Northwest Aerospace News — Issue No. 42 December 2024 | January 2025, Fifth Annual Resource Guide Edition | Page 18

DECEMBER 2024 | JANUARY 2025
Exclusive News From Boeing
The Boeing-AOSense Flight Test Team completes first-ever quantum navigation flight test in May . ( Boeing photo )

Quantum Navigation

Test-ready technology within Boeing solves the problem of spoofing and blocking GPS navigation systems .

By The Boeing Company
Jay Lowell John R . ( Jay ) Lowell , Ph . D . Chief Engineer , Senior Technical Fellow Disruptive Computing , Networks & Sensors
Watch U . S . Fly www . watchusfly . com

Global Positioning System ( GPS ), familiar in the role of helping consumers find new restaurants across town , is also vital for enabling pilots to navigate worldwide in commercial and defense flights . GPS is satellite-based — highly accurate and valuable . However , in the case of military aircraft in defense applications in the Middle East or Ukraine , bad actors can jam the navigational signals , rendering them ineffective . They can also spoof the navigation , causing misguided directions . Misrouted navigation is naturally of deep concern to military and commercial pilots and all tracking support staff , from ground control to nearby flights . Boeing ’ s Disruptive Computing , Networks and Sensors ( DC & N ) organization aims to fix this navigational gap , starting with the U . S . military and continuing with commercial flights .

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