746th Sets JAMFEST ‘09 - Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design

746th Sets JAMFEST ‘09

The 746th Test Squadron (746 TS) will offer authorized GPS users another testing and training opportunity in its series of JAMFEST events on November 2–6 at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
Introduced in May 2004, JAMFEST provides a realistic GPS jamming environment for testing GPS-based navigation systems.

The 746th Test Squadron (746 TS) will offer authorized GPS users another testing and training opportunity in its series of JAMFEST events on November 2–6 at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
Introduced in May 2004, JAMFEST provides a realistic GPS jamming environment for testing GPS-based navigation systems.

JAMFEST has hosted Department of Defense (DoD) groups, defense contractors, and civil organizations whose objectives range from training in GPS-denied or –degraded conditions to testing the performance of prototype anti-jam technologies against realistic threats.

The 746 TS, also known as the Central Inertial and GPS Test Facility (CIGTF), is located at  Holloman Air Force Base, adjacent to the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in southern New Mexico, near Alamogordo. JAMFEST ‘09 will take place at Stallion Air Field in northern WSMR, near Socorro.

JAMFEST scenarios offer multiple-site configurations and “threat laydowns” that include transmissions of various forms of RF noise, bi-phase shift keying, and a mix of waveforms at low, medium, and high power levels on L1 and L2 frequencies.

Event participants may stand, walk, drive, or fly through these environments to measure their effects on a variety of GPS applications.

For help trasnporting equipment during the tests, the squadron offers a Small Test Vehicle (STV), a Large Test Vehicle (LTV), and a variety of aircraft upon request.

Although use of these testbeds is not included in JAMFEST’s basic cost (approximately $8,000 to $12,000) they offer interesting test advantages .

The STV is a specialized testbed that can be modified for a broad range of antenna configurations. It holds up to three controlled reception pattern antennas and fixed reception pattern antennas and can supply electrical power to the environmentally- controlled cab and test items.

The STV has space for the simultaneous testing of several test items and can accommodate up to six aircraft racks with operator seats.

Fully instrumented aircraft are also available. These  include the AT-38, C-12, and UH-1, useful for providing a range of dynamic operating environments for systems under test.

Each platform is fully instrumented for data acquisition and capable of hosting almost any combination of GPS, inertial navigation (INS), or integrated GPS/INS navigation and guidance systems.

After the conclusion of JAMFEST, the 746 TS gives participants a detailed data package that describes the vulnerability scenarios used during the event and time space position information (TSPI) spectrum analyzer data collected while those scenarios were run.

For more information on JAMFEST or 746 TS capabilities, contact: 746th Test Squadron, telephone (toll-free): 866-256-7878 or 575-679-1769; e-mail <gpstest@holloman.af.mil>.

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