SOFC in Alaska Bring High Uptimes and Improved Efficiency

Electronic warfare (EW) is pervasive in modern battlespaces, so how can we ensure that missions remain flexible and successful when a single, all-encompassing solution to GPS and GNSS interference does not currently exist?

“Even the quest for a silver bullet to solve the problem of GPS interference is a flawed concept,” says Allen Gardner, Chief Technology Officer at Edge Autonomy, a leading provider and OEM of autonomous uncrewed aircraft systems, advanced optics, and resilient energy solutions.

“The more effective tactic is to have the capacity to quickly incorporate new innovations to augment your solution. “As new technology emerges, you integrate. As the adversary changes, you adapt.”

The Increasing Rise of Interference

The deliberate jamming of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)—when a competing signal broadcasts “noise” that overpowers the GNSS/GPS signal, rendering it unusable—is a routine challenge to military and commercial operations alike.

While slightly more difficult to execute, signal spoofing—when an adversary broadcasts on the same signal to confuse data, resulting in inaccurate positioning or time—is no less threatening to mission success.

Both spoofing and jamming are on the rise – in both battle zones and commercial aviation – and must be actively addressed to maintain an upper hand and ensure that aircraft and weapons are not compromised.

The electronic warfare market had an estimated value of $18.45B in 2024 and is expected to reach $27.35B by 2031¹. With EW strategies presenting a constant threat—one capable of immense financial and strategic damage—it is critical that we explore a wide range of options to keep this threat at bay.

Electronic Warfare and Real-World Implications

From Finland to Poland to Turkey – and of course in the Ukraine conflict – Eastern Europe has seen GNSS and GPS interference become a significant disruptor.

Russian jamming of satellite-guided weapons has had a significant impact on Ukraine’s ability to defend its territory, decreasing the effectiveness of existing solutions and sending military officials on a renewed hunt for newer and more sophisticated technology².

“When you’re facing an adversary who will stop at nothing to interfere with your mission and endanger the men and women defending freedom on the front lines it is imperative that we bring every available resource into play to protect our allies, whether they are foreign or domestic,” says Tuna Djemil, Vice President of Business Development & Strategy for Edge Autonomy. “The battlefield is constantly evolving, which means we innovate in step with real-world mission needs.”

Adaptation and Integration at the Speed of the Modern Battlefield

As geopolitical crises escalate, so will the complications caused by GPS/GNSS interference. Emerging drone warfare will perpetuate jamming and spoofing attacks as uncrewed aircraft and autonomous vehicles play an increasingly central role in current conflicts.

Despite the lack of a silver bullet solution to GPS/GNSS interference, defending military operations while increasing mission flexibility in the face of mounting EW is possible. How can the U.S. military, NATO, and other allies maintain an edge over insidious adversaries?

Rapid adaptation is a must as we confront the widespread EW threats that exist in today’s battlespaces. By developing new technologies that are not dependent on GPS/GNSS – including solutions that utilize position, navigation, and timing (PNT) – we can stay ahead of nefarious spoofing and jamming techniques.

Beyond GPS: Advances in Position, Navigation, and Timing for Maximum UAS Flexibility

PNT technologies serve to augment and complement GPS and range from self-contained navigation techniques to radar sensing to advanced tracking solutions through Artificial Intelligence to front-end cyber solutions and beyond.

“The key is flexibility,” explains Djemil. “This interference game of cat-and-mouse calls for the ability to quickly pivot existing technology, adapt new technology, and keep your finger on the pulse of how to combine the two in order to thwart our adversaries.”

Modularity to Meet Mission Needs

Why is adaptability so critical to advanced navigation systems capable of withstanding the constant threat of GPS/GNSS interference? While several reliable defenses do exist for the UAS and their navigation, none are effective in every circumstance or environment. Adapting a modular open systems approach (MOSA) means that rather than relying on a single technology, users can augment and build upon the base system over time as new technologies become available.

The most EW-resilient UAS will be aircraft capable of seamlessly integrating the new and ever-evolving defensive technologies that arise to counter debilitating attacks. Advanced platforms like a PNT fusion engine ensure accuracy by combining data from multiple sensors for reliable, robust, and accurate position and time determination, even in environments where GPS signals may be either interfered with or unavailable.

“When a UAS can combine multiple GPS-denied technologies so that the strength of one overcomes the weaknesses of another, what you get is an adaptable and uniquely robust solution,” Gardner explains.

Edge Autonomy’s Battle Proven Stalker UAS

Rather than rely on a single technology, Edge Autonomy’s Stalker uncrewed system can fly in GPS/GNSS-denied environments by employing a PNT fusion engine that interfaces with multiple technologies (both current and future), uniting them in a navigation solution that provides the warfighter with the data needed to make decisions quickly and accurately to meet mission needs even in a rapidly changing environment.

The modular architecture of the Stalker design provides the agility needed to pivot quickly, advancing the mission no matter the circumstance.

“Intentional awareness of real-world adversarial threats uniquely positions us to come alongside our customers,” says Joshua Stinson, Chief Growth Officer at Edge Autonomy. “We designed the Stalker with maximum flexibility in mind, knowing that the ability to integrate new technologies and adapt to emerging threats, especially when it comes to electronic warfare, is vital for mission success in today’s dynamic environments.”

Learn more about the battle proven Stalker, and how a modular open systems approach can positively impact positioning, navigation, and timing – even under contested or austere circumstances:

¹https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/industry-reports/electronic-warfare-market

²https://www.stripes.com/theaters/europe/2024-05-24/russian-jamming-high-tech-weapons-ukraine-13964032.html

SOFC are being adopted in one of the country’s harshest environments because they deliver on reliable uptimes and incredible fuel efficiency

With temperatures as low as –40°F during winter, frequent hurricane-force winds so strong they can break wind turbines, and weeks to months of the year with virtually no sunlight, Alaska has some of the harshest weather in the United States.

And it also has some of the remotest areas. Several villages are accessible only by plane or dogsled; in fact, more than 75% of communities lack access to roads and rely on aviation for food, mail, jobs and more.

Solar & Wind Unable to Provide 100% Uptimes in Alaska

This harsh environment can be difficult for common offgrid power sources, such as solar panels or wind turbines, to accommodate.

Because of the extended periods of darkness in Alaska, solar panels must have auxiliary power to keep the equipment running at night. Batteries are common, but some can fail in extreme cold, such as Flooded and Valve-Regulated (VRLA) batteries, because they freeze.

And if there’s no excess energy produced by the solar array during daytime, the batteries can’t power the load at night. Solar panels can also get covered with hoarfrost or rime ice that completely blocks sunlight from hitting the panels — even during the day.

Turbines are often paired with solar panels since they require little maintenance and no fuel, but they can ice over and freeze or even break in Alaska’s gale-force winds, causing them to fail in such a harsh climate.

SOFC Offer Greater Reliability And Lower Fuel Burn

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells are becoming more popular in Alaska, especially as part of hybrid energy systems, because they provide backup or offgrid power that is highly dependable and efficient. In fact we have seen remarkable success with our customers who have implemented our SOFC solutions.

Strong Market Acceptance in Alaska With Federal Agencies & Commercial Customers
These SOFC have been tried and field-proven over years of use in Alaska’s harsh and remote terrain, providing major uptime boosts to federal agencies and commercial customers.

To date, Alaska Railroad has deployed 40 systems as offgrid power for signals, switches and crossings since 2015 across its 650 miles of track; AT&T uses SOFC as backup power on towers; the Federal Aviation Administration supplements solar with SOFC in their weather camera program; and the USDA Forest Service relies on 24 SOFC as offgrid power for remote radio networks, with plans to add 50 more sites in 2022.

“This ultimately saves money, time, and risk.”

– Stacy Griffith, Alaska Forest Service Region Radio Manager

Benefits of Adaptive Energy’s SOFC in Extreme Harsh Weather

No unscheduled or emergency site visits because SOFC need no routine maintenance
Highly fuel-efficient at 80 run hours on just 20 pounds of propane, with many sites only needing to refuel every two years
Reliable even in frigid temperatures thanks to propane’s low freezing point and a system that’s uniquely engineered to excel in temps as low as -40°C
Designed to integrate with renewables such as solar, wind or rechargeable batteries – read more about that here
At just 19 pounds, SOFC are lightweight enough to be hand-carried into the field
Have a small footprint in an aircraft when being flown to a remote site

Case Studies of SOFC Performance in Alaska

USDA Forest Service’s Hybrid Offgrid Power System
SOFC provided highly reliable power at about $30 per year in fuel, compared to $7000 fuel costs for a generator

Rangers with the USDA Forest Service rely on remote radio networks to maintain vital communication — especially during emergencies. Stacy Griffith, the Alaska Region Radio Manager, shared in an interview that they faced a major hurdle in finding an offgrid power solution that would keep the 100W radio stations powered, regardless of weather conditions.

What was causing the problem? At offgrid and high-altitude sites, equipment and fuel had to be airlifted. The agency was spending thousands of dollars per year just on maintaining the radio networks. And the solar arrays frequently lost power due to harsh weather and low sunlight — compromising critical communications.

After several other solutions were tried and failed, Forest Service turned to Adaptive Energy to help. Unlike other technologies, our SOFC excel in extreme cold because they are engineered to store, start and operate in temperatures from -40°C to 50°C. They produce no liquid water and are made of heat-resistant ceramic tubes that will not freeze. So, the radio stations will stay up even in the harshest weather.

“Before the fuel cells, the region’s radio towers used legacy generators that ran 24/7 off natural gas, costing about $90,000 a year for refueling. Another cost observation showed the SOFC needing only $30 of fuel compared to the generator that averaged more than $7,000 per season.”

– The USDA

Auxiliary Power to A Solar Array for the Federal Aviation Administration

Weather camera stations along critical aviation paths experienced previously unachievable uptimes thanks to SOFC.

The FAA maintains three solar-powered weather cameras along Lake Clark Pass that are critical for the safe air transport of people and cargo. However, the area’s harsh winter weather, hurricane-force winds and low sunlight caused frequent power outages.

The FAA needed reliable backup that would keep the cameras up even in the harshest weather, but all the standard options failed. Wind power, a typical backup for solar arrays, wasn’t viable due to freezing temperatures and hurricane-force winds that were breaking the turbines. And generators like TEGs were too inefficient – demanding six 100-pound bottles of propane per year in order to run.

The team installed a Performer Series 250W SOFC system as a trial. Through this, they saw a massive difference. Of the three weather camera sites, the only one to experience zero outages for the entire winter was the one running the SOFC. This is on top of the dramatic savings in the total cost of energy, which has led the FAA to work towards using SOFC on more of their remote sites.