2027Military and commercial airworthiness qualification (next)
2027First operational deployment
Current obstacles
Magnetic interferenceRadio systems, power lines and military radar can create electromagnetic noise that degrades navigation accuracy; filtering and robustness are ongoing work.
Regulatory certificationMilitary and civilian aviation certification requires formal qualification tests and documentation; timelines depend on government approvals.
Physics limits
Accuracy depends on magnetic anomaly resolutionMagnetic maps have finite detail; positioning accuracy cannot exceed the feature size of the underlying crustal anomalies, which is typically tens to hundreds of meters.
Regional coverage constraintsMagnetic anomaly maps don't exist everywhere; operations are limited to regions with adequate geomagnetic survey coverage.
How it works
3 parts
Sensing
Quantum magnetometers read Earth's magnetic field
Quantum sensors measure local magnetic anomalies created by variations in the Earth's crust, which act as a geographic fingerprint.
Processing
Large Quantitative Models match sensor data to maps
AI models, trained on magnetic anomaly maps, process incoming sensor data to determine position without using satellites.
Integration
Works with existing avionics
AQNav uses magnetometers and inertial measurement units already on aircraft, minimizing hardware changes needed for integration.
AQNav magnetic navigation, quantum AI, drug discovery
SandboxAQ builds quantum-inspired AI for GPS-free navigation, drug discovery and materials science. Spun out from Alphabet in 2022, it combines quantum physics with classical learning.
Raised $500M Series F (May 2026) at $9.84B; investors include Google, NVIDIA, Eric Schmidt.
AQNav flew on 9 platforms for 245+ hours. Passed Boeing and Northrop tests; September 2026 test on Lumberjack drone.
Also builds AI for drug discovery and materials science via acquired Good Chemistry.
