PAGE-ing via GPS: A New Method of Utilizing GPS for Mission Data Transfer

John T. Kelly, Keenan Babylon, Vinh Le

Abstract:	The growing need for military (and commercial) global communications to support various open and covert operations has been apparent for several years. Long-range, in-theatre contact and commanding difficulties has led to several existing and proposed schemes to provide such global data communications, many of which exist as separate, disparate satellite networks that are expensive and required significant infrastructure to operate.The widespread adoption of GPS in both the commercial and military communities has led to its consideration for non-navigation uses, such as data communications, with several potential GPS or “GPS-like” schemes being investigated. This paper presents a viable, immediately available method of covert mission data communication using the existing GPS constellation and infrastructure. The PAGE (Paging Assisted by GPS Enhancement) methodology emulates WAGE (Wide Area GPS Enhancements) in that additional data is provided within the NAV downlink message structure for use as a communications or “page” packet. This data is hidden, however, within the broadcast navigation data stream, thus making its detection and use difficult to an adversary. This paper presents the results of an empirical proof of concept test to show lack of positional impact of PAGE on non-” subscribing” users, and concludes with several overviews of proposed implementations, next step actions, and future applications.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1997) September 16 - 19, 1997 Kansas City, MO
Pages:	1663 - 1668
Cite this article:	Kelly, John T., Babylon, Keenan, Le, Vinh, "PAGE-ing via GPS: A New Method of Utilizing GPS for Mission Data Transfer," Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1997), Kansas City, MO, September 1997, pp. 1663-1668.
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