Timing is Everything (Pun Intended)
The alarming rise in GPS spoofing is raising a much bigger concern than commercial flights.
When we think of GPS, we think of position - it is the P in GPS, after all. But the real value is as a clock for the world. GPS provides the ticking heartbeat for networks, financial transactions, data centers, and power grids, and if it stopped, credit cards and ATMS would go offline, communications would degrade and fail, and, eventually, the world would go dark.
Not surprisingly, efforts are underway to address this single point of failure. But adding resilience is only one half of the equation; there are benefits to building something better.
Currently, GPS is limited to an accuracy of tens of nanoseconds - nearly a millionth of a second.
That may seem absurdly short, but it is simply forever for modern networks and electronics. Better accuracy is needed to enable new capabilities, including:

• Coordinated signal processing: combining signals from different sources requires that they are in "phase." While timing from GPS is good enough for 4G LTE, it is barely good enough for 5G and not nearly accurate enough for 6G.
• Time-stamping of digital events: when events occur nearly simultaneously in separate locations, accurate synchronization is necessary to understand the correct order of events. This is becoming even more critical with high-frequency trading, blockchain, and new regulations "to increase transparency."
• Buffer read/write: time-stamping is also used within distributed databases that need accurate timing to efficiently send and receive data to offset power-hungry AI, with a study showing that a synchronization improvement of 80x made a distributed database run 3x faster.
• Geolocation: space and time are linked by the speed of light (light travels a meter in a few nanoseconds), so better position knowledge requires better timing.
• Time-of-flight: accurate synchronization => accurate time-of-flight measurements => better gravity gradient mapping, gravity wave detection, and weather forecasting; alerts for fiber cable breaks or intrusions; locating reference (or rogue) signals, lightning strikes, or gunshots; and even detecting people behind walls using wi-fi signals.

Last Week's Theme: Nightmare at 32,000 Feet

• Five projects are keeping the team busy:
  • Project Apollo is developing a quantum payload and simulation model.
  • Project Aristocles is developing a quantum receiver for three large fixed optical ground stations.
  • Project Chronos is developing an integrated free-space optical/quantum terminal with a clock ensemble.
  • Project Hermes is developing a transportable optical ground station.
  • Project Medusa is demonstrating free-space quantum time transfer.
• Xairos is hiring! Looking for a Photonics Lead, Software Engineer, and Program and Business Development Support. You know someone good? Drop us a line!
• Preparing for I2A Expo Day, International Conference on Space Optics (ICSO), and IQT Quantum+AI.
• Held a University of Colorado Quantum Forge kickoff with a group of physics and engineering students on a project sponsored by Xairos

• On the heels of the recent Wall Street Journal article on GPS spoofing, a community of "pilots, ATC, authorities, manufacturers, GPS experts, industry groups" released a report that "assessed that the impact of GPS Spoofing on flight safety, aircraft operation and handling, and ATC operations, is extremely significant."
• QURECA estimates current worldwide quantum investments at $42B, with "global quantum technology market projected to reach $106B by 2040." But, according a recent report, "China claims over $15 billion in public quantum funding, far outpacing the United States." This has raised concern as the 2018 US National Quantum Initiative Act (NQI) has expired and "legislation to reauthorize the NQI has been limping through Congress even though it has strong bipartisan support."
• The US Department of Commerce reiterated their support for quantum research: "We are the world's leaders in quantum, but we can only maintain that leadership if we're able to continue to invest and continue to to develop the cutting edge quantum technologies. We have to rely on our private sector to drive development, but we can make investments.”
• Meanwhile, the European Commission released their European Quantum Declaration that "reinforces Europe’s commitment to remain at the forefront of quantum technology by setting ambitious goals for research, innovation, and industrial leadership.”
• The World Economic Forum recently released a report on how quantum technologies could be used to help meet the the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
• The Nonproliferation Policy Education Center recently conducted a "space war game that focused on a near-term Taiwan-China scenario" that posited that GPS and other satellites would be early casualties.

• I2A Expo Day, October 17, El Segundo, California
• International Conference on Space Optics (ICSO), October 21-25, Antibes Juan-les-Pins, France
• IQT Quantum+AI, October 29 - 30, New York, New York
• International Timing and Sync Forum 2024, November 4 - 7, Seville, Spain
• APSCC, November 5 - 7, Bangkok, Thailand
• UK National Quantum Technologies Showcase, November 8, London, UK
• UK PNT Leadership Seminar, November 20, London, UK
• SLUSH, November 20 - 21, Helsinki, Finland
• Q2B24 Silicon Valley, December 10-12, Santa Clara, California
• Consumer Electronics Show, January 5 - 7, Las Vegas, NV
• Photonics West, January 25 - 30, San Francisco, CA
• Workshop on Synchronization and Timing Systems (WSTS), May 12 - 15, 2025, Savannah, GA
• European Navigation Conference, May 21 - 23, 2025, Wroclaw, Poland

Timing is Everything (No Pun Intended)
In Greek mythology, Kairos, the youngest son of Zeus, was the personification of opportune time - as well as our company namesake.
Unlike Chronos, who is depicted as an old man "personifying the destructive and stifling aspects of time," Kairos is depicted as a young man, always running, with a long lock of hair hanging down from his forehead since "opportunity could only be grasped as he approached."
GPS is the definition of Kairos, an accidental solution that emerged exactly when the world needed timing for early digital communication networks. While it now touches every part of our modern technology-driven world, for two decades we have known that something better is needed.
So why hasn't something better emerged? Because Kairos requires new enabling technology and capabilities that weren't quite fully formed - until now:

1. Cheap access to space
2. Commercial quantum communication systems
3. The golden age of atomic clocks
4. Ubiquitous space-based optical communications hardware

Timing is everything.