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Quantum Technologies to Reinforce Position, Navigation and Timing Capability
Chinese Advancements Raise Stakes for Faster Adoption of Quantum Sensors

China’s advancements in quantum technology have triggered a call-to-action for the United States to accelerate their own investments in quantum research and development. According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Critical Technology Tracker, China surpassed the United States in published quantum research in 2021. China’s lead in published research can be interpreted as a faster pace toward adopting and deploying quantum technologies in space for military purposes, which China already demonstrated in 2016, with plans for launching more quantum-equipped satellites in 2025. In response, the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) is similarly advocating for more research and development to support quantum technologies in space, specifically to reinforce the Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) mission.
“PNT is a combination of technologies that determine location, orientation and time associated with a particular asset,” said Major General (Ret) Kim Crider, Founding Partner at Elara Nova: The Space Consultancy. “Currently, the United States Space Force delivers PNT capability through the Global Positioning System (GPS) of space-based satellites. By broadcasting signals between satellites in space and receivers on Earth, GPS systems can calculate an asset’s position, while tracking and predicting its movements according to a given time standard.”
The Military and Commercial Value of PNT
While GPS is owned and operated by the United States government, it is just one satellite system providing PNT capability under the broader Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Allies and adversaries alike have fielded similar PNT capabilities under GNSS and through satellite systems of their own: Russia’s GLONASS, the European Union’s Galileo constellation, China’s BeiDou, Japan’s QZSS and India’s IRNSS/NavIC.
But the PNT capability provided through each of these systems are widely seen as ‘dual-use,’ serving both commercial and military purposes.
Consequently, these systems are subject to near-constant attack.
“There are jamming, spoofing and cyber attacks against our GPS signals every single day, in addition to the changing space weather conditions that can also compromise these systems,” Maj Gen (Ret) Crider said. “Each of these threats create denial-of-service challenges for the Space Force, particularly because PNT is critical in warfighting operations to accurately understand where troops are on the ground or where ships are at sea, while enabling effective communication between forces in a time-synchronized environment.”
Quantum Creates Resiliency for PNT
That’s why the QED-C, a consortium of quantum industry stakeholders established under the National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018, published a recent report that underscored the immediate implications quantum sensors can serve in reinforcing compromised PNT capabilities or support forces in GPS-denied areas.
“GPS signals may not be able to reach assets that are underground, under water, in valleys or canyons and sometimes even indoors, where a roof provides a cover that the satellite signals can’t penetrate,” said Lietuenant General (Ret) Harry Raduege, partner at Elara Nova. “The polar regions can also be a GPS-denied area because of their extreme and remote location, while also becoming more globally contentious as potential areas of future conflict.”
Quantum sensors, however, are inherently more resistant to jamming or spoofing than legacy GPS systems.
“While GPS actively transmits and receives signals, these quantum technologies passively sense changes in the Earth’s environment,” Maj Gen (Ret) Crider said. “Quantum technology collects data and makes measurements at the atomic level, which means they can track precise changes in the way atoms interact in electric or magnetic fields. Therefore, these sensors can create a more precise and accurate understanding of what’s going on in the environment around an asset in a way that GPS currently can’t.”
Quantum Sensors and How They Work
The QED-C report describes two types of quantum sensors that support mapping and navigational efforts: quantum magnetometers and quantum gravimeters.
“Quantum magnetometers and quantum gravimeters can detect and measure minute changes in magnetic fields and gravitational fields, respectively,” Lt Gen (Ret) Raduege said. “So these technologies offer new ways to map the planet, particularly for remote and featureless environments like oceans and the polar regions.”
With these sensors, operators can identify and orient military assets through what the QED-C report calls “magnetic anomaly-aided navigation (MagNav),” and “gravitational anomaly-aided navigation (GravNav)”.
“These sensors look for anomalies in the magnetic or gravitational environments, and can match these anomalies to known magnetic or gravitational maps,” Maj Gen (Ret) Crider said. “For example, a U.S. naval vessel operating in the polar region with limited GPS availability can rely on gravimeters to detect anomalies in the gravitational field around the ship and verify any changes with previously known maps of Earth’s gravitational field.”
Quantum technologies can also go beyond mapping capabilities for PNT verification, to also include quantum accelerometers and quantum gyroscopes that measure an asset’s changes in motion and angle of rotation, respectively.
“Quantum accelerometers and quantum gyroscopes can be networked together to dramatically improve the accuracy and reliability of our sensing capabilities for measuring an asset’s movement,” Lt Gen (Ret) Raduege said. “These tools can also be directly applied to the space domain to provide highly accurate measurements of a satellite’s position and orientation, as well as objects in its surrounding environment to support the space domain awareness mission.”
According to the QED-C report, quantum sensors are particularly valuable in how they can be integrated with legacy GPS systems to enhance their accuracy and reliability.
“It’s important that we network these emerging technologies into our traditional GPS systems to get that added resiliency in providing PNT capabilities to joint military operations,” Maj Gen (Ret) Crider said. “When GPS signals are disrupted or compromised, these quantum sensors can verify the accuracy of those GPS signals while also providing an alternative PNT capability for joint forces operating in those GPS-denied areas.”
Quantum sensors are relevant to various commercial industries as well, such as agriculture, transportation, communications, financial management and even mining for critical resources. As a result, the QED-C proposed several recommendations for the federal government and its industry partners to invest in greater research and development of quantum technologies in a way that facilitates the broader industry’s growth.
Investing in Quantum R&D
One priority is investing in the research and development of photonic integrated circuits (PICs), or microchips that transmit, process and sense information through light-based particles called ‘photons.’ PICs are viewed as faster and more efficient than traditional electronic microchips, which primarily transfers information through electrons.
“The government can invest in the development of PICs similar to how they have taken steps to establish a foundry for electronic microchips in the U.S.,” Maj Gen (Ret) Crider said. “We have to ensure there is a supply chain for developing these photonic components, such that we can create the PICs necessary for quantum sensors.”
The QED-C report also emphasizes the role of partnerships between the government and the quantum community to identify opportunities for standardizing the size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) criteria of PICs used in quantum technology.
“Reducing the SWaP-C elements of PICs would enhance their reliability and facilitate the economies of scale needed to broaden the application and commercialization of quantum sensors across industries,” Lt Gen (Ret) Raduege said. “The government must work with organizations like QED-C, academic institutions, think tanks and other industry stakeholders to encourage market studies, pilot programs and test-beds for developing quantum technology.”
Further, by providing third-party validation and verification requirements, like those coming out of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative and National Institutes of Standards and Technology, the government can ensure that the quantum technologies it adopts has been proven to be accurate and reliable.
“The federal government can fund organizations supporting standardization and validation measures of emerging technologies, and also support the research labs and academic institutions that provide test-beds for establishing these performance standards,” Maj Gen (Ret) Crider said. “Then the DOD can work with the military services to facilitate the integration of quantum capabilities into warfighting operations.”
Quantum, PNT, and the Joint Fight
With the effective development and deployment of quantum sensors, particularly with legacy PNT systems, the implications for supporting joint force operations across domains can be significant.
“Quantum sensing technologies can support the military across all the different elevation levels that joint forces operate in: from the subsurface to the surface level, which includes both maritime and land domains, as well as the air and space domains,” Maj Gen (Ret) Crider said. “We need that resiliency to create competitive advantage, particularly as China is investing and developing quantum technologies for the same reasons.”
Enabled by the expertise in emerging technologies from the likes of Maj Gen (Ret) Crider and Lt Gen (Ret) Raduege, Elara Nova: The Space Consultancy is particularly equipped to support partnerships that facilitate the development and adoption of quantum sensors across space mission areas.
“Elara Nova can identify the best applications for these emerging technologies and how to engage the entire community of industry, government, academia partners to work through these issues from a quantum perspective,” Maj Gen (Ret) Crider said. “Together, we can bring these capabilities forward into the innovation systems and processes by establishing standards, developing early prototypes, and integrating these technologies into new and legacy systems to create effects that assure space superiority and preserve our national security interests.”
Elara Nova is a global consultancy and professional services firm focused on helping businesses and government agencies maximize the strategic advantages of the space domain. Learn more at https://elaranova.com/.