Field trials and prototype validation will be carried out in Joensuu. This main regional center of Eastern Finland is close to the Russian border and the Karelia region, making it strategically relevant for border-region infrastructure, security, and monitoring.

The program, officially called GNSS-Itä – “Resilient positioning in Eastern Finland”, combines spectrum monitoring, ground-based signal logging, and comparative testing of commercial receivers, to generate objective metrics for interference susceptibility and graceful-degradation behavior.

In a recent NLS communication, Sanna Kaasalainen, Director of Navigation and Positioning at the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI), emphasized the need to test GNSS-independent alternatives and urged sustained investment to translate laboratory findings into operational contingency plans.

Right now

The timing is no accident. Since April 2024, authorities have documented persistent satellite-navigation disruptions in the Gulf of Finland, including episodes of jamming and location spoofing that have caused vessels to go off course and, in some cases, required on-scene intervention. International reporting and advisories have framed the pattern as a broader Baltic-region problem, with direct implications for maritime and aviation safety.

Ultimately, preparedness will depend on translating research results into procurement and operational changes. The NLS trials build on technology from private companies, which are providing anti-jamming enclosures and signal-filtering systems for testing. One vendor, Infinidome, has supplied a hardened GNSS-resilient antenna and filtering system. Sites are also being evaluated for nationwide rollout.

Regulatory and operational actors are also participating. Traficom’s public interference reporting framework and guidance provide the empirical baseline researchers need to prioritize mitigations for aviation and maritime users. Notices to mariners and regional advisories now routinely remind seafarers to report anomalies and follow contingency procedures when GNSS performance degrades.

The Finnish program is pragmatic. It does not promise a single ‘GPS-proof’ fix, but instead aims to produce verifiable receiver-tolerance standards, detection algorithms and deployment recipes, i.e. tools Baltic operators could adopt.

In media reports, Coast Guard commander Pekka Niittylä has warned that deliberate spoofing and shutdowns of automatic identification system (AIS), which rely on GNSS for accurate positioning, can hide illicit port calls, linking this research directly to security concerns across the Baltic region.

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GPSPatron and Gdynia Maritime University (GMU) established a partnership in 2024 to examine GNSS interference at ground level. Krasimir Hristov, GPSPatron’s head of business development and partnerships, said the two organizations share research interests in maritime navigation security, GNSS vulnerability, and advanced interference-detection technologies—especially as they impact maritime.

Their first project involved GPSPatron mounting a GNSS interference detector about 15 meters above sea level on GMU’s Faculty of Navigation building facing the Gulf of Gdansk. After monitoring the area for nine months they published their results in early 2025. Findings include:

-More than 84 hours of interference, most of which was jamming.

-Some interference events were more than 7 hours long.

-There was no correlation between events detected on the ground and those detected by aviation ADS-B. 

-Strong indications that some sources of interference were mobile.

Building on this work, the team took to the high seas with their interference detection equipment from June to October. Their new report, “GNSS Interference Monitoring in the Baltic Sea: Shipborne Observations near the Kaliningrad Enclave Marine Border,” reveals some interesting changes in interference activity over the previous year and impacts on maritime traffic.

Jamming to Spoofing

In the 2024 study, the team only detected jamming. This year, every event was a combination of multi-constellation jamming and spoofing. False GPS L1 signals were transmitted while other GNSS signals were jammed.

More Disruptions

Interference was active a higher percentage of the time this year compared to the previous study, and persistent events were longer. In one 48 hour window, interference was active for 30 hours.

Coordinated Interference, Four Types and Locations

The study found four types of transmitters operating in four different locations that all activated and ceased at the same time, indicating a centralized tactical coordination. The sources were:

-GPS spoofing transmitter generating forged GPS L1 signals.

-Lower-band chirp jammer targeting GPS, Galileo and BeiDou.

-Upper-band chirp jammer targeting GLONASS exclusively.

-Full-band analog-like jammer flooding the entire 60 MHz GNSS L1 band.

Stronger Offshore than Dockside

When the vessel was offshore, the interference detected was as much as 15dB stronger than when it was moored dockside. As the ship approached the waters off Kaliningrad, the interference signal strength steadily increased to its highest level. 

Interference within Port of Gdańsk

While shore infrastructure seemed to often be shielded from interference by terrain and other obstacles, the project detected repeated instances of jamming coming from within the port itself. Jammers in passenger vehicles were a repeat problem as RF noise. 

“Industrial RF noise, appearing in multi-hour intervals on 3, 5 and 10 September, produced broadband emissions consistent with malfunctioning electrical or RF equipment,” according to the report.

While not part of the study, Hristov said other impacts to shore infrastructure have been observed. 

“We’ve seen multiple cases where operations were slowed, paused or temporarily shut down due to degraded positioning reliability. For example, offshore wind construction activities have been halted on several occasions when GNSS accuracy dropped below operational thresholds, and there have been instances where container ports were forced to idle equipment until signals stabilized. These disruptions tend to be shorter and more contained compared to offshore incidents, but the operational and financial consequences are for sure significant.” 

In many of these cases, the impacted parties have reasons to not formally report or publicize the disruptions. 

As is the case with most studies of interference in aviation, the authors of this report urge mariners to exercise caution over being alarmed. Numerous maritime systems, such as the Automatic Identification System (AIS, which is analogous to aviation’s ADS-B) are degraded or made inoperable by interference with GPS and other GNSS. 

Continued Joint Efforts

The PNT and maritime community can expect to see further joint work from the two organizations. 

“Our collaboration includes knowledge exchange, joint exploration of real-world GNSS disruption scenarios, and discussions on potential research initiatives that connect academic expertise with GPSPatron’s field-tested technology,” Hristov said. “Marine University of Gdynia values the opportunity to integrate practical commercial insights into its curriculum and research programs, while GPSPatron benefits from the university’s academic depth, testing environments, and access to domain specialists.”

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The INS-FI is built with Tactical-grade Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG) technology and an IP67 rating, indicating its robustness and resistance to electromagnetic and environmental interference. This system integrates an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) that combines Fiber Optic Gyroscopes and MEMS Accelerometers, along with an all-constellations GNSS receiver supporting multiple bands (GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BEIDOU, and NAVIC).

Key features of the INS-FI include:

• High-Performance FOG IMU: Provides GNSS-free heading (True North) with an error margin of less than 0.5 degrees.
• Accurate Positioning: Offers horizontal and vertical positioning with approximately 0.1% error of distance traveled for land applications and a drift of five nautical miles per hour for aerospace applications without GNSS signal.
• Compatibility: Fully compatible with Inertial Labs’ ADC (Air Data Computer), VINS (Visual Inertial Navigation Systems), and SAMC (Stand-Alone Magnetic Compass).

The INS-FI incorporates Inertial Labs’ latest sensor fusion filter, navigation and guidance algorithms, and calibration software to ensure optimal performance and reliability. This new system is aimed at providing precise horizontal and vertical positions, velocity, and absolute orientation (heading, pitch, and roll) for any mounted device, maintaining high accuracy for both stationary and dynamic applications.

Jamie Marraccini, CEO of Inertial Labs, highlighted the significance of this new product, stating, “The INS-FI represents a significant milestone in our mission to provide superior navigation solutions. With its advanced FOG technology and robust design, the INS-FI sets a new standard for performance and reliability in the industry.”

Inertial Labs specializes in the design, integration, and manufacturing of Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), GPS-aided Inertial Navigation Systems (INSs), and Attitude and Heading Reference Systems (AHRSs), leveraging MEMS gyroscopes and accelerometers for high-performing inertial solutions.

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The strategy includes plans for the development of navigational systems — Russia’s GLONASS and China’s BeiDou — through boosting their compatibility and complementarity, as well as placement of ground-based measuring sites on the territory of both states.

The roadmap entails plans for monitoring and evaluation of the features of GNSS and the joint application of navigation technologies to promote the socio-economic development of Russia and China, Roscosmos added.

In 2018, Russia and China reached an agreement to cooperate on the use of their GNSS for peaceful purposes. The accord was ratified the following year.

In mid-September, Roscosmos unveiled its plans to start installing GLONASS ground stations across China’s Shanghai, Urumqi, and Changchun regions by the end of this year. China is expected to place its BeiDou stations in the Russian cities of Obninsk, Irkutsk, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy.

Image: from Compass Status presentation: http://www.filasinternational.eu/sidereus-project/pdf/02.pdf

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“We have a reciprocal process: we need to place GLONASS stations in China, and they are over here (in Russia). Now we have started active work. I hope that the installation will begin this year. We will make every effort for this,” Saveliev said.

In 2018, the two countries reached an agreement to cooperate on the use of their respective GNSS for peaceful purposes, with the document ratified the next year. China will install BeiDou ground monitoring stations across Russia.

The Precision Instrument-Making Systems research and production corporation, part of the state space corporation Roscosmos, also plans to place GLONASS monitoring stations in Brazil, China, Indonesia, India and Angola, the corporation said.

“In the near future another six non-request measuring stations are to be placed abroad: two in Brazil (Belem and Colorado de Oeste), one in China (Shanghai), one in Indonesia (Bukittinggi, West Sumatra), one in India (Bangalore) and one in Angola (Luanda),” the corporation said.

Negotiations with foreign partners have been held and on-site reconnaissance work carried out and contracts are being coordinated. “All contracts for deploying and operating the equipment were signed with Brazil back in 2020. All permissions to take the equipment out of Russia were obtained, too,” the corporation said. Last year Russian specialists were unable to go to Brazil for assembling the equipment due to the pandemic. The deployment work was postponed till 2021-2022, when the epidemiological situation gets back to normal.

The equipment from Precision Instrument-Making Systems is meant for enhancing the accuracy and improving other parameters of the system GLONASS.

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“We are launching our first GLONASS-K2 satellite this year,” Testoyedov stated to the Russian TASS news agency. “This launch is planned for the fourth quarter of the year.”

According to Testoyedov, deliveries of all on-board equipment have been completed in full. The satellite has been assembled is now undergoing a series of mechanical, thermal vacuum, and other tests. “They [tests] usually take several months,” he added.

The GLONASS constellation currently comprises 28 satellites, with 23 space vehicles operating pursuant to their designation. By 2030 the GLONASS constellation will consist wholly of K2 space vehicles, 24 of them.

The K2 generation has been repeatedly postponed over recent years, from as early as 2014 to 2017 to 2019 to now 2021. Russian government and industrial spokespersons have variously characterized the positioning accuracy improvement  furnished by K2 as going from3-5 meters to less than 1 meter, or to a user range error set by Mission Definition Requirements as 0.3 m, or enabling use for high-precision navigation with real-time errors below 0.1 m.

K2 will broadcast the legacy FDMA signals available for more than 35 years, simultaneously with CDMA signals in all GLONASS frequency bands: L1, L2 and L3.

Overall, the new K2 satellite will transmit nine navigation signals and will weigh about 1,800 kg, twice as much the latest GLONASS-K generation, known as K1. Changes in the ICD concerning FDMA and CDMA signals will ensure backward compatibility and uninterrupted operation for the existing range of user navigation equipment.

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Position, Navigation, and Timing Technologies in the 21st Century: Integrated Satellite Navigation, Sensor Systems, and Civil Applications, Set, Volumes 1 and 2 has appeared from John Wiley & Sons, alternately Wiley-IEEE Press. Altogether it encompasses, as mentioned, 64 chapters over 1970 pages, plus glossary, neatly compartmented into 6 divisions:

• Satellite Navigation Systems
• Satellite Navigation Technologies
• Satellite Navigation for Engineering and Scientific Applications (volume 1 wraps up here)

• Position, Navigation and Timing Using Radio Signals-of-Opportunity
• Position, Navigation and Timing Using Non-Radio Signals-of-Opportunity
• Position, Navigation and Timing for Consumer and Commercial Applications

The four primary editors are Y. Jade Morton, University of Colorado at Boulder and current president of the Institute of Navigation; Frank van Diggelen, Google and executive Vice President of ION; James J. Spilker, formerly of Stanford; and Bradford W. Parkinson, Stanford, chief architect for GPS and the first Director of the GPS Joint Program Office.

Assistant editors are Sherman Lo and Grace Gao, both of Stanford.

The book was the brainchild of James Spilker, according to his co-editors. “He remained a fervent supporter until his passing in October 2019. A pioneer of GPS civil signal structure and receiver technologies, Dr. Spilker was truly the inspiration behind this effort.”

In recounting the early history of GPS, Brad Parkinson recalled the most important early studies aimed at selecting the best passive ranging technique for the navigation signal. Experts including Dr. Fran Natali, Dr. Jim Spilker and Dr. Charles Cahn concluded that the best technique was a variation of a new (in the late 1960s) communications modulation known as code division multiple access (CDMA). Cahn advocated a C/A code length of 2047 chips, while Spilker wanted 511. Parkinson split the difference, yielding the code length of 1023 that the world enjoys today.

A lengthier article on this stunning assembly of erudition will appear in the May/June issue of Inside GNSS, with personal perspectives from some of the editors.

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Geoscan, which built and programmed the drones and ran the display, chose u-blox positioning technology for its ability to access positioning data from both GLONASS and GPS signals. The Geoscan Salute drones, which are ten centimeters across, were designed exclusively for use in group flights and drone shows.

The drones use u-blox NEO-M8P high precision GNSS modules to provide the positioning data necessary to ensure that they can be placed in the sky with a high degree of accuracy. This makes them less likely to collide with each other and enables them to be moved more quickly and efficiently. This produces a more fluid drone show, improved positional accuracy of each drone,  a better overall display and contiguous figure forms. Salute drones can also return to their base stations automatically at the end of a show.

The NEO-M8P high precision GNSS module used in the Salute drones implements a real-time kinematic (RTK) approach. The drones calculate their relative positions to within millimeters, and their absolute positions to within one centimeter of the intended position, according to the companies.

Geoscan has been producing drone displays for the past two years, starting with just 40 drones flying at once. Semen Lapko, Head of Drone Show Project, Geoscan, said: “The u-blox modules in our Geoscan Salute drones have improved our drones’ positioning accuracies to about one centimeter, and have helped reduce pre-launch preparation time. Drones now move more quickly and accurately, while also operating more efficiently.”

u-blox is a technology provider in positioning and wireless communication in automotive, industrial, and consumer markets.

Geoscan Group is a Russian manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and developer of photogrammetric data processing and three-dimensional data visualization software. Geoscan group has offices in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

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A recent Pravda video boasts that the GLONASS data imparts 1-meter target accuracy, though it does not specify the range at which this accuracy is achieved. It further asserts that the Tornado-S “can be considered the most powerful weapon after the atomic bomb.”

The Tornado-S missile can turn to the target in flight, following preset, GLONASS-derived parameters. “There is the main fire direction and the depression angle is calculated for each missile,” expert Viktor Murakhovsky stated for an Izvestia story on the topic. “It is similar to the vertical launch of antiaircraft missiles. They are popped up by a gunpowder pressure accumulator and the depression generator then switches on to turn the missile to the target. The MLRS missile leaves the guide and turns to the necessary angle by the azimuth. The salvo is thus distributed along the frontline.” he said.

[Images: Tornado-S 300mm MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket System. Photos: Russian MoD)]

An MLRS guides a package of missiles to one point. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, in modern warfare troops and hardware never concentrate in one place near the frontline. Artillery, air defense, armored vehicles and infantry are deployed at a distance from each other. The new missiles can hit a group of targets at a major distance from each other in one salvo, as the simultaneously launches projectiles diverge in flight, each according to its input GLONASS-based target data. The system can automatically receive and process information from reconnaissance vehicles or drones; it does not need to be input by the operator.

“Distance and azimuth angle parameters can be preset for each missile,” add Murakhovsky. “Thus, they can destroy a battalion of air defense launchers located at a distance from each other. Ordinary projectiles can destroy one-two targets and the area around them. The new missiles have an extended elliptical destruction zone. The turning capability distributes the missiles along the frontline ten times more.”

Tornado-S has an upgraded launcher with automatic fire controls and guided and unguided longer-range missiles. The new MLRS has GLONASS satellite communications and automatic guidance and fire control system. The operator has to put in coordinates, engage the guides and fire. It is not necessary to manually put in the data. The launcher always knows its coordinates due to GLONASS and the computer can calculate the parameters for target destruction. Communication equipment transmits weather, air and missile defense data from the headquarters. They are taken into account in planning the strike.

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Developed by ISS Reshetnev and first launched in February 2011, the third-generation K satellite is a substantial improvement over the previous GLONASS-M second-generation space vehicles, with a longer lifespan and better accuracy.

In November 2014, the second and supposedly last GLONASS-K1 development satellite was placed in orbit. Shortly thereafter, Testadoyoev stated that because of Western sanctions that limited the supply of radiation-resistant electronics, Russia decided to launch nine additional GLONASS-K1 as fleet replacements while finishing the GLONASS-K2 design. However, all satellites launched since then have been the older M design.

ISS Reshetnev is now manufacturing nine Glonass-K satellites and also Glonass-K2 space vehicles and is carrying out experimental design work on modifying Glonass-K2s. It is also starting work on GLONASS-VKK (highly elliptical space system) under a new program that will be in effect in 2020-2030, Testoyedov added.

In the coming years, Russia will launch Glonass-K2 versions fully made of domestic electronic components, Testoyedov said. In 2014 when the U.S. placed export sanctions on Russia, GLONASS satellites were half-made of imported electronic components — 85% of those imported were produced in the U.S.

“We are taking measures to ensure that the share of imported electronic components falls from 50% as was the case in 2014 to 12% by 2025 (these are either available or purchased components) and from 2026 Glonass-K2 satellites will fly with the 100% Russian components base,” Testoyedov said.

GLONASS-K is the first unpressurised GLONASS satellite: its components can operate in a vacuum. Due to this, the satellite’s mass has been substantially reduced. The new satellite has an operational lifetime of 10 years, three years longer than that of GLONASS-M.

GLONASS-K will transmit the legacy FDMA signals, 2 military and 2 civilian, in the L1 and L2 bands, and additional civilian CDMA signals will be transmitted in the L1, L2, L3 and L5 bands, becoming interoperable with Galileo and GPS.

Ground Station Setting Up in Brazil

A new GLONASS reference station will begin operations in Belem, in the state of Para in Brazil. “This is the seventh non-request measuring station in the structure of the foreign segment of the GLONASS measuring stations’ network being set up by the Precision Instrument-Making Systems as part of the Signal experimental design work,” Roscosmos said in a statement.

The measuring station of the SM-Glonass system is designed to continuously monitor the signals of the GLONASS, GPS, Galileo, Compass and QZSS navigation systems. The station is also required for controlling the reliability parameters of GLONASS navigation signals.

A fifth non-request measuring station of the Glonass satellite navigation system was due to begin its operation in Brazil at the end of this year, in the country’s north. Two stations were installed in Recife (the capital of Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco) and Santa Maria (in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul). Two stations of different types are operating in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. In addition to fulfilling their main task, they can also be used by Brazilian scientists for their own research.

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