> I would wager that actually this is probably just a way of funnelling money into research around quantum rather than genuinely trying to solve this specific problem.
You’re absolutely correct, from the government’s perspective the interest in the technology is for high accuracy inertial navigation systems for defence purposes, not for the London Tube. If you look at the other companies involved in this project, there’s a number of defence contractors involved.
This project isn’t really new, and historically the pitch has always been: We want to develop GPS grade navigation that doesn’t depend on satellites, and is smaller and better existing inertial navigation units. Oh look the London Underground is the perfect test bed for our technology!
It’s underground, so no GPS or many external signals. It’s already well mapped so we have something to compare against. Tube trains are loud, hot and vibrant a lot, which makes it a challenging environment for inertial systems. Plus it’s cheap and very easy to roll a box on an existing train, drive a few km under the city, and then compare your results to GPS from when you go underground, to when you surface again.
The idea of using it map the underground I think is a bit of a red herring. Makes a good story, and TfL will probably be grateful for the data. But it’s not the kinda thing anyone thinks is worth developing quantum accelerometers for.
Given all the GPS jamming in Russia/Ukraine the defense world needs something not GPS based that works. The civilian world also needs this since they are often hit with the same jamming (both as collateral damage and intentional harm to the enemy)
You’re absolutely correct, from the government’s perspective the interest in the technology is for high accuracy inertial navigation systems for defence purposes, not for the London Tube. If you look at the other companies involved in this project, there’s a number of defence contractors involved.
This project isn’t really new, and historically the pitch has always been: We want to develop GPS grade navigation that doesn’t depend on satellites, and is smaller and better existing inertial navigation units. Oh look the London Underground is the perfect test bed for our technology!
It’s underground, so no GPS or many external signals. It’s already well mapped so we have something to compare against. Tube trains are loud, hot and vibrant a lot, which makes it a challenging environment for inertial systems. Plus it’s cheap and very easy to roll a box on an existing train, drive a few km under the city, and then compare your results to GPS from when you go underground, to when you surface again.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jun/15/lond...
The idea of using it map the underground I think is a bit of a red herring. Makes a good story, and TfL will probably be grateful for the data. But it’s not the kinda thing anyone thinks is worth developing quantum accelerometers for.