“Seen & Heard” is a monthly feature of GPS World magazine, traveling the world to capture interesting and unusual news stories involving the GNSS/PNT industry.

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Rise in GPS Jammers

The Finnish government’s Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) has seen an increase in GNSS jamming devices. In 2024, the agency already has detected 106 GNSS disturbances caused by signal-jamming devices in vehicles. When activated, the devices interfere with GPS signals in a radius that measures from a few dozen to several hundred meters. Authorities have found people have used the jammers in company cars tracked by their employers to disrupt tachographs that track where and when they are driving.

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Confirmed Decline in Emperor Penguin Colonies

A multinational research exercise has confirmed emperor penguins are in decline in Antarctica. However, the cause is still unknown. The assessment of emperor penguin colonies found a 10% decline in the adult population, now estimated at 228,000.  The study used aerial and satellite imagery of all known colonies in Antarctica to collect data for a series of models analyzing emperor penguin population processes across the continent. “Remote sensing has given us the context that, sometimes, these birds hop up on ice shelves or glaciers – we didn’t know they did that prior to seeing them doing that on satellite imagery,” said Michelle LaRue, the wildlife ecologist from the University of Canterbury and Minnesota University, who led the study.

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UK Defense Minister’s Plane Jammed Near Russia

A plane carrying British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps had its satellite signal jammed as it flew near Russian territory, the government reported on March 14. The government said the Royal Air Force jet carrying Shapps, officials and journalists “temporarily experienced GPS jamming when they flew close to Kaliningrad” on a flight from Poland to the UK. The Times of London, whose reporter was onboard, said that for about 30 minutes, mobile phones could not connect to the internet and the aircraft was forced to use alternative methods to determine its location. Kaliningrad is a Russian enclave bordered by Poland and Lithuania, home to the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet.

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Medicine from the Sky

In the remote village of Oren, Kisumu County, Kenya, healthcare providers are now getting supplies and medicine delivered from the sky using UAV technology from Zipline, a U.S.-based logistics company. Healthcare providers can receive deliveries via UAV in less than 10 minutes, residents told Nation. The UAV opens at the bottom and releases a box, attached to a parachute. It then flies back to the Zipline hub in Chemelil, Kenya.