A now-retired pilot was flying over Iran on the way to London when he noticed something strange.
As he told the Sydney Morning Herald, the pilot realised that one of his plane’s GPS systems had wandered off, and now appeared to be nearly 50km off from what the other two GPS systems were saying.
Normally, these systems are within 1.5km of accuracy.
The plane had fallen victim to GPS spoofing or blocking, which can lead to the removal of position, navigation and timing information for ships and planes.
According to the International Air Transport Association, there has been a more than 200 per cent increase in GPS loss events from 2021 to 2024.
A wide range of services now rely on GPS, which involves satellites beaming signals down to Earth with little or no encryption. But malicious actors are increasingly taking advantage of this and jamming or spoofing these GPS signals.
This can have huge consequences, particularly when it comes to planes and ships.
Sydney-based quantum pioneer Q-CTRL has developed a quantum-based alternative to a GPS backup which can provide a lifesaving safety net in the event of a jamming or spoofing.
Ironstone Opal is a new quantum assured navigation system that can deliver GPS-like positioning in real operating environments where GPS may be unavailable or untrustworthy.
It can’t be jammed or spoofed, and testing has shown it to outperform conventional strategic-grade GPS backups by 94 times.
Q-CTRL’s Ironstone Opal is a finalist in the InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence in the Defence and Dual-Use Technology Award. The InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence winners and finalists will be celebrated at a black-tie gala dinner at Sydney Town Hall on Thursday, November 27. You can book your tickets here.
The Defence and Dual-Use Technology Award spotlights technologies that benefit civilian and military sectors, with consideration also given to their ethical and legal implications.
Q-CTRL was founded by Michael Biercuk in Sydney in 2017, and is now a key player in Australia’s burgeoning quantum sector.
Ironstone Opal uses software-ruggedisation quantum sensing and magnetic navigation to create a completely secure service to meet a growing market demand in aerospace, defense and autonomous vehicles.
The technology is based on geophysical map matching and integrates in-house developed quantum sensors in novel architecture to provide the sensitivity, stability and resilience required for highly critical missions.
Late last year, Q-CTRL closed a $166 million Series B funding round, a record for an Australian quantum software company.
It has also recently been awarded a contract with the US Department of Defence’s Innovation Unit in partnership with Lockheed Martin, for the development of a quantum-enabled Intertial Navigation System.
The 2025 InnovationAus Awards for Excellence will be held on November 27 at the magnificent Sydney Town Hall. You can secure individual seats or book a table here. Purchase a table of 10 and have your logo displayed on screens across the venue and in the event programme as a ‘Table Sponsor’.
The InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence are proudly supported by ACS, PEXA Group, the CSIRO ON Program, Griffith Hack, TechnologyOne, Q-CTRL, National AI Centre, University of New South Wales, KPMG, AgriFutures Australia, Investment NSW and IP Australia.
Protecting your great ideas with intellectual property (IP) rights can lead to lasting benefits for your growing business. IP refers to creations of the mind, such as a brand, logo, invention, design or artistic work. Head to the IP Australia website to find out more about IP, and how it might help your business.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.