posted in Technology
World's first GPS-free quantum navigation trial succeeds at sea
interestingengineering.com/innovation/gravnav-10-times-more-accurate-quantum-sensors
Replying to @Gsus4@mander.xyz
The team achieved 10 times better performance than GNSS systems, with a one nautical mile of positioning accuracy.
Variation up to a full nautical mile doesn’t seem very accurate?
Replying to @Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz
If I were in the middle of the ocean I couldn’t find my location within 100 nautical miles without GPS so I’m pretty impressed
Replying to @hasnep@lemmy.ml
Then you wouldn’t be the ideal thing to compare this to. An experienced navigator with a couple basic tools could do similarly.
Replying to @kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Experience navigators with some basic tools often ended up hundreds and hundreds of miles off course because they had no reference points. If you’re navigation system is landmarks plus a sextant then it’s not going to be very accurate.
When you’re trying to transit the ocean one nautical miles worth of accuracy isn’t bad, especially if the alternative is to use a potentially compromised GPS or a 15th century navigation tool.