January 10, 2020
There is speculation the Chinese may be interfering with GPS signals in an effort to hide deliveries of Iranian crude oil.
“GPS spoofing circles” have been discovered at 20 locations along the Chinese coast, according to the non-profit environmental group Skytruth. Of the locations observed, 16 were oil terminals; the others were corporate and government offices.
GPS spoofing is a way to confuse anyone using GPS to show a wrong position on the map. That includes ships navigating on the water or a runner on a trail wearing a fitness tracker. The spoofer interferes with the signals coming from GPS satellites circling the globe so the ship or runner appears to be somewhere else.
There have been a growing number of reports of spoofing that caught the interest of an analyst at the environmental non-profit Skytruth.
Evaluating a larger data set of ship AIS (Automatic Identification System) data, analyst Bjorn Bergman discovered at least 20 locations near the Chinese coast where spoofing had been seen the last two years.
Sixteen of these “spoofing circle” locations were oil terminals. The most frequent occurrences by far were at the port of Dalian in northern China, close to the border with North Korea. Based upon the timing of the spoofing, imposition of sanctions on purchase of Iranian oil by the United States, and observations by others of Iranian oil being received by China, Bergman speculates that much of the spoofing is designed to help conceal these transactions.
Chinese officials say they are abiding by US sanctions, but there are many reports of ships with Iranian oil sailing toward China. China can take 250,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil, which is payment for past Iranian debts to China. Offloadings in excess of that would presumably involve payments by China and violate US sanctions.
Bergman’s reports are not proof that China is trying to hide cheating—but it certainly sparks interest.
Mass GPS spoofing is most easily detected and analyzed in coastal areas because of the availability of large data sets from AIS transmissions. AIS is a maritime safety system that uses GPS for location and movement information. This data is broadcast to other ships and shore stations to help prevent collisions and improve traffic management.
Confounding the problem is an apparent reluctance of many users to report disruptions. The US Coast Guard Navigation Center has had only one official report of a GPS problem from a user in Russian waters and one from Chinese waters, for example. Yet it is clear that thousands of vessels have been impacted in ways that must have been quite evident to their captains and crews.