Delhi’s international airport is in chaos. First, flights were disrupted due to geo-spoofing incidents, and then a technical glitch hit the Air Traffic Control system, compounding the problem.
On Friday, over 300 flights were delayed due to a technical glitch in the Air Traffic Control system.
Technical glitch
The Airport Authority of India said that a technical team is trying to restore the Automatic Message Switching System, or the AMSS.
The AMSS is the state-of-the-art computerised message switching system, which supports the Air Traffic Control data.
It is a computerised system that automatically handles and routes important messages for applications like air traffic control and meteorological data distribution.
It is the backbone for exchanging information such as flight plans, departure and arrival of planes.
GPS spoofing?
According to reports, the glitch started on Thursday evening, two days after the airport witnessed severe air traffic congestion due to GPS spoofing.
On Tuesday, several aircraft approaching Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport experienced navigation issues linked to manipulated GPS signals.
At least seven flights were forced to divert to Jaipur after their onboard systems displayed incorrect location data.
GPS spoofing is a deliberate manipulation of satellite navigation signals.
Fake satellite signals are sent to override authentic GPS signals, causing aircraft systems to miscalculate their position.
Experts say that while it was common to witness geo-spoofing incidents near India’s border with Pakistan, such occurrences were unusual in Delhi.
With officials still trying to resolve the issue, the air traffic controllers are now manually preparing flight plans with available information.
