We live in a world that is polluted by primaeval things all around us. When I talk about pollution here, I am not talking about the garbage you see around you or all the trash on the streets. The pollution that I am talking about is more pristine. Just like everyone in the world is advising us to take measures to protect us from climate change, we also need to make sure that we protect ourselves from radio-frequency pollution. Interference is a growing concern amongst Global Navigation Satellite System users, and it doesn’t matter if you are using it for pets, for example, GPS for cats, or for yourself, you need to look out for yourself.
Our Global Positioning System uses a set of radio signals, called a spectrum, for its navigation services. If there is an interference in this spectrum, it means that we are putting our security at risk. The interference can come through a lot of sources such as radio emissions from other sources, jamming of signals, or some other natural source. In this article, I am going to discuss four types of interferences that your dog’s collar GPS may find. By knowing the sources, you can do something to minimize the interference through spectrum regulations.
GPS Jamming
This type of interference occurs when there are a lot of devices that are jamming the signals of radio waves. GPS jamming may occur intentionally if someone blocks or jams the signals by knowingly places a lot of such devices in the area. This type of interference can occur unintentionally due to the presence of a lot of communication devices or communication in a specific area such as calls, text messages, GPS systems, and Wi-Fi networks. Intentionally jamming a certain region is against the code of conduct and may result in thousands of dollars in penalty.
Weather Conditions
It is common knowledge that the weather conditions outside can affect the GPS system pretty drastically. As the GPS systems make use of satellites for calculating the location of certain things, the change in weather such as a storm disrupts the radio signal stream and causes interference in it. During extreme weather conditions, the accuracy of GPS systems can drop to critical levels. So, if you are using tracking devices like GPS for dogs during these conditions, you will hardly get any reliable results from it.
GPS Spoofing
GPS spoofing is much like jamming as an external device is used to interfere with the legitimate GPS signals in hopes of making it less accurate. The attacker can spoof the existing signals and manipulate them on his own will. He makes a change in it so that the radio spectrum doesn’t transmit any data or transmits inaccurate coordinates making the information invalid. An example of GPS spoofing can be taken from an attack made on the GPS system of different car manufacturers. According to the report, the attack was made during the Geneva Motor show in Switzerland in which the cars were made to show the invalid location as they were reporting to be in Buckingham, England in the year 2036.
Personal Privacy Devices
Lately, a study was conducted, which showed that the presence of personal privacy devices such as mobile phones, radio emitters, etc. are also a cause of interference to GPS receivers. This has been a very important revelation for the aviation industry as airports were often lost on finding the source of radio frequency interference before it was made. Continuing the study of the effects of Personal Privacy Devices (PPDs) on GPS receivers has led to more improvements such as the installation of remotely accessible monitoring equipment that further provides them with the characteristics of these devices so that a security perimeter can be maintained.
Conclusion
More than 4 million jobs in the United States of America in different industries, such as agriculture and technology, rely heavily on the Global Positioning System. If there is even a minute amount of disruption in the GPS signal, it could pose a lot of threat to the job security of these people. Making sure that we know all the causes of interference, their threats, and their solution goes a long way in making sure that we protect ourselves against it. As we rely on GPS technology more and more, it is only sensible that we take effective measures to mitigate the risks and ensure that the economic benefits of GPS technology are optimized in the commercial sector.