A quantum technology hub has been launched to ensure the UK benefits from new advancements in technology around positioning, navigation and timing. 

The UK Hub for Quantum Enabled Position, Navigation & Timing (QEPNT) will work to address challenges around the disruption and interference of crucial GPS signals by creating high performance, low size and low-cost quantum technologies.

In the UK, critical sectors and industries such as energy, finance, communications and transport depend on the reliability and accuracy of the signals from GPS satellites, but these signals can be easily disrupted by actions like signal jamming, potentially causing economic losses to the tune of a billion pounds a day.

To address these problems, researchers at the Hub will develop atomic clocks and LiDAR sensors, which use light to measure range, and create smaller, lighter quantum-enabled devices for applications in sectors including roads, railways and underground transport, where they could help improve navigation systems by replacing current GPS positioning technologies.

New technology developed at the Hub could also improve indoor navigation on mobile devices, as well as upgrade the positioning systems in submarines, allowing them to operate for months without surfacing to reconnect with satellites.

Unveiling the plans last week, Tom Newby, head of the UK Office for Quantum Technologies in the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, said: “The new Quantum Hubs in the UK will see cutting edge research improve everyday lives.  In particular, the QEPNT Hub hopes to support critical infrastructure safe from hostile threats.

“I’m delighted QEPNT is progressing the UK’s commitment and mission to develop quantum navigation systems to provide next-generation accuracy for resilience, independent of satellite systems.”

The Hub, funded as part of the UK National Quantum Technology Programme, will bring together researchers from several universities, including Glasgow, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, Imperial College London, Loughborough, and Strathclyde, as well as from the National Physical Laboratory.

Professor Doug Paul, principal investigator of QEPNT, said: “We’re delighted to launch the Hub which will support the development of new and improved forms of atomic clocks, quantum gyroscopes and quantum accelerometers. QEPNT will also facilitate industry and academic collaborations and provide skills and training to nurture the pipeline of the quantum leaders of tomorrow.”

QEPNT is one of five quantum hubs launched by the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) with a £106 million investment from EPSRC, the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, UKRI Medical Research Council, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

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Several Scottish universities partnering in the project have already built some expertise within the quantum arena. For example in July, Heriot-Watt was announced as the leader for a new Integrated Quantum Networks initiative aimed at combatting the £27 billion annual cost of cyber-crime to UK businesses.

Also this year, research from the University of Strathclyde’s Quantum Communications Hub proposed a new model using satellites as hosts of quantum memories to improve global-scale quantum communication networks.

The new Hub also builds on Glasgow University’s previous efforts to establish itself as a leading quantum research institution, beginning with the launch of the Centre for Quantum Technology back in 2021.

Earlier this year, the University of Glasgow went on to partner with Sung Kyung Kwan University in the Republic of Korea for a major new international partnership in quantum technologies aimed at developing cutting-edge quantum devices such as a next-generation superconducting photon detector.