GPS: Public Utility or Software Platform
Masters thesis — Naval Postgraduate School, 2016. Full text: https://archive.org/details/DTIC_AD1030085
Arguments
GPS: Public Utility or Software Platform
It frames the modern GPS-interference problem precisely — the signal itself is hardened, but the ecosystem built on top of it is the soft underbelly.
Viewing GPS as a "software platform" instead of a "public utility" changes the resilience picture: the utility lens shows the U.S. hardened GPS through system design and redundancies (more satellites than required, dispersed infrastructure, stronger signals), while the platform lens shows resilience grew further by adding navigation signals — but manufacturers, application developers, and users themselves are the binding constraint on any further resilience gains.
Why it matters
It frames the modern GPS-interference problem precisely — the signal itself is hardened, but the ecosystem built on top of it is the soft underbelly.
Use when: When you can't measure the vulnerability directly, change the conceptual lens — two lenses can reveal what one data gap hides.