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Hauptverfasser: Spanos, Thodoris, Papageorgiou, Nikolaos, Fantinato, Samuele, Kanistras, Nikos, Pedrosa, Sergi Duenas, Caparra, Gianluca, Paliouras, Vassilis
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.21126
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author Spanos, Thodoris
Papageorgiou, Nikolaos
Fantinato, Samuele
Kanistras, Nikos
Pedrosa, Sergi Duenas
Caparra, Gianluca
Paliouras, Vassilis
author_facet Spanos, Thodoris
Papageorgiou, Nikolaos
Fantinato, Samuele
Kanistras, Nikos
Pedrosa, Sergi Duenas
Caparra, Gianluca
Paliouras, Vassilis
contents Precise positioning is a key enabler for emerging 5G applications, from autonomous transport to industrial automation. Yet the open physical layer (PL) leaves standard positioning reference signals (PRSs) vulnerable to manipulation. This work addresses the security of downlink observed time difference of arrival positioning (DL-OTDOA) through three contributions. First, we introduce VeriLoc, an open-source system-level simulator designed for realistic channel modeling and PL threat injection. Second, we propose three novel security techniques to enhance resilience and threat detection: encrypted PRS to prevent adversarial waveform synthesis, angular-based source authentication (ABSA), and a cross-layer downlink-uplink handshaking protocol to detect attacks that cannot be mitigated by encryption. Third, utilizing VeriLoc, we evaluate the proposed techniques alongside position tracking and a PRS authentication scheme, which extends the original hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) scheme design to support digital signatures. Simulation results demonstrate that while encryption, authentication schemes, and tracking robustly counter selective PRS spoofing and jamming, the proposed spatial and cross-layer mechanisms are essential for detecting meaconing, collectively maintaining attack detection rates in excess of 90% while keeping false alarm rates minimal.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_21126
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Threat Detection and Resilience Techniques in PRS-Assisted OTDOA 5G Positioning Systems
Spanos, Thodoris
Papageorgiou, Nikolaos
Fantinato, Samuele
Kanistras, Nikos
Pedrosa, Sergi Duenas
Caparra, Gianluca
Paliouras, Vassilis
Signal Processing
Precise positioning is a key enabler for emerging 5G applications, from autonomous transport to industrial automation. Yet the open physical layer (PL) leaves standard positioning reference signals (PRSs) vulnerable to manipulation. This work addresses the security of downlink observed time difference of arrival positioning (DL-OTDOA) through three contributions. First, we introduce VeriLoc, an open-source system-level simulator designed for realistic channel modeling and PL threat injection. Second, we propose three novel security techniques to enhance resilience and threat detection: encrypted PRS to prevent adversarial waveform synthesis, angular-based source authentication (ABSA), and a cross-layer downlink-uplink handshaking protocol to detect attacks that cannot be mitigated by encryption. Third, utilizing VeriLoc, we evaluate the proposed techniques alongside position tracking and a PRS authentication scheme, which extends the original hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) scheme design to support digital signatures. Simulation results demonstrate that while encryption, authentication schemes, and tracking robustly counter selective PRS spoofing and jamming, the proposed spatial and cross-layer mechanisms are essential for detecting meaconing, collectively maintaining attack detection rates in excess of 90% while keeping false alarm rates minimal.
title Threat Detection and Resilience Techniques in PRS-Assisted OTDOA 5G Positioning Systems
topic Signal Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.21126