‘I’m not going to be flying on April 6’: Old GPS receivers due to reset to enter new era
A Y2K style bug that could threaten early GPS systems has some fearing a technological meltdown when the clocks tick over next month.
A Y2K style bug that relates to early GPS systems has some fearing a technological meltdown when the clocks tick over on the first weekend of next month.
On April 6, products relying on outdated GPS technology could be affected by a so-called Week Number Rollover issue that could reset the receiver’s time and corrupt its location data causing major problems.
Depending on who you ask, the consequences could range from a minor blip that will pass by unnoticed to the extreme possibility of disruption in air traffic control and the breakdown of important industrial systems. It won’t affect smartphones because they are based on more modern GPS technology.
The issue is down to the fact that older receivers used in early GPS systems count weeks using a ten-bit field that tops out at a maximum of 1024 weeks, which is approximately 19.7 years.
Each 19.7 year period is known in GPS terms as an “epoch” and at the end of each epoch the receiver resets and starts counting again from zero.
Just like the Y2K bug raised concerns that global computer systems would be disrupted by ticking over to the new millennium, this GPS issue has happened before with little fanfare.
The first epoch started when GPS was launched in January 1980, making August 21, 1999 the first time that counters reverted back to the beginning.
That happened with barely any disruption but was before our increased use of GPS and some are concerned this time around could be more noticeable.
In a widely shared interview with tech publication Tom’s Guide following a security conference in San Francisco last week, vice president of cyber security firm Trend Micro, Bill Malik, said he wouldn’t risk flying when the week count is due to reset.
“I’m not going to be flying on April 6,” he said.
Mr Malik believes it’s worth exercising some caution given how much we rely on GPS data.
“The effects would be more widespread (this time) because so many more systems have integrated GPS into their operations,” he said.
“Ports load and unload containers automatically, using GPS to guide the cranes ... Public-safety systems incorporate GPS systems, as do traffic-monitoring systems for bridges.
“Twenty years ago these links were primitive. Now they are embedded. So any impact now will be substantially greater.”
GPS devices made in the past decade use 13 bits for the week counter, amounting to a total of 8192 weeks or 157 years, so won’t be affected by next month’s event.
So do you need to be worried?
One GPS expert from Melbourne’s RMIT university contacted by news.com.au was completely unaware of the ending epoch on April 6.
Others have expressed scepticism over the likelihood of any problems resulting from the reset next month.
However some government agencies and companies have been working to ensure they avert any problems.
A 2017 memo sent out by the US Naval Observatory said: “Navigation solution should be OK, but associated time tags could be incorrect thus still corrupting navigation data at the system level.”
A similar note put out by the US Department of Homeland Security in April last year talked down the potential risks but warned they could persist past April 6 for receiver devices that began counting from later firmware updates.
Meanwhile maker of car navigation devices, TomTom, has told customers it has already rolled out a fix and “if you frequently update your device there’s no need to worry”.
Originally published as ‘I’m not going to be flying on April 6’: Old GPS receivers due to reset to enter new era
