Presentation Title: Injecting RDS-TMC Traffic Information Signals - How to Freak Out Your Sat Nav System
Presentation Details:

RDS-TMC is a standard based on RDS (Radio Data System) for communicating over FM radio Traffic Information for Satellite Navigation Systems. All modern in-car Satellite Navigation systems sold in Europe use RDS-TMC to receive broadcasts containing up to date information about traffic conditions such as queues and accidents and provide suggested detours in case they affect the plotted course.

In this presentation, the audience will be introduced to RDS/RDS-TMC concepts and protocols. In addition, we will show how you can decode/encode such messages using a standard PC and cheap home-made electronics with the intent of injecting information in the broadcast RDS-TMC stream to manipulate the information displayed by the satellite navigator.

We’ll discover the obscure (but scary!) messages that can be broadcast (and that are not usually seen over legitimate RDS-TMC traffic), the limits of standard SatNav systems when flooded with unusual messages and the role that RDS-TMC injection / jamming can play in social engineering attempts (hitmen in the audience will love this!). In order to maximize the presentation we’ll also demo the injection… hopefully at low power so that we won’t piss off local radio broadcasters.

About Daniele

Daniele Bianco is a system administrator and IT consultant. His interest lies in centralized management and software integration in Open Source environments and he has focused his work on design and development of suitable R&D infrastructure. For the time being Daniele is working as a consultant for Italian astrophysics research institutes, involving support for the design, development and the administration of IT infrastructure. One of his hobbies has always been playing with hardware and recently he has been pointing his attention on in-car wireless and navigation systems. He’s the resident Hardware Hacker for international consultancy Inverse Path Ltd. and holds a Bachelor’s degree in physics from University of Trieste.

** Presenting with Andrea Barisani