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GPS or more accurately, Global Positioning System, is the US's premier global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that is operated by the US Space Force. GPS powers everything from car satnavs to smartphones and is of particular use to armed forces and emergency responders all across the globe. The European Union (EU) boasts access to its own GNSS network, Galileo, and since the early Eighties, Russia has expanded its own GNSS network of GLONASS satellites.
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Although incredibly valuable, positioning and navigation satellites have many drawbacks.
The signals can be jammed or hijacked, potentially disabling access to navigation for commercial and military devices alike.
This is why researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have designed a device that could offer the benefits of GNSS but without the main security drawbacks.
The avocado-sized device uses the principles of quantum mechanics and could one day be fitted in all sorts of vehicles.
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According to the researchers at Sandia, the technology has the potential to usher in a GPS-free revolution.
Bethany Little, a postdoctoral scientist working at Sandia, said: "Quantum sensors are a growing field, and there are lots of applications you can demonstrate in the lab.
"But when you move into the real world there are lots of problems you have to solve.
"Two are making the sensor compact and rugged.
"The physics takes place all in a cubic centimetre (0.06 cubic inches) of volume, so anything larger than that is wasted space."
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GPS is incredibly precise in its measurements thanks to atomic clocks and the satellite constellation is maintained in perfect sync.