Over the last 20 years, GPS technology has become deeply embedded in daily life, powering everything from smartphones and airplanes to stock markets, emergency services, and power grids.
The system supporting much of today’s infrastructure is more fragile than many realize—and global conflicts have given malicious actors opportunities to exploit it.
GPS jamming and spoofing—where signals are blocked or imitated to mislead receivers—have become increasingly common. In 2024 alone, GPS spoofing disrupted over 1,000 commercial flights daily, particularly in regions such as the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
These attacks can cause in-flight instruments to falsely indicate that an aircraft is at the wrong altitude or far from its true position. At sea, spoofed signals have diverted ships off course or even caused them to run aground. Such events aren’t random malfunctions but deliberate tactics of electronic warfare.
Quantum Navigation Emerges as a GPS-Independent Solution
Promisingly, quantum technologies may help counter these threats. Prototypes of sensor-based systems that operate independently of satellite signals are already in testing.
Among those advancing these applications are corporate partners of the Chicago Quantum Exchange—including Boeing, Infleqtion, and SandboxAQ. Based at the University of Chicago, the CQE links top universities, national laboratories, and industry leaders to push the boundaries of quantum innovation.
“Governments and commercial sectors urgently need this technology,” said Ken Devine, senior product manager for quantum navigation at SandboxAQ. “With escalating geopolitical tensions and a surge in GPS jamming and spoofing—in regions like Russia, Ukraine, the Middle East, Israel, and Iran—disruptions are widespread and unlikely to ease. The demand is so critical that people are saying, ‘We needed this yesterday.’”
In May 2023, SandboxAQ carried out its first in a series of flight tests for the U.S. Air Force and its commercial aviation partners, participating in two major Air Force exercises that year. By 2024, Boeing had conducted the world’s first documented flight using multiple quantum navigation systems, successfully navigating across the central U.S. for four hours without GPS.
That Boeing trial integrated two distinct technologies: AQNav, a magnetic field-based navigation system from SandboxAQ, and an inertial navigation system developed by quantum sensing company AOSense.
“The advantage of quantum navigation goes beyond simply enhancing current inertial navigation systems,” explained Caitlin Carnahan, vice president for quantum software at Infleqtion, another company working in the field. “It offers a completely new approach to navigation—one that can lessen dependence on GPS and overcome challenges like spoofing and jamming.”
Fresh Instruments
There are numerous methods to determine one’s past and future position.
For thousands of years, people have navigated by fixed reference points like stars or mountains. GPS satellites operate on a similar principle—though constantly moving, their orbits are so well understood and predictable that their motion doesn’t hinder precise navigation.
Navigation can also be achieved without fixed points by using a detailed map of the environment. In this approach, a navigator tracks every course change—when, where, and by how much—relative to a starting point to calculate their current position. Another option is to identify patterns in elevation changes along the route.
These latter methods—inertial navigation and map matching—are the foundations of quantum navigation technology.
AOSense’s system relies on inertial navigation, while SandboxAQ uses map matching based on Earth’s crustal magnetic field instead of topography. Infleqtion is exploring both strategies.
During Boeing’s test flight, both AOSense and SandboxAQ’s quantum navigation systems were used together despite their differences. According to Jay Lowell, principal senior technical fellow at Boeing, the goal was to determine “whether and how” these technologies could complement one another.
“That could mean balancing performance between sensors—letting one take the lead when the other falters,” Lowell explained. “The key question is whether their combined data outperforms what either can deliver on its own.”
Sensing Minute Variations
Inertial navigation uses accelerometers to measure acceleration and gyroscopes to measure rotation, tracking movement from a known starting point by recording shifts in speed and direction.
While everyday accelerometers—like those in smartphones or fitness trackers—are relatively simple, quantum inertial sensors can detect motion changes on the scale of femtometers, smaller than the width of an atom, offering extreme precision. Because they operate without maps or fixed reference points, inertial sensors are particularly valuable for space-based applications.
Infleqtion has recently conducted commercial flight trials of quantum inertial navigation in the U.K. and plans similar tests in the U.S. The company’s Chicago office is also developing SAPIENT, an AI-powered tool that took first place in the U.S. Army’s xTechScalable competition.
“[SAPIENT] focuses on software integration, combining outputs from multiple sensor types with AI to create a stronger, more reliable navigation signal,” explained Pranav Gokhale, Infleqtion’s general manager of computing. “There’s a big gap between a basic inertial measurement unit and a full inertial navigation system, and we’re using AI to close that gap.”
MagNav Uses Earth’s Magnetic Fingerprint for Navigation
Magnetic navigation, or MagNav, takes a different approach, similar to terrain-following radar. Instead of tracking elevation, the aircraft detects subtle magnetic variations in Earth’s crust—caused by geology, mineral deposits, or even man-made structures—and compares them to a detailed magnetic field map to determine location.
Researchers think birds may navigate in part by sensing Earth’s magnetic field in a way similar to magnetic navigation systems. Magnetic field mapping is often carried out for mineral, oil, and gas exploration, since small anomalies can signal resources underground—but in some regions, high-resolution maps are difficult to obtain.
“The quality of the map in your destination region definitely influences how well magnetic navigation works,” Devine noted.
He also pointed to other important factors for MagNav performance, including the aircraft type, as well as its altitude and speed. Devine emphasized that the role of these systems will likely expand as electronic warfare tactics become more prevalent.
“We’ve proven that this technology can deliver real-time navigation,” he said. “That’s a big deal—especially since the demand for it is only going to rise.”
Read the original article: Tech Xplore