In a world where autonomy is becoming the norm, security robotics are playing an increasingly important role at ports, airports, military and sensitive sites. Autonomy means geolocation, but what happens when the GPS data that guides these robots is manipulated from the outside?
This is what’s known as GPS spoofing – a form of cyber-attack designed to fool the machine’s GPS by sending it false satellite signals that are more powerful than the real thing. As a result, the aircraft, drone or security robot believes itself to be in a location other than its actual position.
This threat, little known to the general public, is already taken very seriously in the aviation sector, for example. According to a study by Ops Group, during the summer of 2024, an average of 1,500 flights a day were disrupted by GPS spoofing, an increase of 500% compared with 2023.
GPS spoofing has become more widely known as it was widely used during the war in Ukraine, by both Russia and Ukraine, as part of their electronic warfare operations. In particular, Ukraine developed GPS spoofing capabilities to hijack Russian suicide drones, including Iranian-made Shahed drones. By manipulating navigation signals, Ukraine has succeeded in diverting some of these drones towards Belarus, or causing them to crash before reaching their targets.
But what about the security robots? Without wishing to be alarmist, it is important to understand the risks of this technique, so as to better protect ourselves.
A robot like THALAMUS uses GPS combined with RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) technology to geolocate itself with centimetric precision and move around its environment, while transmitting its position to the command post. So, in the event of spoofing :
– The robot could be patrolling in the wrong place, going in circles and surveying the area incompletely.
– It could be deliberately moved away from a sensitive area so that someone could infiltrate it.
Software solutions exist to protect robots from such attacks, and some – such as controlled and weighted fusion of satellite, compass, accelerometer and other signals – are natively integrated into the THALAMUS robot’s navigation system. But the most important thing is never to rely on a single source for orientation.
For this reason, if the context so requires, the THALAMUS robot can be fitted with an NDZ Module whose sole role is to stop the robot when it veers off course and enters a “no drive zone”. A totally independent system operating without GPS and with its own on-board computer, the NDZ Module is therefore insensitive to GPS spoofing. In the event of a suspicious deviation, the emergency stop is activated and an alarm is instantly triggered at the guard post. In the face of GPS spoofing, prevention is better than cure!