U.S. Department of Transportation: GPS at 50, Results for Transportation and New Threats, TRB 103rd Annual Meeting, January 7-11, 2024, Washington, D.C.

Image: Participants from right to left: Robert C. Hampshire, PhD, U.S. Department of Transportation (standing at the podium), Karen L. Van Dyke, U.S. Department of Transportation (seated),  Lieutenant Colonel Robert Wray, Commander, 2d Space Operations Squadron, Schriever Space Force Base (seated), Ken Alexander, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (seated), Greg Winfree, Director of the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) at Texas A&M University (seated),  Dana Goward, President & Director, Resilient Navigation and Timing (RNT) Foundation (seated), Zak Kassas, Ph.D., TRC Endowed Chair in Intelligent Transportation Systems, Director, US Dept. of Transportation Center for Automated Vehicle Research with Multimodal AssurEd Navigation (CARMEN) (seated).

Robert Hampshire, U.S. Department of Transportation, presiding.
Lectern | Spotlight Theme | Professional Development Hours (PDH)
Spotlight Session, Data and Information Technology, Security and Emergencies

Monday, January 08, 2024, 3:45 PM-5:30 PM ET

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The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a momentous achievement - a constellation of positioning, navigation, and timing satellites established as a U.S. Department of Defense program in December 1973. It is a testament to American ingenuity and innovation that this dual-use technology for military and civilian applications has transformed the world and modern society. The U.S. Department of Transportation serves as the civil lead for GPS and, in joint partnership with the Department of Defense, ensures accurate and reliable GPS service meets current and emerging needs across our nation and around the globe.  This panel session uses the 50th anniversary of GPS as an opportunity to increase awareness and visibility of the importance of GPS to safety-critical transportation applications—from aircraft and maritime navigation to positive train control to emerging applications for UAS, advanced air mobility, and automated vehicles. Disruption, denial, and manipulation of GPS such as signal jamming and spoofing are threats that have become a reality in the Ukraine and Israel conflicts, as well as incidents in the U.S. primarily affecting aviation. So, while GPS is the foundation for our National PNT Architecture, we need to ensure that foundation is fortified. This panel will explore PNT resiliency to enhance safety, security, and ensure the flow of goods supporting the economy through protecting GPS spectrum from harmful interference, to toughening GPS receiver equipment, to use of complementary sources of PNT and facilitating adoption of these technologies into end user applications to increase resiliency for safety-critical transportation applications.

Panel Participants:

Robert C. Hampshire, PhD, U.S. Department of Transportation, presiding, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R), Deputy Assistant Secretary and Chief Science Officer, presiding: GPS at 50, Results for Transportation and New Threats, Monday, January 8, 2024, 3:45 PM – 5:30 PM ET, Convention Center, Ballroom A, Lectern | PDH (Remarks)

Karen L. Van Dyke, U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R), Director, Office of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Wray, Commander, 2d Space Operations Squadron, Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado (Briefing)

Ken Alexander, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor for Satellite Navigation Systems, Chair ICAO Navigation Systems Panel, Co-Chair National PNT Engineering Forum (Briefing)

Greg Winfree, Director of the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas / Chairman Board of Directors, Resilient Navigation and Timing (RNT) Foundation

Dana Goward, President & Director, Resilient Navigation and Timing (RNT) Foundation (Remarks) (Briefing)

Zak Kassas, Ph.D., TRC Endowed Chair in Intelligent Transportation Systems, Director, US Dept. of Transportation Center for Automated Vehicle Research with Multimodal AssurEd Navigation (CARMEN), Director, Autonomous Systems Perception, Intelligence, and Navigation Laboratory (ASPIN) (Briefing)