A groundbreaking study has shown that Global Positioning System (GPS) jammers are being used illegally in the UK.
GPS jammer is believed to be primarily used for people driving vehicles equipped with tracking devices to cover their whereabouts.
At one location, the Sentinel Study recorded more than 60 GPS jamming events in six months.
This research has raised concerns among people that jammers could interfere with key systems that rely on GPS.
The team behind the study believe it to be the first of its kind in the UK.
The research results will be presented at the GNSS Vulnerability 2012: Current Dangers, Future Threats conference to be held at the National Physics Laboratory on Wednesday.
The Sentinel research project used 20 road monitors to detect the use of interference.
Conference organizer Bob Cockshott of the ICT Knowledge Transfer Network said, “We believe this is the only such system in the world. "
The sensor will register whenever a wave jammer passes.
Charles Curry, head of project company Chronos Technology, said: “We believe 50 to 450 incidents happen in the UK every day,” he said as they were still analyzing the data.
He told the BBC that evidence from the project showed that most jammers are small, portable devices with a range of 200 to 300m.
The project received £ 1.5 million in funding from the Technical Strategy Committee and attracted many partners, including the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
Mr Curry said the search also led police to find and confiscate a jammer.
He said, “We have found a model where they (the police) can sit and wait. "
Mr. Curry said the study may also determine that the wifi jammer is the cause of the jamming of ammunition measuring equipment.
GPS jammers can be widely used online, which is one of the reasons Cookshot believes the jammer law needs to be tightened.
He thinks Project Sentinel should now focus on developing systems to help capture those systems that use jammers.
He said: “The next step is to develop the system further so that it can be used for runtime so that you can detect the jammer in use, and then connect it with the pilot that uses it. "
Car headlights
Logistics and other companies often install GPS trackers so that they can track the movement of vehicles.
They can also be used to track vehicles carrying large loads.
Researchers believe that most GPS jammers are used to prevent these devices from working.
Former Dean of the Royal Nautical Institute, Professor David Last, told the BBC: “The power of a GPS satellite is nothing more than the headlights of cars, so it must illuminate half of the surface of the vehicle. Earth.
“A very, very low power jammer will broadcast on the same radio frequency as the GPS, drowning it.
He said, “Most of them are used by people who don't want to be tracked. "
However, interference technology can cause problems for other systems using GPS that are critical to safety.
In mobile phones and power grids, GPS satellite signals are sometimes used as a source of precise time information.
GPS is even used to provide accurate time information for some computerized financial market transactions.
Other GPS navigation equipment used by ships and light aircraft can also be affected by interference.
In 2009, Newark Airport in the United States discovered that some of its GPS systems were repeatedly interfered with.
This problem was ultimately attributed to truck drivers who used GPS jammers.