First COSPAS-SARSAT joint committee meeting held in UAE
The meeting aims to enhance global cooperation in satellite-based search and rescue efforts, with participation from over 45 countries and major international organisations such as ICAO, IMO, and ITU.
Through the COSPAS-SARSAT programme, the UAE is playing a proactive role in building strategic partnerships and sharing expertise to support global humanitarian and life-saving missions.
Bertoia said the committee would discuss integrating the MEOSAR satellite system, which supports navigation systems like GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou, into COSPAS-SARSAT operations.
She added that they plan to introduce two-way communication with distress beacons, allowing users to exchange signals with rescue coordination centres.
Bertoia praised the UAE's support, stating that the country's facilities are enabling an efficient and productive meeting focused on advancing life-saving technologies.
She noted the UAE's proposal to incorporate AI in search and rescue efforts and expressed the organisation's interest in learning more and potentially integrating these technologies into COSPAS-SARSAT's operations.
The meeting is expected to yield significant results that will enhance international coordination and support technological capabilities in emergency response.
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The National
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Arabian Business
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The Gulf region faces particular challenges due to its geopolitical significance and role as a global air travel hub. 'Due to geopolitical reasons, we might expect GPS jamming and spoofing to be prevalent on a daily basis for defensive reasons alone,' Ferrara said. 'It is also possible that intentional spoofing could be occurring to create disinformation which increases the fog of war so to speak.' Regional data shows approximately 200 flights per day are currently impacted by spoofing over the Gulf and Israel. In other hotspots, such as the Baltic Sea, a single jamming incident on March 23-24, 2024, affected over 1,600 aircraft. 'Single point of failure' The widespread dependence on GPS has created what experts describe as a 'single point of failure' in global infrastructure. 'The consequences vary — from relatively minor issues like rideshare delays to far more serious risks,' Pisarev said. 'Emergency responders may lose critical location data. Self-driving systems can go off-route. 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One approach involves using multiple GNSS systems simultaneously — combining GPS with signals from Galileo, GLONASS, and BeiDou to increase resistance to spoofing. 'One key shift is toward multi-GNSS — devices that use not just GPS, but also signals from Galileo, GLONASS, and BeiDou. This dramatically increases resistance to spoofing, since disrupting four systems simultaneously is far more complex,' said Pisarev. Regulatory bodies are also taking action. The European Union plans to enhance Galileo authentication and encryption systems, with improvements expected to be ready by 2026. Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and various national aviation authorities have issued guidance bulletins on handling GPS disruptions. More innovative solutions are also emerging. SandboxAQ has developed a system called AQNav that uses Earth's magnetic field for navigation, similar to how birds and whales navigate naturally. 'We've applied the same principle to create highly detailed magnetic maps of the Earth, which our systems can use for positioning even if GPS is down,' Ferrara said. 'This technology… is already being tested with the US Air Force, Airbus, and Boeing, and showing strong promise.' The UK has made significant progress with quantum navigation, conducting a trial in May 2024 at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, where an Avro RJ100 aircraft was equipped with quantum navigation equipment that used ultracold atoms to power quantum accelerometers and gyroscopes. 'The UK has already committed to deploying quantum navigation systems on all their commercial aircraft by 2030. This technology could become the future of aeronautical navigation,' Pisarev noted. The path forward? Experts emphasised that addressing GPS vulnerabilities requires a multi-faceted approach. 'It is important to understand that active measures to counter this problem are already being taken, both in terms of improving technical solutions and in data sharing,' Pisarev said. 'It is impossible to overcome such a complex issue with a single method — what is needed is the right architecture.' His recommended framework includes: more signals than interference, smarter receivers, systems that don't lose time, and visibility of attacks through monitoring and common reporting standards. Ferrara stressed the need for faster implementation of new technologies. 'While many committees and reports have been written of late, there needs to be more concerted efforts to introduce new technologies, processes, and procedures into the operations of airlines, shippers, and logistics companies to improve resiliency to GPS outages.' As autonomous systems become more prevalent in global economies, experts believe the urgency of addressing GPS vulnerabilities will only increase. 'As we seek to increase autonomy in our economies, the issue of GPS reliance will only become more acute,' Ferrara said. 'It is incumbent on us to fortify and diversify how systems position themselves, get time, and navigate, so they are ultimately less reliant on a single piece of what has been a truly revolutionary technology in GPS.'
