HELSINKI - Finnish researchers are working on a device to counter jamming of satellite positioning systems, which has spiked in the country since 2022, the project leader told AFP on April 15.

Finland has seen a surge in suspected jammings of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) services such as GPS or Galileo since 2022, which has impacted aviation and marine traffic.

The interference, believed to be from Russia, has also disrupted satellite imagery used by Finland’s military, border guard service and its forestry sector.

Prompted by an “urgent need” to tackle the attempts, which pose both security and economic risks, Finnish researchers began developing in April a device to identify and mitigate intentional jamming of satellite positioning signals, said Dr Mika Saajasto, a senior research scientist with the national land survey authority.

“We will develop algorithmic solutions suitable for our conditions that can identify the interference and warn the end user that there’s something in the air that doesn’t belong there,” said Dr Saajasto, who is leading the project.

Around 2,000 reports of satellite positioning interference were registered in Finland in 2024, compared to just 239 reports in 2023, according to the Finnish transport and communications agency Traficom.

The country shares a 1,340km border with Russia and has been ramping up its defence and border security since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The EU-funded project will run over a period of two years in North Karelia, a region in eastern Finland where the interference in satellite positioning data has been especially frequent.

“Some aircrafts have not been able to land in eastern Finland,” Saajasto said. AFP

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