Satellite navigation and tracking via GPS has become a critical link in the world’s rapidly growing logistics and freight carrying ecosystem. Companies use GPS to track trucks and keep them on time and their cargo secure.
Little wonder, then, that criminals are turning to cheap GPS jamming devices to ransack the cargo on roads and at sea, a problem that’s getting worse but may be ameliorated with a new generation of safety technology designed to overcome threats from jamming.
In case you aren’t a master criminal or a secret agent, here’s some background. The core problem for any system using GPS is that the signals are extremely weak, an inevitable byproduct of the vast distances those signals need to travel. Jammers work by overpowering GPS signals by emitting a signal at the same frequency, just a bit more powerful than the original. The typical jammers used for cargo hijackings are able to jam frequencies from up to 5 miles away rendering GPS tracking and security apparatuses, such as those used by trucking syndicates, totally useless.
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