Quantum Advantage: Q‑CTRL’s next-generation navigation system to guide us when GPS can’t

By any reckoning, GPS is one of the all-time deep tech success stories, an advancement that has been spawning and enabling other advance­ments ever since it was made available for commercial use in the 1980s. It’s been estimated that GPS has generated roughly $1.4 trillion in economic benefits in the U.S. alone since then. But in recent years it’s been ever more apparent that the vast network of tech­nolo­gies that have been built on top of GPS is standing on shaky ground. With drones, precision-guided missiles, and more conven­tional craft relying in large part on GPS for reaching their targets, GPS jamming — where GPS signals are silenced — and GPS spoofing — where false signals send the receiver astray — are now commonplace. As one Department of Defense official recently noted, in today’s conflict zones ​“you really must presume a denied and degraded environment in which you cannot rely upon external PNT signals like GPS.”

In its hunt for GPS alter­na­tives, the military has encountered serious challenges. But this week marks a milestone, as Q‑CTRL, the global leader in quantum infra­struc­ture software who we’ve proudly backed from its earliest days, announced successful field trials that have validated its new generation of quantum-enabled navigation systems as outper­forming comparable classical alter­na­tives in challenging real-world settings. And outper­forming them by a lot; the data shows that Q‑CTRL’s system was 50 times more accurate than a high-end commer­cially available GPS alternative over the course of a roughly 500-kilometer test flight, achieving a positioning uncertainty of just a small fraction of a percent of the total distance traveled. And all this in a rugged form factor small enough to fit on a drone or in a car, which does not need to emit signals and so is unde­tectable to the enemy, impervious to jamming, and completely spoof-proof.

Q‑CTRL’s demon­stra­tion of a commercial quantum advantage marks a turning point toward finally realizing the seemingly limitless potential of the quantum realm. For decades now, quantum computing has promised to revo­lu­tionize computing and other realms based on theoretical promises of quantum supremacy in a number of domains, but bringing those tech­nolo­gies from the lab into real world envi­ron­ments has been hard. Ironically, the exquisite sensitivity of quantum states that has been the sticking point for engineers trying to string enough qubits together to do useful work, is what makes Q‑CTRL’s quantum sensors so powerful. By mapping at extremely high resolution the small variations in the magnetic field of the earth caused by its changing composition — its ​“magnetic fingerprint” — they are able to guide aircraft with high precision without relying on conven­tional positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) signals.

As with any quantum technology, harnessing its power requires separating out the faint signal you want from all the surrounding noise. This is challenging enough in the highly controlled envi­ron­ments typical of quantum computing experiments, but it would seem impossible in the hold of a military bomber. At the core of the achievement announced yesterday was the validation of Q‑CTRL’s software as best in class (that we know of) for this highly sophis­ti­cated and specialized task. The world-class team led by CEO Michael Biercuk combined machine learning techniques with deep physical insight to develop an algorithm for efficiently and effectively shielding the sensors from vibration and electromagnetic interference.

Just last month, Q‑CTRL announced that it and Lockheed Martin were awarded a DoD contract to prototype a quantum-enabled navigation system that could revo­lu­tionize navigation for warfighters. Q‑CTRL is also working closely with government partners such as the Australian Department of Defence and the UK Royal Navy to develop quantum-enabled navigation capa­bil­i­ties. And potential uses go well beyond the battlefield. GPS jamming and spoofing in the service of commercial sabotage has increas­ingly plagued roads, skies, and shipping lanes the world over. Two weeks ago, three UN agencies — the Inter­na­tional Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tion Union, the Inter­na­tional Civil Aviation Orga­ni­za­tion, and the Inter­na­tional Maritime Orga­ni­za­tion — issued a rare joint statement expressing ​“grave concern” about the increasing threat. Q‑CTRL is currently working with Airbus on quantum-navigation solutions for commercial aviation.

With its quantum-assured navigation solution, Q‑CTRL will help improve the security and prosperity of the free world. That is deep tech at its finest.