QS3 — Quantum Sensing & Signal Subsystem

Navigate without satellites. Communicate through jamming. One quantum core.

Neurowand's QS3 quantum sensing core and ASTRA stack keep high-value defence and telecom platforms navigating and communicating when GPS is spoofed and the RF spectrum is contested.

GPS DENIED QS3-equipped platform Magnetic-field navigation — no GNSS 6G / adaptive RF spectrum
The Problem

Navigation and communications collapse is no longer rare — or limited to warzones

100+
GPS spoofing incidents at Delhi Airport, Oct–Dec 2025
47%
Rise in cognitive RF jamming systems since 2021
0
Enemy RF emissions needed to detect their presence

The risk is existential for high-value (>$100M), mission-critical platforms.

Military-grade INS drifts ~0.01°/hour, forcing GPS re-fixes every 7–14 days. Frequency-hopping radios rely on predefined hop lists — if timing drifts, the link drops. Every current system fails because it relies on assumptions an adversary can break.

The Technology

One quantum core. Built to replace fragile RF and GPS.

QS3 — our Quantum Sensing and Signal Subsystem — pairs a Rydberg-atom RF sensor with EdgeAI, our real-time inference layer. Together they power ASTRA, our stack of resilient navigation and communication applications, from a single core.

01 / 04

QS3 Core — Rydberg Atom RF Sensing

Noise-Cancelling Headphones, for Atoms

Two lasers pass through a heated rubidium-87 vapor cell, exciting the atoms into a Rydberg state and opening a narrow window of quantum transparency (EIT). An incoming RF field disturbs that quantum balance, and we read the disturbance directly off the light — no metal antenna, no tuning, no moving parts. One sensor covers kHz to 100+ GHz in a single package.

Electromagnetically induced transparencyRubidium-87 vapor cellRoom-temperature operation
10³–10⁵×wider bandwidth than a fixed antenna
sub-µV/mfield sensitivity
0recalibration drift
Incident RF field Rubidium-87 vapor cell Probe laser Coupling laser Balanced photodiodes RF field perturbs the EIT window — read out optically
02 / 04

EdgeAI — Real-Time Inference at the Sensor

The Brain Next to the Sensor, Not in the Cloud

Every reading off the QS3 core is processed the instant it's captured — on-chip, at the edge, with no round-trip to a server. The same EdgeAI stack that turns a raw photodiode signal into a classified spectrum or a geomagnetic fix also runs the sense-classify-select-hop loop that keeps a link alive under jamming. It's the layer that makes ASTRA a real-time system, not a lab instrument.

On-chip inferenceReal-time signal fusionNo cloud dependency
<1msdecision latency
0cloud round-trips required
On-chipinference, not post-processed
Raw sensor signal EdgeAI Real-time decision — position fix or clean channel
03 / 04

ASTRA — Satellite-Independent Navigation

The Earth's Magnetic Field as a Reference Frame

The same Rydberg sensor also reads the Earth's local magnetic field. EdgeAI matches that reading against IGRF / World Magnetic Model reference data to fix position — passively, covertly, and with no satellite, no timing signal, and no recalibration. Built for submarines, UAVs, and munitions operating exactly where GNSS can't reach.

Geomagnetic map-matchingNo GNSS or timing dependencyPassive & covert
~1mpositioning accuracy
~msfix time
0recalibration required
N S QS3 reads local field → position fix 25–70 µT Earth field · matched to IGRF / WMM · 0° → ±90° inclination
04 / 04

ASTRA — Adaptive RF Spectrum Control

Outrunning the Jammer, Not Out-Muscling It

A continuous sense → classify → select → hop loop scans the full band, tells clean spectrum from contested and jammed, and hops to the best available channel in real time — all inside one millisecond. With no fixed bands and no pre-planned hop list, there's nothing for a jammer to predict or target. This is the same antenna-free receiver architecture 6G needs.

kHz – 100+ GHz coverage1000+ hops per second6G-ready receiver architecture
<1msfull sense-to-hop cycle
1000+hops per second
1Rydberg unit replaces a multi-antenna array
Live RF scan Sense Classify Select Hop <1ms Communicates through active jamming — no fixed bands
How It Works

From ambient RF to a jam-proof channel, in under a millisecond

ASTRA's spectrum-control loop runs continuously on the QS3 core, thousands of times per second.

Sense Classify Select Hop <1ms kHz → 100+ GHz full-band coverage · 1000+ hops/second
1

Sense

The QS3 core performs a full-band RF scan across the spectrum — kHz to 100+ GHz — with a single Rydberg sensor.

2

Classify

EdgeAI sorts what it sees into clean, contested, or jammed in real time — no predefined threshold list.

3

Select

The system picks the best available band for the current link, continuously, not on a fixed schedule.

4

Hop

The link hops to the selected band — 1000+ times per second, with no dwell time long enough to be targeted or jammed.

Where It's Used

Built for defence and telecom missions

One QS3 core, deployed across the domains where GPS can't be trusted and spectrum is contested.

Defense
Radar, LIDAR, RF sensing
Navigation
Satellite-independent positioning for submarines, UAVs & munitions
Comms
Secure links & jam-resistant RF hopping — antenna-free for 6G
Surveillance
Covert ISR & spectrum intelligence — zero emissions

…and multi-domain use cases across metrology, telecom, space EO, mining, land, sea, air, and subsea.

Rydberg vapor-cell sensor EdgeAI inference engine ASTRA application layer MIL-SPEC enclosure — vehicle, airframe & vessel mount
The Core

QS3: single core, multiple missions

A ruggedized, field-deployable module pairing a Rydberg-atom RF sensor with EdgeAI, our real-time inference layer, in one MIL-SPEC enclosure — built to mount directly into vehicles, airframes, and vessels without a lab environment.

  • One core, two missions today — satellite-independent navigation and adaptive RF spectrum control — with more ASTRA applications on the roadmap
  • Passive, covert operation — emits nothing, needs no external signal
  • Real-time EdgeAI inference — no cloud round-trip
  • Ruggedized for vehicle, airframe, and subsurface deployment
Get Started

See quantum sensing in the field

Whether you're building resilient navigation for a contested platform or an antenna-free receiver for next-generation networks — request a technical briefing with our team.