Breakthrough Tool Propelling PNT Infrastructure Forward

As threats against systems within the Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) space become increasingly destructive, officials within the executive branch have released the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Test Vector Suite and Distribution Methodology tool for public use. The new accessory allows users to identify any potential vulnerabilities in their systems, ensuring that their networks are optimally secure.
Users can access the GNSS Test Vector Suite and Distribution Methodology tool on the GitHub platform, which enables individuals to save, store and display code and collaborate with others to advance code development. The GNSS Test Vector Suite and Distribution Methodology accessory allows users to put their PNT systems under the microscope by creating and carrying out testing scenarios. 

Conducting these assessments enables PNT software owners and developers to better ensure that their systems perform optimally and to discover and locate any potential vulnerabilities, giving them a more efficient and effective way to patch weaknesses, according to DHS S&T officials. More specifically, the new tool offers individuals a three-step process in which they can launch red teaming exercises against their software. Firstly, the GNSS Test Vector Suite and Distribution Methodology tool produces artificial, but realistic data. It then turns that data into signals that mimic legitimate GNSS systems. Finally, the accessory sends these signals into software and devices in the PNT space, according to DHS S&T officials. 

The addition of the GNSS testing tool comes during an era when federal government officials emphasize the importance of strengthening and upholding the PNT framework. The tool bolsters Executive Order 13905, according to DHS officials. The presidential directive—titled Executive Order on Strengthening National Resilience through Responsible Use of PNT Services and issued by President Donald Trump during his first term in office in February 2020—conveys the significance of the PNT infrastructure and the broad extent of its vitality across a plethora of different industries. 

Those areas include the electrical power grid, telecommunications, transportation, radar and weather services, and emergency response, according to the White House document. Knowing that PNT tools play a critical role in facilitating everyday services like flights or phone calls, it is just as important to protect these tools from bad actors and adversarial threats, and that is what the executive order calls for—“the federal government must foster the responsible use of PNT services by critical infrastructure owners and operators.” The GNSS Test Vector Suite and Distribution Methodology tool will assist in this endeavor, according to DHS officials.

Additionally, DHS S&T leaders have created the PNT Program to further stress the importance of building and defending the PNT environment, which leaders express is the purpose of the program: “To increase the resiliency of critical infrastructure to GPS vulnerabilities in the future.”

To achieve that goal, program officials are working to accomplish several tasks, including testing PNT networks for potential areas of exposure and ensuring that these systems are effective, watching out for and researching game-changing timing technology that they can use to improve the PNT infrastructure, and connecting with individuals in the private sector, according to DHS officials. 

The PNT environment requires a significant amount of attention, not only because of its crucial role in daily life, but also because the GPS signals in space that supply the PNT instruments with the information they need to work effectively are low-power and unencrypted. This means that these signals are vulnerable to attacks and disturbances, according to DHS officials. Furthermore, tools like the GNSS Test Vector Suite and Distribution Methodology can provide that additional layer of protection that federal government officials are requesting. 

“Accurate and precise PNT information is vital to the nation’s critical infrastructure and is the backbone of the many services we depend on daily, from keeping our lights on to ensuring planes land safely,” Julie Brewer, then-DHS acting undersecretary for science and technology, said in a press release. “This new toolset gives people responsible for safeguarding these systems a way to independently test and strengthen them, ensuring our nation’s infrastructure is more secure against potential disruptions.”

Furthermore, the new testing technology comes at a time when federal government leaders have recognized the lack of capability development within the space of PNT systems and the protection of the PNT infrastructure. 

The public release of the system was the fifth and final milestone that DHS S&T personnel sought to complete regarding this development, according to DHS S&T officials.