A Civilian GPS Position Authentication System
When a GPS receiver reports its position to a monitoring center using a radio signal of some kind, how do we know that the receiver or its associated communications unit is telling the truth? It’s not that difficult to generate false position reports and mislead the monitoring center into believing the receiver is located elsewhere — unless an authentication procedure is used. In this month’s column, we look at the development of a clever system that uses the concept of supplicant and authenticator to assess the truthfulness of position reports.

Collaborative Navigation in Transitional Environments
In this month’s article, a team of researchers at The Ohio State University discusses a system under development for collaborative navigation in transitional environments — environments in which GPS alone is insufficient for continuous and accurate navigation. Their prototype system involves a land-based deployment vehicle and a human operator carrying a personal navigator sensor assembly, which initially navigate together before the personal navigator transitions to an indoor environment. This system will have multiple applications including helping first responders to emergencies. Read on.