The Precision Inertial Navigation Systems (PINS) program seeks to use ultra-cold atom interferometers as an alternative to GPS updates. Advancements in atomic physics in the past 2 decades have given scientists much better control over the external quantum states of atoms, including deliberate production of matter waves from ultra-cold atoms.
The Precision Inertial Navigation Systems (PINS) program seeks to use ultra-cold atom interferometers as an alternative to GPS updates. Advancements in atomic physics in the past 2 decades have given scientists much better control over the external quantum states of atoms, including deliberate production of matter waves from ultra-cold atoms. This has allowed development of matter wave interferometry techniques to measure forces acting on matter, including high-precision atomic accelerometers and gyroscopes. An inertial navigation system that used this technology would have unprecedented drift rates, and many scientific and technical challenges remain. The PINS program will demonstrate a high-precision atom interferometer inertial navigation system on an aircraft by 2013, with a total system volume under 20 liters. Since this is an entirely inertial system, it will require no transmissions to or from the platform, thus enabling a jam-proof, nonemanating inertial navigation system with near-GPS accuracies for future military submarines, aircraft, and missiles.