An assessment of the future EU Complementary Position Navigation Time (C-PNT) ecosystem

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as the European Galileo and the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) become ubiquitous tools with enormously impact on our economy and society. Energy supply networks, transport infrastructures, telecommunications, cloud infrastructures, and financial networks are but a few examples of critical infrastructures strongly relying on precise timing and synchronization services based on GNSS. GNSS has become the backbone of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services and its central role is bound to increase in the future, with the advent of a new wave of services and business, like car-sharing, smart logistics, autonomous vehicles, geo-localising applications, precision agriculture and others. With such critical role of GNSS, any disruptions, unintentional or triggered maliciously with a jamming or spoofing attack, will have severe adverse effects. Given that, the availability of backups or alternative PNT (A-PNT) services should be considered as a priority for the resilient and prosperous Europe.