Magnetic Navigation Surging

by | Jun 3, 2023 | Blog

Image: US Air Force

What’s New: In just the last several days two different organizations in the Dept of Defense have had media releases about magnetic navigation.

Why its Important:

  • Lots of folks, DOD especially, are always looking for ways to navigate when GPS and other space-based system are not available.
  • Magnetic navigation requires no infrastructure. Just use of Earth’s magnetic field –  a navigation method that has been in use for thousands of years!

What to Know:

  • Advocates say it is fairly difficult to interfere with magnetic navigation by jamming or spoofing. Software can fairly easily filter interference out.
  • While it can be used for location and navigation, magnetic nav does not provide a timing signal. Much of the tech that relies on GPS/GNSS needs timing.
  • At least one commercial entity, RNT Foundation member Astranav, is actively marketing a magnetic location and navigation tool. 

 

 

MagNav project successfully demonstrates real-time magnetic navigation

  • Published 
  • Department of the Air Force-Massachusetts Institute of Technology AI Accelerator

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AFNS) —  

In a groundbreaking achievement, the Department of the Air Force-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Accelerator, or AIA, MagNav project recently performed real-time magnetic navigation, or MagNav, on the C-17A Globemaster III in flight, becoming the first organization to successfully demonstrate this cutting-edge technology in real-time on a Department of Defense aircraft.

MagNav equipment loaded on the back of a C-17A Globemaster III, ready for the first real-time demonstration on during Exercise Golden Phoenix May 11-15.
MagNav equipment is loaded on the back of a C-17A Globemaster III, ready for the first real-time demonstration on a Defense Department aircraft, during exercise Golden Phoenix, May 11-15, 2023. In the groundbreaking achievement, the Department of the Air Force-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Accelerator MagNav project performed real-time magnetic navigation on the C-17A in flight, becoming the first organization to successfully demonstrate the cutting-edge technology in real-time. (Courtesy photo)

The AIA MagNav team, in conjunction with personnel from MIT, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Air Force Research Laboratory Sensors Directorate and the Air Force Institute of Technology Autonomy and Navigation Center, flew three Travis Air Force Base, California, C-17 sorties to the test complex at Edwards AFB, California, during exercise Golden Phoenix, May 11-15.

READ MORE

 

  1. SENSORS

Military researchers ask industry for enabling technologies in magnetic navigation for GPS-denied uses

June 1, 2023
DARPA wants to improve understanding of the state of the art and the emerging technologies available for magnetic navigation in noisy RF environments.
John Keller

ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. military navigation and guidance experts are reaching out to industry for new enabling technologies for magnetic navigation in GPS-denied environments.

Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., issued a request for information (DARPA-SN-23-70) last Friday for the Advances in Magnetic Navigation project.

Experts in the DARPA Microsystems Technology Office want to improve their understanding of the state of the art and the emerging technologies available to meet magnetic navigation requirements for high-noise operational and environmental conditions.

READ MORE