Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Sovereign is the buzzword of the moment.

The official definition of sovereign is “having independent authority and the right to govern itself,” most usually referring to countries. And independence, in this case, requires breaking the dependence on things they critically need but are out of their control – for example, on GPS, a US military controlled asset. For 50 years, GPS has been the de facto source of position, navigation, and timing (PNT) for all countries around the world. But this critical signal can easily be disrupted or shut off.

In the past, large countries addressed their need for a sovereign PNT capability by building their own GPS-like constellations. But a multi-billion-dollar GPS clone makes no sense for all countries. Fortunately, the convergence of new technology, cheap access to space, and widespread terrestrial infrastructure provide the basis for a new PNT architecture that is more resilient, effective, and cheaper.

UK was forced to confront this on the morning of June 24, 2016, when Brexit left them un-tethered from Galileo, the European global navigation satellite system (GNSS). They realized they needed their own sovereign PNT architecture. Confronted with a blank slate, they set up a National PNT office and set out to build back better. Their framework, outlined below, is a model for other countries.

China is another textbook example. After their “unforgettable humiliation” in 1996, China began setting up their own sovereign PNT solution. It initially started with their own GNSS called BeiDou that “currently consists of 45 operational satellites” with five backup satellites (compared with the 31 satellite GPS constellation) that also offers “diversified specialized services, including regional short message communication, global short messaging, and international search and rescue.” This is supplemented with a “High-precision Ground-based Timing System” consisting of “more than 20,000 kilometers of optical fiber and 295 time and frequency transmission sites.”

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