CQINS: Continuous Quantum Inertial Navigation Systems

可靠和准确的定位和导航功能对于现代社会的大部分人来说是必不可少的。然而，对于关键的国家基础设施（CNI），如应急和国防服务，这种需求更为强烈。定位和导航通常由全球定位系统（GPS）等全球导航卫星系统（GNSS）提供，GNSS的使用程度如此之高，以至于GNSS经常被描述为“看不见的效用”。然而，我们目前对GNSS的过度依赖造成了巨大的单点故障，因此引起了国家的重大关注。在GNSS之前，惯性导航系统（INS）是导航的标准。惯性导航系统的精度在很大程度上取决于其惯性传感器的灵敏度和噪声性能，它们目前被用作GNSS的备份。通过利用量子叠加，原子干涉仪在过去的十年里一直在实验室中突破惯性传感器噪声和稳定性的极限。早期可部署的系统将使用量子和经典惯性传感器数据流的融合来增强所谓的量子增强型惯性导航系统（Q-INS）的性能。在这个项目中，我们将与英国政府内部未来量子增强惯性导航系统的受益者密切合作，共同制定技术路线图，以满足最近的需求。该项目的成功完成将为部署量子增强惯性导航系统铺平道路，该系统可用于为英国提供安全定位和导航能力。

Reliable and accurate positioning and navigation functionality is essential for much of or modern society. This need, however, is even stronger for critical national infrastructure (CNI), such as the emergency and defence services. Positioning and navigation are usually provided by Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GPS, which is used to such an extent that GNSS is often described as the 'invisible utility'. However, our current overreliance on GNSS creates a large single point of failure and is therefore of significant national concern.Prior to GNSS, inertial navigation systems (INS) were the standard for navigation. The accuracy of an INS depends critically on the sensitivity and noise performance of its inertial sensors, and they are currently used as a backup for GNSS.By exploiting quantum superposition, atomic interferometers have been pushing the limits of inertial sensor noise and stability for the last decade in laboratories. Early deployable systems will use the fusion of quantum and classical inertial sensor data streams to enhance the performance in a so-called quantum-enhanced INS (Q-INS).In this project, we will work closely with the beneficiaries of future quantum-enhance inertial navigation systems within UK government to co-develop the technology roadmap to fit best the nearest term needs. Successful completion of the project will pave the way toward deployable quantum-enhanced inertial navigation systems which can be used to provide secure positioning and navigation capability for the UK.