Joe Cotter (Imperial College, London)
Quantum enhanced sensors for inertial navigation
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), like the US Global Positioning System (GPS), provide incredibly accurate timing and positioning across the globe. Many sectors of our society now rely heavily on GNSS. However, these signals are vulnerable to interference and don’t work underground or underwater. Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) can deliver accurate positioning in GNSS denied environments, but currently their performance is limited by drift in the underpinning sensors.
Cold atom interferometers have demonstrated measurements of acceleration and rotation extremely low-drift in the lab, offering a potential route towards next generation INS that can deliver better position accuracy in satellite free navigation systems. Here, I will describe our work at Imperial to translate developments in cold atom interferometry from the lab into a transportable quantum enhanced sensor technology that can be deployed on moving platforms, including maritime and rail.