Tracing a powerful GNSS interference source over Europe

Source: Hacker News

View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:This paper analyzes and identifies a space-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) interference source that has caused scores of powerful transient wide-area interference events over continental Europe, Greenland, and Canada since 2019. While terrestrial or near-terrestrial sources are primarily responsible for the recent uptick in GNSS interference worldwide, space-based interferers are of special concern given their potential for vast geographic reach and their portent of a qualitative escalation in GNSS interference. Based on data collected between 2019 and 2026 from a network of terrestrial GNSS reference stations, this paper (1) develops a received-power-based detection framework; (2) details the spatial, temporal, and spectral patterns of wide-area interference events caused by the source; (3) presents and analyzes identification techniques that blend received-power and time-difference-of-arrival measurements; and (4) applies these techniques to confidently identify the GNSS interference source as a constellation of Russian early warning satellites in Molniya (“lightning”) orbits.

      Comments:
      Submitted for review to the Institute of Navigation journal NAVIGATION
    

      Subjects:
      
        Signal Processing (eess.SP)
    
      Cite as:
      [arXiv:2606.03673](https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.03673) [eess.SP]
    
    
       
      (or 
          [arXiv:2606.03673v1](https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.03673v1) [eess.SP] for this version)
      
    
    
       
                    [https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.03673](https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.03673)
          
          
              arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

        
      
    


  

Submission history

From: Todd Humphreys [view email]
[v1] Tue, 2 Jun 2026 13:57:43 UTC (2,828 KB)