From Technical Monitoring to Situational Awareness
To address these gaps, PNT-SA must be elevated from a technical and somewhat tactical process to a strategic capability embedded within organisational and national frameworks. I propose four interlocking structural layers to create a comprehensive PNT-SA function.
This diagram illustrates the four interlocking structural layers proposed to create a comprehensive PNT-SA function. Click on each layer to learn more about its role.
System Perception Layer
This layer focuses on identifying and monitoring raw signals and indicators of system status.
Real-time GNSS Monitoring
Platforms that detect anomalies such as spoofing, jamming, or signal degradation.
Signal Integrity Diagnostics
Tools to assess performance, quality and integrity across multiple PNT sources, ensuring redundancy.
Multi-Sensor Fusion
Integrating space-based data (e.g., GNSS), terrestrial references (e.g., eLoran), and user feedback to create a unified picture of system health.
The four layers are interdependent domains, aligned with Endsley's SA model and integrated with PNT resilience functions (detection, response, recovery/adaptation). Key is governance, ensuring coordination between technical systems, human operators, and strategic leadership. This model illustrates that resilience and situational awareness are interwoven; perception enables detection, comprehension supports response, projection and decisions, drive recovery and adaptation.
Feedback loops between layers ensure continuous improvement—Each layer informs the others, enhancing preparedness—enabling PNT system resilience.