A team of researchers at Q-CTRL, a quantum infrastructure software-maker based in Sydney, Australia, has announced the successful demonstration of its newly developed quantum navigation system called “Ironstone Opal.”
The group has written a paper describing how their system works and how well it tested against currently available backup GPS systems and has posted it on the arXiv preprint server.
With the advent and subsequent reliance on GPS by private and military vehicles and aircraft for navigation, governments have come to understand how vulnerable such systems can be. Outages can lead to drivers being stranded, pilots scrambling to use outdated systems and difficulties deploying military assets. Because of that, scientists around the world have been looking for reasonable backup systems, or even possible alternatives to GPS.
In this new effort, the team at Q-CTRL has developed such a backup system and is claiming that it is 50 times more accurate than any other backup GPS currently available under some scenarios.
The new system, Ironstone Opal, uses quantum sensors that are so sensitive they can be used to precisely self-locate an object using the Earth’s magnetic field. The team at Q-CTRL noted that the magnetic field varies depending on location relative to the Earth. To take advantage of that, they built sensors that can precisely read the field and then use AI-based software to give X and Y geographic coordinates in the same fashion as GPS.
The researchers note that their system is passive, which means it does not emit signals that could be “heard” by other devices and cannot be jammed. They also note that their software system can filter out noise generated by vehicles or planes carrying the sensors. They point out that the system is small enough to be installed in any car, truck, or other land vehicle, as well as in drones and other aircraft.
Testing of the system on the ground, the researchers claim, showed it to be 50 times as accurate as any other GPS backup system. In the air, it was found to be 11 times more accurate than other backup systems.
More information:
Murat Muradoglu et al, Quantum-assured magnetic navigation achieves positioning accuracy better than a strategic-grade INS in airborne and ground-based field trials, arXiv (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2504.08167
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New quantum-based navigation system 50 times more accurate than traditional GPS (2025, April 21)
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