The future – Atomic Navigation

The future – Atomic Navigation

Atomic Navigation
Researchers are within a few years of building GPS-free jam proof, on board or portable inertial navigation systems using atom chips. This would not only improve aircraft navigation but signal reception in places where it is difficult – underground, under water and in dense urban areas.

Atom chips form the basis of atom based navigation systems. When atoms are ultra cold they are in a state where the particles act like waves. Changing the gradient in the magnetic field manipulates their movement in the trap and the waves can be “tuned,” or aligned, to perform tasks like navigation sensing, acceleration sensing, time measurement, gravity sensing or possibly computing.

In conventional inertial navigation, a single laser beam is split into two paths that are later recombined. Recombination produces a distinct pattern in the light wave. The pattern changes according to the differences in paths travelled by the two parts of the split beam. A path changes if, for example, a plane banks right or left, because one split beam travels a shorter distance than the other from the fixed origin point.

This is the basis of a positional device. A system of laser gyroscopes, with a computer and accelerometers, can track direction, velocity and orientation around an axis and follow a plane’s movement from a standard point that is keyed in manually or by machine. It can’t be jammed, because it’s self contained.

The concept for the atom chip navigation system is similar. Ultra cold atom waves are split and recombined for inertial navigation. The waves are much smaller than the laser’s, and thus more sensitive. Systems using lasers “drift” and give an incorrect position by up to a mile for every hour they are in use. Researchers figure the atom chip would cut that error to 15ft or less.

Much of this work is coming from Ron Folman and his team at Ben Gurion University of the Negev http://web.bgu.ac.il/Eng/Centers/nano/members/Ron_Folman.htm who are producing atom chips that are needing their support technology miniaturised.

This part of the work is being handled by Michael Kraft http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mk1/ an engineer at Southampton University collaborating with Imperial College. London.

US Air Force has invested about USD400,000 for research with a group led James Shaffer at the University of Oklahoma http://www.nhn.ou.edu/~shaffer/research/members.html . Shaffer says “navigational systems will lead to a big payoff”.

Source:
Dumiak, M. (2008) Atomic Navigation, Defense Technology International Jul-Aug 2008 p14

The spin offs from military developments as always will be seen in Civil Aircraft as well no doubt.