A project to transform navigational tools on aircraft, submarines and autonomous vehicles is to go ahead at Queen’s University Belfast as part of a £160m investment in ‘quantum’ technologies across the UK, it has been announced. 

Secretary of state for DSIT, Peter Kyle unveiled five, new quantum ‘hubs’ to drive cutting-edge technology to future-proof healthcare, national security, infrastructure, computing and finance (pictured at the launch of the hubs at Glasgow University).

The hub that Queen’s will be part of, Quantum Enabled Position, Navigation and Timing (QEPNT) aims to improve positioning systems, for example on planes to negate any GPS jamming, in submarines to allow them to operate for months without surfacing to reconnect with satellites and on autonomous vehicles to enable them to operate in GPS-denied areas.

Improving resilience

Current GPS technology relies on satellite communications which are vulnerable to external threats including weather and deliberate hacking. Such disruptions can have massive knock-on effects for society if key industries such as healthcare, transport, media and energy are impacted, and come with a major financial cost. Another liability of satellite communication is that it doesn’t work well indoors or underground.

Potential applications from QEPNT will include atomic clocks and LiDAR sensors, which use light to measure range and which will be able to provide more resilient positioning, navigation and timing.

Smaller, lighter quantum-enabled devices developed at the hub could find new applications in roads, railways and underground transport, replacing current GPS positioning. They could also enable better indoor navigation on mobile devices.

Professor Mehrdad Dianati from the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Queen’s University will be heading up the Queen’s aspect of the QEPNT hub, focusing on connected and autonomous vehicles. He said: "Quantum positioning is a promising technology that can address some of the most challenging positioning problems in autonomous vehicle systems, where current, conventional technologies are unreliable.

“Researchers at Queen’s are excited to contribute to QEPNT's cutting-edge research on evaluating and designing practical quantum-positioning systems for autonomous vehicles."

Professor Douglas Paul, of the James Watt School of Engineering at Glasgow University, is the principal investigator of QEPNT. He said: "Much of the UK's critical infrastructure relies on the accurate time, direction and speed obtained from signals from GPS. Currently, connections to those satellites are vulnerable to disruption through technical problems or deliberate malicious actions like signal-jamming.

"This new hub will support the development of new and improved forms of atomic clocks, quantum gyroscopes and quantum accelerometers. Those technologies, integrated into portable and affordable future devices, will help reduce our reliance on satellites by providing new ways to locally measure position, navigation and timing.

"Unlike current technologies, they will work indoors, underground and in all weathers, helping to bolster the UK's national security and offering new applications for industry."

The DSIT secretary of state added: “This isn't just about research; it's about putting that research to work. These hubs will bridge the gap between brilliant ideas and practical solutions. They will not only transform sectors like healthcare and security, but also create a culture of accelerated innovation that helps to grow our economy.”

‘Quantum’ refers to science and technology based on quantum physics, rather than classical physics such as Newton’s laws of motion or thermodynamics. The other four quantum hubs that have been established are:

• Q-BIOMED (UCL and University of Cambridge). Aims to use quantum technologies to transform early disease diagnosis, for example through quantum-enhanced blood tests to diagnose infectious diseases and cancer quickly and cheaply using portable instruments, saving time and reducing costs to the NHS;
• QuSIT (University of Birmingham). Aims to overcome barriers to quantum sensing, imaging and timing to allow us to see the invisible, with applications in health such as quantum brain scanners to investigate dementia, and cameras to detect gas leaks and hidden objects;
• IQN (Heriot-Watt University). Research towards the goal of creating a ‘quantum internet’ formed of globally interlinked quantum networks connecting multiple quantum computers. This will be able to produce enormous computational power and which will ensure secure access to future quantum computing services, and future-proofed secure communications;
• QCI3 (University of Oxford) aims to develop the technologies needed for the UK to play a key role in the development of quantum computers, a market estimated to be worth $1.3tn by 2030. For more about the government’s plan for accelerating quantum technologies, see the UK National Quantum Strategy.