Ironstone Opal by Q-CTRL: A Leap in Quantum Navigation Technology

Quantum navigation

Navigation has been a critical part of human life since the invention of the compass, when our horizons extended to the whole earth. Today, the compass is not used much, as GPS has overtaken the navigational part. Yet today, we are standing in the era of another revolutionary innovation in the navigation field, quantum navigation. 

Q-CTRL (pronounced Q control) has developed GPS-free navigation that uses Quantum mechanics, Earth’s magnetic field, and AI software to pinpoint your exact location. All of this may sound like technical jargon, but it will make sense at the end of the article. 

GPS working and limitations

The GPS or Global Positioning System is the backbone of the entire world’s operations right now, there is not a single field in the entire world that is not affected by the GPS.

GPS works by receiving signals from multiple satellites working together. These signals, when broadcast, are picked up by the GPS-enabled devices. Thus, it provides somewhat accurate information on where the device is located. While the system is good, it has some glaring shortcomings, which come with huge costs. Quantum positioning system will help overcome these shortcomings.

Now, take a look at some of the cons of the GPS

• Signalling Vulnerability: GPS signals are vulnerable to jamming and cannot penetrate deeply into buildings or other structures.
• Inaccuracy: Sometimes, GPS is highly inaccurate, often giving wrong info on location to the devices. Or miscalculating distance and providing the wrong pathway to vehicles

• Spoofing: Since they are Broadcast signals, they are very easy to spoof and require special methods to counter. 
• Excessive dependence: The Navigation of the whole world depends on the GPS. From armed forces to supply chains, merchant ships, and emergency services all depend on GPS.

Losses due to GPS

Every year, all forms of sectors like aviation, fisheries, shipping industry incur heavy losses due to the malfunctioning of GPS. Many lives were lost due to over-reliance on GPS. Here comes the Opal system with its GPS-free quantum positioning system to overcome all of that. 

Ironstone Opal: The quantum navigator

Ironstone opal is a new technology that aims to give you direction without the use of a GPS satellite. It is the embodiment of Quantum navigation. The main principle behind the Ironstone is that every place on earth has different changes in the magnetic field than others. This whole dataset can be used to map different places on Earth. By using AI to filter out noise in the data, we can pinpoint our location. The Ironstone opal, a quantum navigator, was materialised by the Q-CTRL.

Quantum Navigation Ironstone Opal working:

The Ironstone works with three components 

Quantum Sensors

First, the machine has increased stability magnetometers with highly sensitive quantum sensors to pick up the minuscule changes in the magnetic field of Earth. These changes are so small that only quantum sensors can detect these slight changes. 

Earth’s Magnetic Map

It’s a huge database that has all records of Earth’s magnetic field and gravitational field changes. The system just maps the data from the magnetic map to the recorded one to provide you with the accurate location.

AI-driven Software

The AI software acts like a filter for all the noise, i.e, bad data in the background. The AI software has “software ruggedisation”, which filters any reading changes due to vibrations or electromagnetic noise.  

All of the processes involved are done locally and do not require any sort of connection to satellites. This makes it secure from jamming or spoofing. Also, it does not require any kind of connectivity, so you can use it in any remote area. The software works on “cold start”, which means that it does not require any kind of calibration to start.

Performance metrics 

Numbers: Q-CTRL GPS-free quantum navigator crushes your traditional GPS by multitudes of orders. It is less inaccurate than 0.02%. It had more than 99.9% accuracy during the test flights.

Resilience: This is much better than the existing systems, as there is no possibility of hacking, jamming, or spoofing. Due to the AI software, it is accurate too.

Ground performance: Tests have shown higher ground performance more than 5 times over traditional navigation systems

Applications

This invention has many applications in almost all fields and has the potential to replace GPS. 

1. Defence

Since most warzones are GPS denied, this invention will make sure that as a military unit, you always get the accurate location. 

In case of Unmanned vehicles like UAVS (aerial)  or AUVS (autonomous underwater vehicles) and other defence entities, they get much better navigation support. 

2. Civilian

A great help for people who live in remote areas. Civilians living in areas without satellite or GPS coverage can get their locations easily.

3. Others

In the aviation industry, with numerous flights getting grounded due to a malfunction in the GPS, we can save all those flights. Which will increase the efficiency of airlines by miles.

Shipping vessels will be able to navigate without relying on bad GPS. 

In case of critical infrastructure, we can use this system as a backup for the traditional GPS.

Impacts 

1. Economic

With almost no downtime and high reliability, we can save billions of dollars on grounded flights. With the GPS-free quantum navigation, we can save much more on shipping vessels and other operations where billions are wasted on the GPS.

3. Security

The majority of collaborators are Defence organisations, highlighting the importance of this project in the case of Security. There is no more fear of Jamming and spoofing. There is no satellite to be damaged or signals that can be tampered with. 

Challenges 

The main challenge in the field will be to 

Scalability: Make sure that the technology can reach everyone, and with its production, meet global demand.

Cost: Also, it should be affordable so that developing and underdeveloped countries can use it to their benefit.  

Future scope 

Let us see what is in store for the GPS-free by Q-CTRL 

With new developments, we will be able to see the best use of the quantum navigator

• We can see integration in defence equipment and vehicles within a few years. 
• Ironstone Opal as backup for GPS.
• Use in airlines, cars, and water vessels.

Conclusion

Quantum navigation has been one of the best applications of quantum physics yet. While we are yet to see its open application, we can be sure that GPS-free navigation by Q-CTRL will be a game-changer. 

Ironstone Opal is the ultimate form of navigation tool yet. Which combined the best of physics, artificial intelligence, with the good old magnetic navigation. We hope to see widespread application of the GPS-free technology for us all. 

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