from Hacker News

Australia unveils jam-proof quantum tech that's 50 times more accurate than GPS

by joak on 4/18/25, 12:22 PM with 8 comments

  • by anenefan on 4/18/25, 1:42 PM

    Quite interesting, to myself magnetic fields wouldn't seem all that accurate but then again it's known some animals can navigate back to the same spot each yearly nesting / migration. It did seem maybe as per the article and [1] [2] the concept was just a little bit too good to be true but [3] being military supports that they've been working towards an additional perhaps more accurate system.

    [1] https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.08167 [Submitted on 10 Apr 2025 - Quantum-assured magnetic navigation achieves positioning accuracy better than a strategic-grade INS in airborne and ground-based field trials]

    [2] https://q-ctrl.com/blog/q-ctrl-overcomes-gps-denial-with-qua... [the company's blog]

    [3] https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/news/2024-09-25/battl... [25 September 2024 Battlefield developments in their sights]

  • by ajb on 4/18/25, 3:04 PM

    Hmm sounds like it's using something like a SQUID (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQUID ) but as far as I know they all need to be cooled with liquid nitrogen; would be cool if they've invented one that doesn't

  • by munchler on 4/18/25, 4:11 PM

    Since this relies on magnetic sensors, wouldn’t it be possible to jam with a magnetic field?

  • by Iwan-Zotow on 4/18/25, 11:34 PM

    Curios how it would work with say planes, espcially if ionosphere is disturbed