Homeland Security provides info about 2019 GPS rollover event

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released a memorandum about a GPS rollover event coming in April 2019.

The memorandum, U.S. Owners and Operators Using GPS to Obtain Time, is intended to provide an understanding of the possible effects of the April 6, 2019, GPS Week Number Rollover on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) derived from GPS devices.

DHS recommends that critical infrastructure and other owners and operators prepare for the rollover. They should:

• investigate and understand their possible dependencies on GPS for obtaining UTC;
• contact the GPS manufacturers of devices they use to obtain UTC;
• understand the manufacturers’ preparedness for the ollover;
• understand actions required by CI and other owners and operators to ensure proper operation through the ollover, and
• ensure that the firmware of such devices is up to date.

The memorandum is sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, the Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate Office of Infrastructure Protection and the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing.

GPS World discussed in-depth the previous rollover event in an Innovation column.