Drone e-ID Vulnerability to GNSS Interference

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are a key source of position, navigation, and timing for Unmanned Aircraft Systems. This holds true for the new e-ID technology as well, which is compulsory for drones operating in the SPECIFIC category since 2024. Both portable and embedded e-ID devices are a new addition to the market as a reaction to the new legislation. However, these electronic visibility enablers may be susceptible to GNSS interference, possibly leading to denial of service or false position and time information being reported. To assess the vulnerability of these newly introduced e-ID devices, two of them were subjected to a series of GNSS interference attacks. The testing included jamming-only attacks, spoofing-only attacks and attacks combining jamming with subsequent spoofing. The results show the impact of all these attacks on the position and time information, the number of satellites in view and other parameters. Additionally, the results highlight the differences between a GNSS-only e-ID device and an e-ID device with both GNSS and inertia sensors. Finally, the potential of using accuracy indicators in e-ID messages for GNSS interference detection is discussed.