XPost: sci.misc
Planes are having their GPS hacked. Could new clocks keep them safe?
As a Ryanair flight from London approached Vilnius, Lithuania, on 17
January, its descent was suddenly aborted. Just minutes from touching
down, the aircraft's essential Global Positioning System (GPS)
suffered an unexplained interference, triggering an emergency
diversion.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 had already descended to around 850ft (259m)
when the disruption occurred. Instead of landing, the plane was forced
to climb back into the sky and divert nearly 400km (250 miles) south
to Warsaw, Poland. Lithuanian air authorities later confirmed the
aircraft had been affected by "GPS signal interference".
This was not an isolated incident. Over the last three months of 2024,
more than 800 cases of GPS interference were recorded in Lithuanian
airspace. Estonia and Finland have also raised concerns, accusing
Russia of deploying technology to jam satellite navigation signals
near Nato's eastern flank - though the country has denied that. Last
March the then Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps, was on a plane that
had its GPS signal jammed while flying close to Russian territory.
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The 'Time Lords'
Prof Paul and his quantum scientists are working with Dr Margolis and
her fellow researchers at NPL, who have been given the "Time Lords"
nickname by other horologists.
The NPL researchers are perfecting a so-called optical clock to
achieve this, which is 100 times more accurate than the most accurate
caesium clocks used today. It looks as if it might be part of Dr Who's
Tardis and is stimulated with laser light rather than microwaves.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6yg204pvmo
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