Question: How come aircraft can so easily get jammed then? They use GPS for precise positioning in flight, so I'm guessing they have the very best antennas...
GPS antenna mods make Starlink terminal immune to jammers
11–20 of 78 posts
Re: GPS antenna mods make Starlink terminal immune to jammers
#12>> IMMUNE TO JAMMERS No. That is not a thing. At most, one can make equipment less susceptible to jamming. Jamming is not like hacking, it isn't a matter of whether an attack works or does not. It cannot be fixed via a patch. Pump out enough energy close enough to the target and even a hyper-directional antenna can be jammed. Have a look at military GPS jammers. They aren't the little dongles that you can buy online…
But how do these jammers work? They can't point at the sky to blind the satellite because there's no receiver; they broadcast from above ground, so in theory putting your receiver in a metal box with the top removed solves the problem?
Wait, starlink is one way? How does it know what to send?
Re: GPS antenna mods make Starlink terminal immune to jammers
#13>> IMMUNE TO JAMMERS No. That is not a thing. At most, one can make equipment less susceptible to jamming. Jamming is not like hacking, it isn't a matter of whether an attack works or does not. It cannot be fixed via a patch. Pump out enough energy close enough to the target and even a hyper-directional antenna can be jammed. Have a look at military GPS jammers. They aren't the little dongles that you can buy online…
But how do these jammers work? They can't point at the sky to blind the satellite because there's no receiver; they broadcast from above ground, so in theory putting your receiver in a metal box with the top removed solves the problem?
In theory - but the satellites move, so your box needs to move, signals bounce (both off the ground and the air) and you can put the jammer in the air, too.
Also, the more directional you get, the more it may be possible to determine where you are.
Re: GPS antenna mods make Starlink terminal immune to jammers
#14>> IMMUNE TO JAMMERS No. That is not a thing. At most, one can make equipment less susceptible to jamming. Jamming is not like hacking, it isn't a matter of whether an attack works or does not. It cannot be fixed via a patch. Pump out enough energy close enough to the target and even a hyper-directional antenna can be jammed. Have a look at military GPS jammers. They aren't the little dongles that you can buy online…
But how do these jammers work? They can't point at the sky to blind the satellite because there's no receiver; they broadcast from above ground, so in theory putting your receiver in a metal box with the top removed solves the problem?
>> putting your receiver in a metal box with the top removed solves the problem
No. Radio can turn around corners. It can also bounce off things. Radio is light, but at a much longer wavelength. It is less like blocking a laser and more akin to blocking out sound waves. Blocking line-of-sight to the transmitter would block the laser but would do little to block sound waves.
Re: GPS antenna mods make Starlink terminal immune to jammers
#15>> IMMUNE TO JAMMERS No. That is not a thing. At most, one can make equipment less susceptible to jamming. Jamming is not like hacking, it isn't a matter of whether an attack works or does not. It cannot be fixed via a patch. Pump out enough energy close enough to the target and even a hyper-directional antenna can be jammed. Have a look at military GPS jammers. They aren't the little dongles that you can buy online…
Right, look at the US' current jammer suite, the AN/ALQ-99, while it has issues it's unbelievably powerful. One of the downsides is that it jams the AESA radars of friendlies in the area, including the plane using the jammer itself. The next gen replacement sounds like an absolute monster too, but without some of the donwsides like the need for a ram air turbine to power it.
> One of the downsides is that it jams the AESA radars of friendlies in the area, including the plane using the jammer itself.
So you just lob in a heat seeker at the middle of the noise, and hope.
Then again, if you have an airborne source of jamming, you know you have bigger problems following. How much effort do you spend trying to knock out the jamming vs preparing for what is inevitably following? Flying in jammers from the opposite direction of an attack to draw in fighters to the wrong area is as elementary as attack options go.
Re: GPS antenna mods make Starlink terminal immune to jammers
#16>> IMMUNE TO JAMMERS No. That is not a thing. At most, one can make equipment less susceptible to jamming. Jamming is not like hacking, it isn't a matter of whether an attack works or does not. It cannot be fixed via a patch. Pump out enough energy close enough to the target and even a hyper-directional antenna can be jammed. Have a look at military GPS jammers. They aren't the little dongles that you can buy online…
Right, look at the US' current jammer suite, the AN/ALQ-99, while it has issues it's unbelievably powerful. One of the downsides is that it jams the AESA radars of friendlies in the area, including the plane using the jammer itself. The next gen replacement sounds like an absolute monster too, but without some of the donwsides like the need for a ram air turbine to power it.
And that is an airborne radar, which is limited to the power generated by its little fan. A dedicated ground-based jammer might be plugged into a generator hauled on the back of a flatbed truck.
Re: GPS antenna mods make Starlink terminal immune to jammers
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
But how do these jammers work? They can't point at the sky to blind the satellite because there's no receiver; they broadcast from above ground, so in theory putting your receiver in a metal box with the top removed solves the problem?
Wait, starlink is one way? How does it know what to send?
This is about the GPS antenna on the starlink terminal. GPS is one-way. The terminal needs that GPS signal to predict where the starlink satellites are going to be at a given time.
The real "hack" answer is to bypass the GPS system and just feed the starlink terminal its true/known ground position/timing.
Re: GPS antenna mods make Starlink terminal immune to jammers
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
But how do these jammers work? They can't point at the sky to blind the satellite because there's no receiver; they broadcast from above ground, so in theory putting your receiver in a metal box with the top removed solves the problem?
Wait, starlink is one way? How does it know what to send?
GPS satellites don't "send" your coordinates to your receiver. Your receiver is just listening to the broadcast signal from several (usually 4+) satellites and based on the strength of that signal determining how far it is from each of those satellites. Which means the receiver is able to triangulate it's own position.
Re: GPS antenna mods make Starlink terminal immune to jammers
#19Question: How come aircraft can so easily get jammed then? They use GPS for precise positioning in flight, so I'm guessing they have the very best antennas...
GPS signal is comparatively weak. The satellites are far away, and terrestrial signal sources can be much stronger.
Re: GPS antenna mods make Starlink terminal immune to jammers
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait, starlink is one way? How does it know what to send?
GPS satellites don't "send" your coordinates to your receiver. Your receiver is just listening to the broadcast signal from several (usually 4+) satellites and based on the strength of that signal determining how far it is from each of those satellites. Which means the receiver is able to triangulate it's own position.
>and based on the strength of that signal
Wrong. Utterly wrong.