For decades, GNSS (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou) has quietly told almost every moving platform where it is. That convenience created a dependency. Today, GPS jamming and GNSS spoofing are no longer rare events confined to conflict zones: civil aviation, shipping and drone operators report interference regularly.

Jamming vs spoofing: two different threats

• Jamming drowns the weak satellite signal in noise. The receiver loses its fix and the platform knows something is wrong.
• Spoofing is more dangerous. It feeds the receiver fake but convincing signals, so the platform confidently believes it is somewhere it is not.

A drone that trusts only GNSS can be led off course, into restricted airspace or into the ground, while its instruments report that everything is fine.

Why inertial navigation is the answer

An inertial navigation system (INS) measures rotation with gyroscopes and acceleration with accelerometers, and integrates them to track position and heading from inside the platform. It cannot be jammed or spoofed because it listens to nothing outside. The quality of the gyroscope decides how long an INS stays accurate without GNSS, which is why gyroscope technology is strategic.

When satellite signals cannot be trusted, the gyroscope becomes the platform’s sense of direction. Countries that cannot produce high-performance gyroscopes depend on others for that sense.Mustafa Kaykısız, CEO & Co-founder, Lorentis Electronics

From strategic component to chip

High-performance gyroscopes have traditionally been fibre-optic systems: accurate, but expensive, hand-assembled and subject to export controls. Lorentis is developing a silicon photonic gyroscope that brings optical-gyro physics onto a chip that can be produced in volume, so GNSS-resilient navigation can reach drones, robots and vehicles, not only flagship platforms.