of navigation and pose a threat to global shipping and trade. The gyrocompasses from Anschütz, on the other hand, are very robust and resilient.
Incident reports from aircrafts and ships confirm the increase in jamming and spoofing, which are currently among the greatest threats to navigation. Affected are the Red Sea, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea and, increasingly, the eastern Baltic Sea region. Among other things, customers are reporting lost and unusable GNSS signals ‘going all over the place’.
How does jamming and spoofing affect navigation?
Simply put, jamming results in an unavailable GNSS signal and, therefore, a loss of latitude and longitude as well as Speed Over Ground (SOG) and Course Over Ground (COG) information. Spoofing, on the other hand, results in an incorrect GNSS signal and, therefore, incorrect latitude, longitude, SOG and COG information.
Anschütz’s mechanical gyrocompass Standard 22 NX functions reliably and autonomously without any external information. The effect of jamming and spoofing on a Standard 22 NX gyrocompass is limited to the speed error correction value, which in the worst case can deviate up to 2.5° but is considered less critical for most commercial applications. Heading information remains available permanently, and there are measures to regain maximum accuracy as part of an Anschütz heading management system.
Strapdown gyrocompasses such as Anschütz’s Standard 30 MF use angular rate sensors and accelerometers. In general, strapdown compasses need speed and latitude inputs to differentiate between the movement of the ship and the rotation of the earth. However, the extent to which incorrect inputs influence the calculation of the heading depends on the algorithms of the respective manufacturer and the characteristics of the gyrocompass.
The Standard 30 MF can work without latitude input. This unique function was tested intensively on an offshore supply vessel as well as a Baltic Sea ferry with only minor heading deviations. The heading accuracy remains within the limits defined by performance and test standards.
Further, spoofing with larger position jumps is filtered out automatically, while smaller deviations in position lead to an alarm. As part of the Anschütz heading management system, there are also measures to work independently from GNSS systems for 28 days.
Constantly available heading information with Anschütz gyrocompasses
Due to their design, their algorithms and their high accuracy, both the Standard 22 NX and the Standard 30 MF are reliable in the event of jamming and spoofing attacks. With the Standard 22 NX, only the speed error correction is affected in a minor way. The Standard 30 MF is extremely robust as it can work without position information, and position jumps have no immediate effect on the heading.
In addition, the Anschütz heading management system offers effective options with which customers can further minimise or even completely eliminate the effects of jamming and spoofing.
- Use of a conventional speed log as speed input
- Independent speed and latitude input to each compass
- Combination of Standard 22 NX and Standard 30 MF in a compass system is possible
(different effect of jamming & spoofing detected by integrated heading monitoring) - Manual input of speed and latitude during jamming or spoofing incidents is possible
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