The government, which helped fund the research, said it was the first test of its kind that was publicly acknowledged by the government, which may pave the way for a GPS backup system that is unjammable in the future. A new type of navigation system has been developed in response to the GPS, which is based on satellites. However, the new system uses quantum technology, which refers to technology that uses the properties of matter on a very small scale to achieve its purpose.
As the minister for science and technology Andrew Griffith said, the test flights provided "further proof of the UK as a world leader in quantum computing". GPS has become a critical part of the military, aircraft, ships, and road vehicles, as well as smartphones, which use it to locate their locations. Despite this, satellite signals are capable of being jammed, or spoofed, so that the location data given by the satellites is misleading.
There has been a problem with the GPS signal on an RAF plane, which was carrying the UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps when it was close to Russian territory in March. Earlier this year, the Finnish airline, Finnair, had to temporarily suspend daily flights to Tartu, the second-largest city in Estonia, after two of the aircraft suffered GPS interference. In recent years, the government has been accused of disrupting satellite navigation systems that affect thousands of civilian flights. Many military technologies, such as drones and missiles, use GPS technology.
Nevertheless, GPS jamming can also be carried out at a small scale, by a few individuals who drive vehicles equipped with GPS trackers for their employers. A GPS satellite receives signals from space, but the satellite emits much less power than the headlights of a car, which can be easily jammed. It is based on a group of atoms that are kept at -273C temperature, almost as cold as it can get. Since these atoms are carried on the plane themselves, they cannot be interfered with by spoofing or jamming because they are carried on the aircraft themselves.
It is intended that these atoms are used to measure the direction in which the plane is pointing and its acceleration. The combination of these factors can be used to accurately determine the location of the plane. Because quantum systems are regarded as very small particles, they are often referred to as quantum systems. It is extremely difficult to work on such a scale on the ground because of the size of atoms - about a million atoms wide - and the atoms are so small that they seem mind-bogglingly small.
It was demonstrated in the flight that these atoms could be utilized in such a limited environment as an aircraft and that it would present a challenge in general. According to the government, this is the first flight in the UK using this type of technology, as well as the first flight in the world that has been publicly acknowledged by the government. According to the government, it is the first flight of such technology in the world.
An aerospace company, BAE Systems and QinetiQ worked with quantum tech firm Inflexion to conduct the trials earlier this month.
While quantum technology is rather small in terms of its scale, at present the equipment itself is quite large in terms of its size. For that reason, Henry White, one of the members of the BAE Systems team that worked on the project, believes the first application of the new technology could be aboard ships, "where there is a little bit more space", as he said. Nevertheless, he stated to the BBC that he was confident it would be as small as a shoebox by the time it is developed, and a thousand times more accurate than any comparable system within five to ten years.
Shipping has been under threat of attack by satellite navigation systems, which have been regarded as a threat to shipping safety. It is primarily intended as a backup for GPS according to Mr. White, but he sees it as more than that. An excellent way to tell the time using GPS signals is to use the signals from GPS satellites as they provide extremely accurate timekeeping. A quantum clock was also taken on board the test flight to see if it could be used as a backup if GPS was blocked during the flight.
There is no doubt that quantum clocks are extremely accurate, as Mr White pointed out in the lab.
An extremely accurate means of telling the time with the help of GPS signals can also be used by using satellite signals. Additionally, as part of the test flight, a quantum clock was carried on board to see if it would prove useful as a backup in the event GPS became unavailable. The best quantum clocks, according to Mr White, can be extremely accurate and have been tested in the lab. Mr. White regards the recent test as a significant milestone in the development of unjammable navigation technology.
However, he acknowledges that it will take a considerable amount of time before this technology can be actively deployed. Similarly, Ken Munro, representing Pen Test Partners, a cybersecurity firm specializing in aviation, described the test as a substantial step forward. Nevertheless, he cautioned that it would likely be 10 to 20 years before this technology sees practical implementation in commercial aviation within the United Kingdom.
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