Quantum Navigation: Magnetic and Gravity-Aided Positioning in GPS-Denied Environments

10:50 am - 11:20 am

Quantum sensors have long promised navigation without reliance on GPS, but deploying them on real moving platforms presents a fundamental challenge: vibration, electromagnetic interference, temperature variation, and platform motion can rapidly overwhelm laboratory-grade performance.
This presentation will describe Q-CTRL’s software-ruggedized approach to quantum navigation, combining quantum magnetometers and atom-interferometric gravimeters with quantum control, sensor fusion, platform-noise rejection, and map-matching algorithms. Rather than treating the sensor as an isolated device, this approach co-designs the quantum hardware, embedded control systems, and navigation software for operation in real environments.

Recent demonstrations include airborne magnetic navigation during complete flight profiles, achieving required navigation performance of approximately 0.3 nautical miles and more than a hundredfold improvement over unaided inertial navigation. Ground trials have demonstrated magnetic navigation with position errors below 100 metres using publicly available magnetic maps. Q-CTRL has also demonstrated mobile quantum gravimetry on land and at sea, including operation in Sea State 4, sub-mGal measurement repeatability, and gravity-aided positioning bounded to approximately one nautical mile.

Together, these results show how quantum sensing is progressing from laboratory demonstrations toward deployable navigation capabilities for aviation, maritime systems, autonomous vehicles, and other GPS-denied applications.

Featured Speakers

Michael

Dr. Michael Hush

Chief Scientist, Q-CTRL

Dr. Michael Hush is Chief Scientist at Q-CTRL, a global quantum technology company developing quantum infrastructure software and next-generation quantum sensors. He leads multidisciplinary teams working across quantum computing and quantum sensing, with a focus on translating advanced quantum research into practical, deployable technologies.

His work in quantum computing has contributed to improved algorithm execution and error suppression on real quantum hardware. In quantum sensing, he has helped lead the development of software-ruggedized quantum magnetometers, gravimeters, and inertial sensors designed to operate outside controlled laboratory environments.

These technologies underpin Q-CTRL’s quantum navigation systems, which use measurements of the Earth’s magnetic and gravitational fields to provide positioning in environments where GPS is unavailable, unreliable, or actively denied. Michael has supported major technical demonstrations across airborne, maritime, and ground platforms and has led collaborations with government and industry partners including DARPA, IBM, Airbus, and Lockheed Martin.
He holds a PhD in physics from the Australian National University and was awarded the University Medal in Theoretical Physics.