A research team from Q-CTRL, a quantum infrastructure software manufacturer based in Sydney, Australia, has announced the successful demonstration of its newly developed quantum navigation system, "Ironstone Opal."

The team authored a paper describing how their system works and the test results compared to currently available backup GPS systems, which was published on the arXiv preprint server.

With the advent of GPS and the subsequent reliance on it for private and military vehicle and aircraft navigation, governments have increasingly recognized the severe vulnerabilities of such systems. System disruptions could leave drivers stranded, force pilots to use outdated systems, and complicate the deployment of military assets. As a result, scientists worldwide have been seeking viable backup systems or even alternatives to GPS.

In this new initiative, the Q-CTRL team developed such a backup system and claims that in some cases, it is 50 times more accurate than any other current GPS backup.

The new system, Ironstone Opal, uses highly sensitive quantum sensors to precisely self-locate objects by leveraging Earth's magnetic field. The Q-CTRL team noted that magnetic fields vary depending on position relative to Earth. To capitalize on this, they built sensors capable of precisely reading magnetic fields and then used AI-based software to provide X and Y geographic coordinates in the same way as GPS.

The researchers point out that their system is passive, meaning it does not emit signals that other devices might "hear" and cannot be jammed. They also note that their software system can filter out noise generated by the vehicle or aircraft carrying the sensor. They state that the system is compact and can be installed on any car, truck, or other land vehicle, as well as drones and other aircraft.

The researchers claim that ground tests showed the system's accuracy is 50 times that of other GPS backups. Air tests found that the system's accuracy is 11 times that of other backups.