Our work

Quantum sensing

Delivering transformational defense and commercial capabilities through quantum advantage

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The New York Times
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Our clients

Lockheed Martin logoNasa logoNorthwestern UniversityUS department of defenseUSGS - Science for a changing world logo
Jet flying through the sky
Latest news

Unlocking the power of quantum navigation with Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin and Q-CTRL have been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Defense's Innovation Unit (DIU) to develop and field test a quantum Inertial Navigation System (INS).

Detect the undetectable

Quantum sensors exploit the extreme sensitivity of quantum devices to give you a new way to see the world. By harnessing the power of quantum technology, these sensors are able to detect smaller signals from greater distances, unlocking new possibilities for navigation and exploration in the air, on land, and at sea.

At Q-CTRL we’ve focused entirely on how AI-powered quantum control software can help realize the transformational potential of quantum sensing where it counts – in the field.  Discover more below.

Solutions for commercial aviation and defense

Enabling the autonomous future powered by quantum navigation

GPS is essential, but increasingly vulnerable to outages, jamming, and spoofing in critical real-world environments. With over 1,000 flights a day subject to jamming, the risks to crewed and uncrewed systems across air, land, and sea are growing daily.

Through our focus on how software can augment the performance of quantum sensing hardware, we delivered the first and only commercial quantum navigation system capable of achieving true advantage in flight and ground-based trials.

The resulting system is Ironstone Opal, a compact and powerful quantum navigation system that delivers GPS-like navigation without GPS, for deployment in drones, autonomous cars, and airliners. It uses ultrasensitive quantum sensors, mapping to the Earth's magnetic field, providing secure, passive, and all-weather navigation in GPS-denied environments.

Gain a validated quantum advantage in real fielded environments with the Q-CTRL difference

>100X

Quantum advantage over a strategic-grade classical INS.

<0.03%

Fractional positioning uncertainty after hours of continuous flight.

20X

Enhanced resilience in motion due to proprietary software ruggedization.

Solutions for end-users

Delivering a strategic advantage with state-of-the-art quantum-assured systems

More and more missions require early warning of threats and opportunities. Detecting signals of opportunity in either defense or commercial settings mandates new sensing technologies that are extremely sensitive and ultra-stable. Quantum sensing is the way forward.

Our expert team builds some of the world’s highest-performing, field-deployable quantum sensors tailored to the most demanding needs of our customers. By combining advanced hardware with proprietary software ruggedization, we deliver quantum-enhanced sensing solutions that unlock new capabilities and offer performance no one else can match.

And by focusing on solutions that solve real problems we’re transforming the outlook for quantum advantage. Get in touch to discover more about our quantum-magnetometer-based counter-UAS technology, and our gravimetric and magnetic mapping innovations.

World’s smallest strapdown 3-axis quantum IMU

UAV-mountable optical magnetometer

Ultrastable dual gravimeter/gradiometer

Solutions to protect critical infrastructure and defense personnel

Giving you new tools to counter new airborne threats

The risk of attack from uncrewed systems is growing, with recent missions in Ukraine and Russia illustrating how significant the threat has become.  Existing counter-UAS systems fail in poor visibility and struggle to distinguish true risks from birds and other natural phenomena.

In partnership with the US Government and Australian Defence Q-CTRL has been developing a new generation of magnetic detection systems to deliver early warning of inbound drones.  By identifying telltale signals of drone motors, this system can help provide early warning in the dark, and can help distinguish real threats from birds and other harmless background.

Get in touch to learn more about how to add a quantum defense to your infrastructure and personnel.

Solutions for quantum-sensing development teams

Helping you bring your quantum sensors to the field

Quantum control engineering is essential to extract more useful information from the next generation of quantum sensors and to accelerate their deployment in the field. It overcomes imperfections, environmental clutter, and platform noise to realize the true potential of your hardware.

Graph comparing atomic state ratio

Based on years of research, we provide infrastructure software solutions for quantum sensing that expand your system’s performance for the missions that matter. They are based on the power of Boulder Opal’s quantum control and intelligent autonomy capabilities, integrating autonomy, resilience, and noise rejection directly into your existing hardware and operational software.  And they’re validated to deliver!

Now you can empower your quantum sensing research with Boulder Opal's validated quantum control and research tools.

Real-world use cases

Northwestern University

Northwestern looks to the heart of the universe with robust quantum sensors

With Boulder Opal, Northwestern suppressed 5 different noise sources simultaneously with a single optimized robust control pulse for atom interferometry.

5

different noise sources can be suppressed simultaneously with a single optimized robust control pulse for atom interferometry.

Read the case study

The breadth and flexibility of Boulder Opal allowed us to create our own optimization scenario and obtain pulses robust to the five most relevant experimental noise sources at the same time! This will be crucial in the development of atomic interferometers to detect dark matter and gravitational waves at currently unexplored frequencies.

Zilin Chen
Postdoc
,
Northwestern University
Advanced Navigation

Developing a quantum-assured navigation solution

Partnering with Advanced Navigation to develop a hybrid approach to quantum navigation enabling high positioning accuracy over very long periods of GPS denial.

>180X

Navigational stability improvement.

Read the case study

Autonomous quantum sensors in space exploration will be invaluable in leveraging extraterrestrial resources for permanent human bases on the Moon and Mars.

Steven Marshall
Premier of South Australia
,
Advanced Navigation
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Make quantum technology useful
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