Can cell phone signals help land a plane?

Sandia Labs, Ohio State look to the skies to protect aircraft against GPS outages

Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories and Ohio State University are taking experimental navigation technology to the skies, pioneering a backup system to keep an airplane on course when it cannot rely on global positioning system satellites.

Dangling from a weather balloon 80,000 feet above New Mexico, a pair of antennas sticks out from a Styrofoam cooler. From that height, the blackness of space presses against Earth’s blue skies. But the antennas are not captivated by the breathtaking view. Instead, they listen for signals that could make air travel safer.

More than 15 miles below the floating cooler, cell phone towers emit a steady hum of radio frequency waves. Hundreds of miles above, non-GPS communications satellites do the same.

The idea is to use these alternative signals to calculate a vehicle’s position and velocity.

“We’re not trying to replace GPS,” Sandia lead researcher Jennifer Sanderson said. “We’re just trying to assist it in situations where it’s degraded or compromised,” which can lead to dangerous situations for pilots and passengers.

The team presented its preliminary data at the Institute of Navigation GNSS+ conference, held from Sept. 16-20 in Baltimore. The research is supported by Sandia’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development program.

The case for a GPS backup

There is no question GPS is still the gold standard for navigation. It’s fast, precise and reliable. Which might raise the question: Why are researchers developing new navigation methods?

“I worry about relying too heavily on it without a backup,” said Sanderson, an expert in navigation algorithms.

GPS, she said, has become part of the fabric of our modern, technological world. As a society, we are constantly plugged into it, whether we are landing a plane, driving through town, mapping crop yields or timing transactions in stock markets. This reliance has researchers like Sanderson concerned about the consequences if the connection is disrupted.

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