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Finland developing technology aimed at tackling GPS jamming

The number of incidents of suspected GPS navigation interference has risen sharply in Finland over the past three years.

Photo shows an aircraft coming in to land at an airport.
Incidents of GPS interference have led to some airports in Finland switching to the use of old-style radio navigation equipment to facilitate aircraft landings. File photo. Image: Antti-Petteri Karhunen / Yle
  • Yle News

Researchers at the National Land Survey of Finland are working on the development of a device that could potentially detect, in real time, attempts to interfere with Global Positioning Systems (GPS).

In a press release, the institute said the project is funded by the EU and tests are being carried out in Finland's North Karelia region, along the eastern border with Russia.

"We are currently developing a prototype device that will detect interference in real time and warn the user about it," senior researcher Mika Saajasto said in a press release. "The idea is also to store the positioning data."

There has been a significant increase in the number of incidents of suspected GPS jamming since 2022, with Finnish authorities strongly suspecting that the navsat jamming signals originate from Russia.

Moscow has denied any involvement.

The Uutissuomalainen news group reported earlier this year that almost every airport in Finland has at some point had to switch to alternative landing systems due to GPS interference.

The problem has led to three airports in the eastern part of Finland bringing back the use of old-style radio navigation equipment to facilitate landings.

The incidents have also caused problems for maritime traffic in sea areas by Finland.

The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) said last year that GPS jamming had caused malfunctions in a number of vessels' navigation systems in the Baltic Sea, causing them to stray from their routes and significantly increasing the possibility of an accident.