2024 10 17 CPSRC Seminar with Andrew Hamilton

Bracing for Interference: Electronic Warfare and its Spillover Effects Speaker Name: Todd E. Humphreys Speaker Title: Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Speaker Organization: University of Texas at Austin Abstract Electronic warfare (EW) has historically been a highly classified topic. But its recent spillover effects on civil systems far from any battlefield demand more open discussion and research on the topic. In response to the alarming recent uptick in GPS jamming and spoofing, and the dangers this poses for civil aviation, the ITU World Radio Conference passed a resolution in December 2023 to emphasize the protected status of the so-called RNSS bands in which GPS signals are transmitted. But it was not possible to get agreement on the resolution without introduction of an caveat that, ironically, weakens protections of these bands. This caveat states that UN member states have a right to deny access to GNSS signals for security or defense purposes. One may conclude from this that GNSS interference is here to stay: Any country claiming a defensive purpose can jam or spoof GNSS with impunity. This presentation examines electronic warfare from an academic perspective, noting trends and technologies that are disrupting its practice and widening its effects. Speaker Bio Todd E. Humphreys (B.S., M.S., Utah State University; Ph.D., Cornell University) holds the Ashley H. Priddy Centennial Professorship in Engineering in the department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin. He is Director of the Wireless Networking and Communications Group and of the UT Radionavigation Laboratory, where he specializes in the application of optimal detection and estimation techniques to positioning, navigation, and timing. His awards include the UT Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award (2012), the NSF CAREER Award (2015), the ION Thurlow Award (2015), the PECASE (NSF, 2019), the IEEE Walter Fried Best Paper Award (2012, 2020, 2023), and the ION Kepler Award (2023). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Navigation and of the Royal Institute of Navigation.