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$30 GPS Jammer Can Wreak Havok
An anonymous reader writes "A simple $30 GPS jammer made in China can ruin your day. It doesn't just affect your car's navigation — ATM machines, cell phone towers, plane, boat, train navigation systems all depend upon GPS signals that are easily blocked. These devices fail badly — with no redundancy. These jammers can be used to defeat vehicle tracking products — but end up causing a moving cloud of chaos. The next wave of anti-GPS devices include GPS spoofers to trick or confuse nearby devices."
What's even more disturbing is that the FAA is currently looking to move away from traditional radar and even human air traffic controllers, as part of their "NextGen" system. GPS is just fine as long as there is a redundancy in the system. But the idea of abandoning radar as if GPS were a time-tested system is a little scary.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
mebbe it affects spellcheckers too.
rewriting history since 2109
$30 GPS Jammer Can Wreak Havok[sic]
(Technical): ...which is why they are illegal in nearly every regulatory environment.
(Snide): Gee, I didn't realize a GPS jammer could break an Intel SDK! Oh -- you meant havoc?
The ability to white-noise (or pink-noise) jam GPS has been around and employed for, literally, years. And, most of the first of these I saw came from China, too. GPS is a relatively fragile system, at least n the L1-C/A world: GPS satellites have limited power budgets so signal levels are low on the ground. Receivers have high gain. Multipath in urban environments can confuse receivers. Emitting a random noise signal over the range of L1 frequencies isn't that hard, and doesn't take much power... or antenna height... to cause problems.
The article makes all of these points. Read it and take note of the fragility of the system. That's its downfall, not a $30 device.
Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by tenure.
At Indy, all you need to know is "Turn Left"
rewriting history since 2109
messing with air-traffic controllers can get you some hard time. I think it's federal pound you in the ass time.
I want the next gen jammer with built in EMP, cell phone jammer, Universal tv/stereo remote and beer opener.
Make it the Acme and not the Apple. The I-jam will have a per use fee and not work on I-phones.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
I was at a conference recently where Gen. Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff, brought up your point exactly. To combat jamming of a particular system, they are working to build redundant navigation systems into their weapons. So, for example, if GPS guidance fails maybe it switches over to laser guidance, if that fails maybe it switches over to INS.
I'm not surprised by how many devices would use GPS(the ability to get a fairly accurate location fix and a damn accurate timebase for peanuts and an OK view of the sky is certainly attractive...); but I am surprised, a bit, at how many "serious" systems(even ones where hostile action is to be expected, like ATMs, or where failure Just Isn't Acceptable, like air traffic control) wouldn't have some degree of redundancy, if only because of the risk of a cheap GPS module burning some sensitive RF chip because the local arc-welder user fired up again...
Your basic RTC, say, isn't as accurate as GPS time; especially in the long term, or if not temperature compensated and subject to variable conditions; but it should still deviate by less than a second over a day or two of lost GPS(never mind 10-60 minutes of jamming) and can, if needed, retain reasonably accurate time for as long as power holds out, and they don't need much power.
Similarly, today's MEMS accelerometers and on-chip magnetometers/compasses, while you might not want to dead-reckon your way around the world with them, can easily enough compensate for losses in GPS fix over the short term, and can 'sanity-check' abrupt changes in GPS readings.
For static objects(like radar towers) you can basically treat position as a constant(possibly with recalibration from time to time if there are structural shifts) and calculate dish position based on a simple rotary encoder or the like.
Obviously, for space, power, and cost reasons, Joe Consumer's $50 cellphone or $80 dash-nav isn't necessarily going to incorporate multiple layers of GPS failsafe. If the GPS stops working, Joe can just use the meat-coprocessor he stores in his skull to suck it up and figure it out until GPS comes back online.
For more important systems, though, I would honestly have hoped for better, especially in situations(like cell towers and most ATMs) where the equipment itself isn't exactly inexpensive, so $50 or $100 worth of accelerometer and RTC failsafe would be reasonable, and where they usually have a network hard-line. NTP isn't perfect; but it certainly is handy(if necessary, users of dedicated circuits, rather than those who rely on public internet, might be able to achieve even greater accuracy by comparing their GPS time with the GPS time reported by the hardware on the other end of the circuit, to determine the round-trip time fairly exactly...)
Also, the "backup" gyrocompass mentioned in TFA, that failed to act as a backup to GPS because it crashed when it lost GPS signal is just sad. Perhaps it was purchased from the same company who provides emergency generators that can only be started by mains-powered control systems?
If you bothered to read past the first page, you would have found out that the $30 box from the evil empire was shutting down Newark Airport twice a day because a truck driver was using it to defeat the toll transponder on the NJ Turnpike next door.
Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.
ATMs (and many other things) use GPS as a highly accurate master clock.
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They jammed us!
Jam? What type?
Razzberry!
Only one man dares to give me the razzberry........ LoneSTAR!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Why would you want one other than to just be an asshole?
Finland has had plans to introduce a road toll system based on GPS. If that happens, spoofing/jamming GPS will save you a lot of money. As a side-effect of everyone using blocking devices, nobody will be able to navigate anymore :)
Plus let's forget that if you are close enough to jam it, then even a ballistic trajectory will bring it in close enough to the target on it's own.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Deal Extreme has a few.
High Power GPS Blocker with AC Adapter and Car Charger $26
Mini GPS Blocker (with AC and Car Charger) - $105
Super Mini Cigarette Lighter GPS Blocker - $80
Or check out their full line of GPS and Cellphone blocking products.
Very, very FCC non-compliant. Possibly other crimes as well, if used with specific intents(skimming tracked goods, shutting down airports, etc.)
Because they are relatively simple to build, and pretty cheap to buy, and virtually impossible to detect unless operating, enforcement of that fact is pretty spotty...
People forgot about it due to the ong solar minimum, but if this many things are dependant upon GPS, they're going to want to find some contingency plans:
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
You could also build your own. The Wave Bubble is a *bit* fancier than those devices, but since it closes the loop on jamming frequency, you're almost guaranteed it'll be dead on.
If you really want to mess with ATC, you can do it far easier than a $30.00 short range jammer.
Go to hobby shop, buy a few large model rockets. build them.
Go to grocery store, buy a roll of aluminum foil.
feed aluminum foil into a crosscut paper shredder to create "chaff". (I can tell you how to do this successfully, but wont to keep the complete idiots from trying it.)
Load the chaff into the ejection chute tube for the model rockets. (again, there is more to this, but idiots will never figure this step out as well.)
Launch. laugh with your buddies and get ready to enjoy your time being anally raped by big bad bubba in a federal prison.
This will screw with ATC in a big BIG way. they will find you, they will taze you about 900 times on the way to the jail, then they will taze you just for fun, and the judge will taze you out of spite in the courtroom, your lawyer will also probably taze you as well, before you go to a big bad prison.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
But i think that this is not what you were expecting.
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What competent engineer would design an important system that depends on GPS, with no backup? The satellite signals are very faint, and can be disrupted for seconds or hours by lots of different causes, including entirely natural causes like solar flares.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Why would people talk so loudly into their phones on public transport, etc, other than just to be an asshole? It works both ways.
which is totally what she said
Hah! I foresaw your childish trick, and have in fact installed ... wait for it ... two jamming towers!
which is totally what she said
So they can be heard over the background noise of engines and whinging - HTH.
Military has its own encrypted channels for GPS signals. Same satellites but not the same signal as consumer devices.
While this is true, it just means that you need to jam a different frequency. Encryption has nothing to do with it as you aren't trying to access it, but DoS it. The reasons that the military runs its own separate GPS are for better accuracy (civilian GPS has inaccuracy built in while military GPS is accurate to within a meter) and so they can shut it down without hurting themselves within a theater.
or just run your jammer at 100 watts
The FCC will appreciate that I'm sure.
Considering this discussion was about jamming GPS on an incoming missile. I think I'll cope with whatever fine the FCC decides to charge.
You probably don't want one. A few years ago I bought a cell phone jammer from a company in Hong Kong. The build quality was terrible and I was only able to jam phones within a 2 or 3 foot radius at best. Most of the time the phone would drop signal and then find its way back onto the network in 30 or so seconds. I managed just once to drop a stranger's loud call on the train after dozes on attempts.
Turns out cell phones are designed to find ways around interference. Afterall, my jammer was just like having to deal with 100 nearby cell phones trying to make calls. Some phones have no problem with this.
The real issue is that when you're dealing with potentially illegal items with no brands, there's no incentive to make the product work correctly. I wouldn't be surprised if these jammers sucked also.
0) Teaching women to use maps. "Gee honey, looks like the GPS satellites are down again. Now look here at this Atlas".
You must not be married.
I gave my wife a GPS so she can yell at it instead of me when she's lost.
Godaddy is a scam and a ripoff.
Speak for yourself. I just can't relax and enjoy a meal without making sure my restaurant isn't trying to sneak away with me.
While Microwaves are, indeed, quite excellent fun(It'd be downright unpatriotic to not like cavity magnetrons: they helped defeat Hitler and provide us with nourishing instant popcorn); but caution is advised.
Shockingly enough, microwaves heat moist things. Like Humans. Now, your body has some degree of liquid cooling built in, handily provided by your bloodstream. However, your Corneas are, shall we say, a bit under-vascularized... Unless you really know what you are doing or don't mind having cataracts like your great grandparents before you graduate from high school Do. Not. Fuck. With. Microwaves.(The fact that the magnetron circuit requires a capacitor that stands a very good chance of killing your punk ass if disrespected is just icing on the cake...)
In all seriousness, microwaves are quite possibly the worst commonly available appliances to play junior tinkerer with.
Shouldn't go to the theater while on call.
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
Doctors have been going to movies many years before cell phones were even invented. I think you need to come up with a better excuse.
I got 99 problems but a GPS aint one
-- Sig under construction...
Yes, and back then they took pagers if they were on call. Before then, they'd leave the address of the cinema with the hospital - if they were needed, the cinema would be called and someone would come and get them from their seat.
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Destination in 500 miles.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
All that is "far easier" than spending $30?
Really it isn't that at all. A lot of people do the same thing with land lines in quiet environments.. and in fact not all public transport is noisy.
which is totally what she said
A highly accurate clock is at the very heart of GPS. Consequently, it's used quite extensively as a time-keeping system, frequently as a stratum-0 NTP device.
What does jamming GPSes have to do with mobile phone conversations? A GPS being use by someone else is not going to bother you, so jamming it really is just being a dick.
They continue to be extremely illegal. Tread softly.
With $30 jammers, who do you think will win that arms race?
"Also, I'm fairly sure it's illegal. "
The terrorists won't be impressed.
Just because this is powered by electricity doesn't make it news for nerds.
No, but it being a high-tech subject with implications for a massive amount of existing and emerging technologies does.
No use calling him, apparently he doesn't know the way to the hospital.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
If you RTFA, it is likely to screw up the entire Cell Tower, your bank's ATM network at lots of other things you don't expect to rely on GPS. 90% of GPS receivers only use the time signal, and can't operate reliably without it.
I don't see how GPS jammer can be positively useful
Rental Car companies often track your usage and bill you extra if you leave the state(s) you said you were going to use the rental car in. If you're being tracked by the <insert name of law enforcement agency here> you can render their tracking devices useless. I'm sure there are other opportunities to take advantage of the "stealth mode" offered by such a device.
Lost people tend to cause accidents, and as one does 90% of their driving within a few miles of their home, you or your loved ones/neighbors would most likely to be the victims. Besides what are you going to do, run power out to it? Change the batteries all the time? I'm sure that these little revenge fantasies look much better in your minds eye.
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
Cue the next generation LoJack, with a jammer detector, combined with a gyroscope and a good dead reckoning algorithm...
Well my wife is not a nagging sort, but she won't listen to the GPS directions for sure. If it says "Turn right.", she says, "No, that's wrong." and goes her own way. Never gets lost though. She won't go on any expressway or over any tall bridges so she can't follow directions that might take her someplace she won't go. GPS is useless even if I'm driving. By myself I use it all the time.
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
I'm as critical of the war on terror as you are, but you have to remember the military's role in a democracy. It's not their job to decide when to go to war, with whom, for what reason. It is their job to *assume* the country's elected representatives have good reasons to go to war, and to prosecute that war as efficiently (in terms of lives and dollars) as possible.
Exceptions can be made for individual soldiers' conscientious objection, but that cannot apply to the military as an institution. If all it takes to start or stop a war is a hefty bribe to the Chiefs of Staff, we're screwed.
So from a perspective that assumes the war must be fought -- a perspective I totally disagree with, but which the military *must* adopt -- $400,000 to avoid the death of a platoon of highly-trained soldiers *is* money well spent, even from a pure dollars-invested perspective. Adding in some measure of the innate value of human life makes it even more so.
If you don't want that $400,000 to be spent, your beef is with your congressmen, not the generals.
Quoted for truth. Do. Not. Fuck. With. Microwaves.
If I was designing a microwave oven, I'd probably stick a big capacitor on top of the magnetron even if it wasn't necessary. Nothing says "you're too ignorant to be playing with this thing" like getting thrown across the room by a couple thousand volts. All things considered, a really nasty electrical shock is far safer for everyone involved -- tinkerer, bystanders, and EMTs -- than letting a kilowatt of microwaves loose in the world.
A quick GPS history lesson: GPS signals are spread-spectrum in order to make them harder to jam from a distance. The military goal was not to make it un-jammable, merely to force a functioning jammer to be so large that it could be found and (ahem) stopped. So GPS was built upon the assumption of radiation-seeking missiles to protect it. To deter jamming, they spread the main signal SO widely that it was hard for them to even acquire themselves (back in the day). For acquisition they built a less spread "finder" signal. This is spread over only about a MHz and can be easily acquired. It gives some accuracy, but also gives a timing code to find the second code which is spread over more bandwidth around the same frequency. As an afterthought, they released the first stage (the narrow one) to the public. This first stage is what we all use and love.
"I love his boyish charm, but I hate his childishness" - Leela