UK-made quantum navigation system successfully tested in flight

7 comments

1. Is it bad that I was actually more interested by the photo of the plane (it looks really unusual and cute!) than the actual headline

2. Good write up how the quantum nav system works here

   >The plane knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn’t. By subtracting where it is from where it isn’t, or where it isn’t from where it is (whichever is greater), it obtains a difference, or deviation. The quantum navigation uses deviations to generate corrective commands to fly the plane from a position where it is to a position where it isn’t, and arriving at a position where it wasn’t, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is, is now the position that it wasn’t, and it follows that the position that it was, is now the position that it isn’t.
   In the event that the position that it is in is not the position that it wasn’t, the system has acquired a variation, the variation being the difference between where the plane is, and where it wasn’t. If variation is considered to be a significant factor, it too may be corrected by the quantum navigation. However, the plane must also know where it was.

   >The quantum navigation system works as follows. Because a variation has modified some of the information the plane has obtained, it is not sure just where it is. However, it is sure where it isn’t, within reason, and it knows where it was. It now subtracts where it should be from where it wasn’t, or vice-versa, and by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of where it shouldn’t be, and where it was, it is able to obtain the deviation and its variation, which is called error.

3. The plane is both late and on schedule at the same time.

4. Well that sounds like it has some rather specific military functions.

5. For those who are actually interested this is basically a glorified gyroscope used for dead reckoning. They’re talking about putting it on planes but I suspect it would be much more useful on a submarine.

   Neat though

6. I guess we’ll get to see Americans make a great profit on it then…

7. The number of times the word quantum appeared in this article (Fourteen!) rather suggests that whoever wrote the press release didn’t really understand the science and so hoped that adding the word “quantum” enough would cover it for the media.