SandboxAQ has announced AQNav, the world’s first commercial real-time navigation system powered by AI and quantum technology, designed to address GPS denial, jamming, and spoofing. Successfully flight-tested by the U.S. Air Force, Acubed by Airbus, and Boeing, AQNav utilizes proprietary AI algorithms and quantum sensors to leverage the Earth’s crustal magnetic field for unjammable, all-weather navigation.
The system has logged over 200 flight-hours and 40 sorties, demonstrating its capabilities on various aircraft types. AQNav aims to mitigate the global rise in GPS interference impacting civilian and military airspace, transportation, logistics, agriculture, financial services, and public infrastructure.
In January 2023, the U.S. Air Force awarded SandboxAQ a contract to explore geomagnetic navigation, leading to successful flight tests during Exercise Golden Phoenix and Exercise Mobility Guardian. General Mike Minihan of the Air Mobility Command highlighted the importance of innovative technological solutions like AQNav for navigation in contested environments.
AQNav’s quantum magnetometers acquire data from Earth’s unique crustal magnetic field patterns, which AI algorithms then compare against known magnetic maps to determine precise locations. This passive, room-temperature technology works independently of visual ground features or satellite transmissions, making it robust and versatile for use in air, land, and sea domains. The current implementation is designed for portability in order to make initial testing more convenient and is about the size of a suitcase, But the company plans to further reduce the size of the device for eventual integration within an airplane or vehicle. AQNav is designed to work with other navigation systems to provide additional robustness. SandboxAQ is designing this technology for eventual dual-use in both the military and commercial sectors
For more information, you can access the press release the company provided here and a web page for the product here, a download page for the datasheet here. and a video here. In addition, you can view a previous article we published about this navigation sensor at SandboxAQ in the Quantum Computing Report last year .
June 25, 2024