Avian navigation, transparency & insect symbiotic strategies
Your new Strategy Toolkit newsletter (December 3, 2024)
(1) For the birds…
In the mad race to replace the decades-old GPS navigation system, whose vulnerabilities are growing increasingly perilous, the US military is turning to innovative startups inspired (as so often in the past) by the migratory brilliance of birds.
“Silicon Valley startup SandboxAQ, whose chairman is former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, has a contract with the US Air Force to develop its AQNav magnetic navigation system, which doesn’t rely on satellites at all, said Luca Ferrara, general manager of AQNav…
“Each spot on the planet has a different magnetic fingerprint, which is how birds can intuit their way across large spans of ocean without any visual cues, he added. The company’s AI model matches what data it receives to a magnetic map of the Earth, with proprietary tech stitching together many map data sources.
“The hardware for SandboxAQ’s system fits in a space the size of a few shoeboxes and is ready for use, according to the company.”*
* Lee, J., “QPS for the DoD,” Bloomberg Tech Daily, December 2 2024; https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-12-02/quantum-tech-startups-get-military-backing-to-replace-gps
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