Leverage Defense-Grade GNSS Technologies and Techniques for Demanding, Mission-Critical Civilian IoT Applications
There is no room for error on the battlefield — including GNSS errors due to atmospheric and environmental conditions. Trucking, oil/gas/mining, agriculture, utilities, smart cities, and other civilian sectors that need ultra-reliable, highly granular PNT data for their IoT applications can learn a lot from how defense agencies are continually maximizing GNSS accuracy and resiliency.
Why Jamming and Spoofing Attacks are Soaring
Defense agencies rely on GNSS for a wide variety of PNT applications both on and off the battlefield. That reliance is exactly why jamming and spoofing incidents have soared over the past several years. Terrorists, hackers, and other countries’ defense organizations know GNSS is an effective way to disorient bombers, bombs, drones, and more.
Many businesses, municipalities, and other organizations also rely on GNSS, which is why jamming and spoofing are rapidly becoming a major problem in the civilian sector, too. One example is cargo theft.
“The sharp rise in cargo crime that was observed in 2025 was accompanied by a noticeable increase in the sophistication of coordinated theft operations,” the National Motor Freight Traffic Association says in its 2026 Transportation Industry Cybersecurity Trends Report. “A prevalent technique used was GPS spoofing, where criminals manipulate location data of trucks or trailers to conceal unauthorized route changes or to mislead tracking systems during load thefts.”
Jamming and spoofing also can target fixed applications, such as sending inaccurate PNT data to IoT devices in a refinery, electrical grid, or municipal water plant. Some of these attacks exploit the trend of using GNSS to eliminate atomic clock receivers in IoT devices to simplify designs and reduce BOM costs.
Now for some good news: Civilian organizations can implement many of the same technologies and techniques that defense agencies are successfully using to thwart jamming and spoofing. More good news: Those technologies and techniques also help maximize GNSS resiliency and performance under normal conditions with no bad actors. Read on to learn more.
Finding Strength in Numbers
Leveraging multiple GNSS constellations is a highly effective yet relatively low-cost way to ensure that a device has continual access to accurate PNT data. That’s true regardless of whether the problem is a cyberattack or severe attenuation by tall buildings and foliage.
An example is augmenting GPS with Galileo because it’s highly unlikely that both will be subject to simultaneous attacks, each operating at a different frequency. This diversity enables applications to compare two or more constellations’ PNT data to see if they’re aligned. If they’re not, then spoofing may be occurring. The additional constellation(s) also can provide PNT data when the primary’s signals are unavailable due to environmental conditions rather jamming.
Modern single-band GNSS receivers typically support GPS L1, GLONASS L1, and BeiDou B1, which span three different frequencies. Many modern receivers will also support Galileo E1. Meanwhile, multi-band receivers include at least one additional “significantly different” frequency from the L1/B1/E1 band set. (For more information about implementing a multi-constellation strategy, see “How to Navigate the L1, L2, L5, E5a, E5b, and G2 Alphabet Soup of GNSS Constellations and Signals” and “GNSS Constellations: Exploring GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, NavIC, and QZSS.”)
Use CRPA to Cut Through the Crap
Jamming attacks overpower the GNSS receiver with strong signals in the same or adjacent frequency bands to the legitimate satellite signal. One of the few mitigation technologies is Controlled Reception Pattern Antenna (CRPA) systems, which use multiple antenna elements to null out the interfering signals so the receiver can focus on the legitimate GNSS signals.
The effectiveness of this spatial filtering depends partly on having enough antenna elements to counter each jamming signal. For instance, a CRPA system may have four, eight, or 16 antenna elements based on the anticipated scale of the attack.
A CRPA system also can be combined with a multi-constellation receiver to provide multiple layers of defense. This design enables the system to support all bands simultaneously and perform independent beam nulling in each of them.
Correction Services Maximize Accuracy
Some IoT applications require higher precision than the roughly 0.5 meter that “standard” GNSS can provide. For example, autonomous taxis and autonomous material handlers in logistics parks need centimeter-level precision to ensure safety. Construction companies also use high-precision GNSS to achieve exactly the right grade, thus eliminating wasted fuel, labor, and materials. (For a case study, see “Taoglas helps Basetime enable ultra-accurate geometric height measurement for construction applications.”)
These and other high-precision applications use correction services to augment standard GNSS data to overcome atmospheric delays, multipath, and satellite errors.
| Item | Description | Typ. Error |
|---|---|---|
| Satellite Clock Errors | Position depends on clocks. Each satellite’s clock can wander. Correction information is sent down from each satellite. Without correction, this error can be up to 300 km. | 0.4 – 1 m |
| Satellite Position Errors | Position also depends on knowing the position of each satellite. The satellites transmit their own position (ephemeris) but this isn’t perfect. | 0.3 – 1 m |
| Ionospheric Delay | The upper layers of the atmosphere are “ionized” by the sun, which interacts with signals sent between satellites and the Earth. Stand-alone receivers can use a mathematical model to provide some correction. Without correction, this can be 7 m. | 1 – 3 m |
| Tropospheric Delay | The Troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere and where we live. Rain, fog, and other water in the air delays the signal. This delay varies by location, height, and angle to the satellite. Models can be used to reduce the error. | 0.2 m |
| Receiver & Antenna Biases | Receivers have biases that introduce errors. These are typically small, on the order of cm. Antennas can also introduce biases (phase center and group delay). | 0.2 m |
| Multipath | As signals travel from the satellite to the Earth, they bounce, reflect, and distort. | 0.2 m |
| Total | Single-Frequency Receiver | 2.3 ~ 5.6 m |
| Dual-Frequency Receiver | 1.5 ~ 2.8 m |
Engineers have several options to choose from:
- L-Band, which achieves accuracy of about 20 cm. L-Band services are often referred to as precise point positioning (PPP) services. (For more information, see “How to Leverage the L-Band to Balance Accuracy and Affordability for GNSS Applications.”)
- Differential GNSS (DGNSS), which achieves accuracy as low as 1 cm by using terrestrial reference stations that broadcast location data. One example is real-time kinematic (RTK).
- Hybrid PPP-RTK, which combines the two types of services. (For more information, watch the on-demand webinar “High Precision GNSS and RTK Positioning.”)
PPP and RTK services require a subscription, which can be an issue for cost-sensitive applications. One free alternative is the Galileo High Accuracy Service (HAS), which provides real-time orbit, clock, and bias data to achieve up to decimeter-level accuracy. (For more information, see “Galileo HAS: Understanding the Capabilities and Benefits of the Latest GNSS Correction Service.”)
Some services require an internet connection to deliver correction data, such as RTK. This means the device will need a cellular module and subscription, which would be two additional costs. And if the device is used in places where cellular service is unavailable, then it won’t have access to the correction data.
L-Band services deliver correction data over satellite. That means their signals are susceptible to the same vulnerabilities as standard GNSS, including attenuation by dense foliage and concrete canyons and jamming and spoofing.
How to Choose the Right Antenna
All of these technologies and techniques are most effective when they use a high-quality antenna system, which maximizes:
- Signal Strength and Sensitivity: High-gain antennas improve reception in challenging environments.
- Time to First Fix (TTFF): The faster the receiver can acquire GNSS signals, the faster it can provide PNT data to the application, such as for turn-by-turn autonomous vehicle navigation.
- Multipath Mitigation: Reduces errors caused by signal reflections in urban canyons.
- Interference Rejection: Filters out unwanted signals from adjacent bands like 5G.
Taoglas offers a variety of GNSS antennas designed to meet high-performance, mission-critical requirements in verticals such as transportation, first responders, smart cities, and industrial IoT. Three examples are:
- The XAHP.60 is an active antenna that covers GPS/QZSS L1/L2/L5, GLONASS G1/G2/G3, Galileo E1/E5a/E5b/E6, BeiDou B1/B2a/B2b/B3, L-Band, QZSS L6, NAVIC L5, and SBAS (WAAS/EGNOS/GAGAN/SDCM/SNAS). Part of the Taoglas Colosseum Series, this permanent-mount antenna is designed for applications that require accuracy as granular as centimeter level.
- The MagmaX2 AA.205 is a magnetic-mount antenna that covers L1, L2, and L5 frequencies across GPS, Galileo (E1/E5a), GLONASS, BeiDou (B1/B2), QZSS, and IRNSS. With a low axial ratio and excellent out-of-band rejection, this active antenna delivers superior signal quality and robust performance even in areas with high RF interference.
- The Comet AA.250 is an active magnetic-mount antenna that covers multiple frequencies across all major GNSS constellations, as well as the L-Band for correction services. Its high gain and good radiation pattern stability enable a reliable GPS fix even with weak signals.
The antenna manufacturer’s expertise also is key. Taoglas has hundreds of GNSS customers across both the defense and civilian sectors. That’s why device OEMs, systems integrators, and end users turn to Taoglas not only for GNSS antennas, but also GNSS engineering services such as integration, testing, optimization, and more.
For more insights and examples, see:
- “Get Out of a Jam: How GNSS Antennas Help Thwart Jamming Attacks”
- “Top GNSS Jamming and Spoofing Attacks and How to Mitigate Them”
- “Countering GNSS Spoofing: Innovations for IoT Security”
- “Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Top Tips for Designing a Transportation-Grade GNSS Solution”
- “Active vs. Passive GNSS Antennas: Choosing the Right Solution”
Get in touch for orders or any queries: sales@rfdesign.co.za / +27 21 555 8400
Courtesy of Taoglas
