Quantum Navigation

GNSS stands for Global Navigation Satellite System. It refers to any network of satellites that provide global positioning, navigation, and timing services. Essentially, GNSS systems use signals from space to allow devices on Earth to determine their location and synchronize time.

Currently, the UK relies on GNSS (satellite-based navigation) for determining position and navigation, and it underpins vital areas of the UK's economy, infrastructure and national security.  However, GNSS is vulnerable to interference and attacks, and the signals can be affected by bad weather, tall buildings and poor coverage underground or underwater. The QEPNT Hub is developing technologies that will harness the power of quantum timing and position sensors to allow us to free ourselves from our reliance on satellite positioning and help to make the UK a more secure, and technologically-advanced nation.

Inertial sensors measure an object's motion and orientation by detecting acceleration and rotational rate. These signals can be used to calculate vehicles change in position, without ever needing to send or receive a signal externally. Further position accuracy can be achieved through sensor fusion, for example by augmentation with magnetic field sensors. QEPNT research is developing quantum-enhanced inertial sensors that will deliver significant performance advantages over existing classical sensors, through reduced drift. These sensors can be deployed in rail and maritime environments, with a view to developing future long-range quantum navigation systems that can operate in satellite denied environments.

Every time you use sat-nav or high-speed broadband, you are relying on the precision of ticking of atoms. Since their invention in the 1950’s, atomic clocks, also known as quantum clocks, have been used in an ever-increasing range of applications as the demands of technology increase. These range from the clocks in GPS satellites, earthquake detection, global trading in stocks, and maintaining the stability of the national electrical grid. Even more advanced optical clocks could one day make a significant difference both in everyday life and in fundamental science. Optical atomic clocks tick over one hundred trillion times per second and can be thousands of times more accurate than existing microwave clocks. Researchers at Loughborough University’s Emergent Photonics Research Centre and the Experimental Quantum Optics & Photonics group at the University of Strathclyde are developing the next generation of timing devices with the ambition to make these devices more compact, portable and lower cost than traditional clocks.