US communications agency to explore alternatives to GPS systems

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

March 5, 2025 4:23 PM EST Updated Updated 12 hours ago


WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to vote next month to explore alternatives to GPS after national security concerns have been raised about relying on a single system crucial to modern life.

GPS, short for global positioning system, is a network of satellites and receiving devices used for positioning, navigation and timing on Earth in everything from ships and planes to cars.

"Continuing to rely so heavily on one system leaves us exposed," FCC Chair Brendan Carr said. "We need to develop redundant technologies." There have been reports of a rise in GPS interference around the world, particularly since 2023, known as spoofing raising fears of an increased risk of accidents if planes veer off-course.

"Disruptions to GPS have the potential to undermine the nation’s economic and national security. And the risks to our current system are only increasing," Carr said, noting President Donald Trump and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have called for action for years. The FCC will vote on March 27 an inquiry to explore other Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems that can be complements or alternatives to GPS.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-communications-agency-explore-alternatives-gps-systems-2025-03-05/

[AmericaUnderSiege]

1. Fuck Elon Musk, but Starlink is a good system.

Two can play the game of hermit-crabbing into infrastructure.

[hunter]

5. Starlink is bullshit. It was never going to be sustainable without huge government subsidies.

Free market, my ass. Nothing Musk has done has made the world a better place. He's just a suck on our tax dollars, a billionaire grifter.

The site formerly known as twitter, Starlink, SpaceX, and Tesla can all go to hell.

[AmericaUnderSiege]

10. This is objectively incorrect. Starlink is a good system.

SpaceX and Tesla are good companies, no matter how corrupt Elon Musk is.

[hunter]

13. I disagree.

Bye.

[AmericaUnderSiege]

14. Are you an engineer?

[MadameButterfly]

20. Regardless of the quality of the technology, we can never trust it again

because Musk will use it to support Putin and destroy democracies. I've always wondered why the US government was giving money to a private citizen for a system critical to our national security. Now the government can be trusted with such power either. I hope there are people within Starlink who don't want to switch from helping the Ukrainians to helping Putin. It's just not normal to not care about the effects of what you are doing when the impact is so cruel. I get that Trump and Musk aren't normal, but everyone working at Starlink? i don't know what they can do. Sabotage it from within? Move to Europe and help other democracies develop similar technology?

[BadgerKid]

2. Wouldn't this administration prefer Glonass?

[mwooldri]

3. not just US.

UK is exploring alternatives. So far... A very accurate clock that can't be easily jammed remotely. Does not rely on satellites. Very bulky right now. Working on making it much smaller.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6yg204pvmo

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Here is something on the work being done here (from last year) on a more accurate atomic clock

World’s Most Accurate and Precise Atomic Clock Pushes New Frontiers in Physics

Muskrat will probably try to shut NIST down anyway.

[Martin68]

16. Musk depends on the GPS system more than most.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Unless he is testing something with his Starlink constellations

[Martin68]

18. Testing is very long way from replacing a functional system used by the entire planet. The military could never abandon

GPS before there was a highly functional alternative available.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. Oh I know

When I first saw this story, my mind couldn't even wrap around how much stuff uses GPS. The current system/standards have been in place for just over 30 years. I think what they are trying to do is deal with the issue of jamming and thus the search for "alternativs". But they might be able to come up with mitigation to "harden" the systems well before any "new" system is ready, which could buy time.

[Martin68]

21. A hardened new system would be n improvement. What's the problem?

[BumRushDaShow]

22. The problem would probably be like

the VHS vs Betamax "wars". I.e., there would need to be an agreed-upon "standard" for those who manufacture items that will incorporate the new tech, as you'll usually have multiple competing formats introduced at the start of such a change, and a lot of jockeying to be "the one".

That is usually the hardest part!

[Martin68]

23. I don't think the comparison is valid. The GPS system is highly functional and extremely well-established. No

alternative would have a chance unless it promised substantial improvement over the GPS system, and even then it would take decades for the world to adopt it. It would be very difficult for an alternative system to ramp up production and replace GPS because no one would adopt it until it was available on a world-wide basis.

The problem with Betamax was that, although it was technically superior to VHS in regard to picture and sound quality, the one-hour tapes were not long enough to record most full-length movies or events. I remember it well because I was teaching at an English school in Tokyo where we adopted Betamax machines for use in our classrooms. They were fine for episodes of TV series and news broadcasts, but when we wanted to use movies on our classrooms, we were faced to switch to VHS. It was a very expensive transition, but Betamax just couldn't provide the recording length we required.

[reACTIONary]

12. what this article describes is....

.... Dead reckoning:

This would comprise a miniaturised optical clock as well as a tiny gyroscope, so we know which direction we are going in, and a device called an accelerometer, which will tell us how fast we are going.

This could augment, but I don't think this could possibly replace, GPS.

[Lasher]

6. Too bad we shut down LORAN-C

Its ground based transmitters would have been a good alternative to GPS satellites.

[DBoon]

8. Maybe we could re-purpose 540 KHz to 1800 KHz for a new LORAN system

[DENVERPOPS]

9. Loran C

I remember that from back in the days of sailing when I had to learn Celestial Navigation because the Loran C Equipment was so expensive......and their were areas that didn't get either the master or slave transmission, or both

[Hope22]

11. We used our Loran on the boat

Far past its expiration date. Before we had GPS it got us where we needed to go!

[jgmiller]

7. Shocking that someone in this administration is actually thinking

This has been a weak spot for years, not just for us but others too. When you think about the number of things that need GPS to function properly and how we've all become so accustomed to it working it is just terrifying to think what could happen if someone disrupted or destroyed it.

[Martin68]

15. This is a good thing. Any increase in redundancy and depth of the satellite navigation system should be welcome.