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Session B5: Quantum PNT 1

Honeywell’s QUEST-Driven Advancements in MagNav for Resilient GNSS-Independent Positioning
Hunter Staack, Corey Knutson, Calvin Samborski, Imraan Mitha, Sadman Sakib Enan, Trevor Stephens, Honeywell Aerospace Technologies
Date/Time: Tuesday, Jun. 2, 8:55 a.m.

Alternative Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) solutions are essential for maintaining operational superiority in contested environments where Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are vulnerable to degraded or denied performance. Honeywell Aerospace Technologies continues to lead in this domain through its Magnetic Anomaly Aided Navigation (MagNav) technology, significantly enhanced under the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Transition of Quantum Sensing (TQS) program and extensive research and development efforts. Honeywell’s MagNav solution leverages quantum magnetometers to measure Earth’s crustal geomagnetic field as a passive, unjammable navigation signal, delivering absolute position aiding that is independent of external sources, weather, terrain, or time of day. Offered as part of the Honeywell Alternative Navigation Architecture (HANA), this technology has been integrated and tested on numerous platforms, from small UAS to large fixed-wing jets. This presentation will highlight how recent innovations have helped drive performance improvements, demonstrating accuracy better than 125 meters over several hours of GNSS-denied flight.
MagNav systems are rapidly approaching sub-100-meter navigation accuracy in GNSS-denied environments. However, this performance fundamentally depends on the availability of high-quality magnetic anomaly maps, which remain scarce globally and are notably absent in many areas of operational interest. Sensor placement is crucial for reducing platform magnetic interference, often requiring integration into confined spaces, which drives the necessity for reduced size and weight. Furthermore, enabling this technology on smaller UAS platforms necessitates reducing the cost of high-performing magnetic sensors. Under DIU TQS, Honeywell’s Quantum Enabled Sensor Technology (QUEST) for MagNav program addresses these needs through open architecture flight testing designed to evaluate MagNav performance with TQS-developed magnetometers, assess novel algorithms for platform magnetic interference correction, and enhance map processing techniques.
Results from recent test events under the TQS program will be presented, highlighting open architecture collaboration among performers, including joint testing with quantum inertial sensor programs. The presentation will detail MagNav performance on small UAS platforms with low-cost inertial sensors and showcase operationally relevant demonstrations at higher altitudes leveraging easily created corridor magnetic maps. Additionally, Honeywell has demonstrated differentiated capabilities in magnetic anomaly map-making, successfully applying our approach to data collected with onboard magnetometers (without tail boom installations) to produce maps within 10% of the navigation accuracy achieved using survey-grade aircraft. These results underscore Honeywell’s progress toward fielding quantum-enhanced MagNav as a mature, warfighter-ready solution. By bridging breakthroughs in quantum sensing with rigorous airborne testing and removing barriers to magnetic map creation, Honeywell is leading the way for rapid operational adoption, ensuring assured PNT in increasingly adversarial domains.

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