Successful deployment at APEX validates the technology as a crucial inertial-sensor stack for assured PNT on the modern battlefield.
United States, February 2025 – Advanced Navigation, a global leader in assured positioning, navigation, and timing (APNT) technologies and autonomous systems, has successfully demonstrated its inertial-centric intelligent navigation as part of the U.S. Army’s All-Domain Persistent Experiment (APEX), underscoring the ability to deliver reliable, high-accuracy navigation in GNSS-degraded and -denied conditions.
Designed for the DDIL (Degraded, Denied, Intermittent and Low-bandwidth), APEX provided Advanced Navigation with an operationally relevant testbed to evaluate the performance of its Boreas D90 Fiber-Optic Gyroscope (FOG) Inertial Navigation System (INS) when fused with complementary aiding sensors, including the Laser Velocity Sensor (LVS) and a Wheel Speed Encoder. The results reaffirm Advanced Navigation’s intelligent software-defined approach as a resilient foundation for APNT on the modern battlefield.
Chris Shaw, Advanced Navigation CEO, said,
“In today’s contested environment, the adversary will deny, degrade, and spoof GNSS signals. Relying on a single technology for navigation is a mission-ending vulnerability.
Assured PNT is non-negotiable. The only path to operational advantage is an intelligent, multi-sensor fusion anchored by a resilient inertial core. We deliver this with our sophisticated AdNav Intelligence software.
It is the adaptive nervous system for your platform. It continuously validates all sensor inputs, adjusts in real-time to the operational environment, and autonomously counteracts spoofing and jamming. This ensures unwavering PNT integrity, enabling you to operate decisively through an evolving, multi-domain threat landscape.
Now in our third year participating in this U.S. Army program, APEX continues to challenge our systems under realistic electronic warfare conditions. We’re honored to collaborate with the U.S Army to help better prepare warfighters’ mission readiness for complex multi-domain operations.”
Boreas D90: The Core of the Inertial-Centric Architecture
At the center of the architecture is Boreas D90, a strategic-grade FOG INS that serves as the “nervous system” of the navigation stack. Unlike conventional systems reliant on GNSS or magnetic compasses, Boreas D90 determines true North through gyrocompassing, using ultra-sensitive fiber-optic gyroscopes to detect the Earth’s rotation. This enables independent, high-confidence navigation, even when external GNSS signals are compromised.
Countering Electronic Warfare with AdNav Intelligence
What ultimately completes this layered, inertial-centric architecture is AdNav Intelligence – the company’s sophisticated software, which can adapt in real time to respond to incoming threats. Drawing on sophisticated algorithms, the software dynamically weighs the input from each sensor, making real-time adjustments on which sensor to rely on based on their reliability scores, environmental conditions, and operational context. By championing a software-defined hardware philosophy, the solutions ensure continuous, high-confidence state estimation even when signals are disrupted, degraded, or denied.
Demonstration Setup with Aiding Technologies
During APEX, Boreas D90 with AdNav Intelligence was integrated with both an LVS and a wheel speed encoder aboard a four-wheel-drive vehicle. The demonstration was conducted during night operations at a site in rural New Mexico, USA, at which event organizers created an environment of complex and emerging electronic warfare threats by conducting GNSS jamming.
LVS: Precision Velocity for High-Demand Operations
For operations requiring extreme accuracy and dynamic performance, Boreas D90 was fused with LVS – Advanced Navigation’s advanced infrared laser sensor that measures ground-relative 3D velocity with exceptional precision. LVS performs reliably on both ground and airborne platforms regardless of environmental conditions or the availability of visual references, as long as it maintains a clear line of sight to the ground or a stationary surface. By providing direct, drift-free velocity measurements, LVS ensures continuous, high-precision mobility and enhances navigation resilience even in the most extreme contested GNSS environments.
This configuration demonstrated best-in-class dead-reckoning accuracy, achieving a 0.012% error per distance traveled (7.5 m over 65 km) in the same contested conditions.
Wheel Speed Encoder: Dependable Precision for Tactical Mobility
Wheel speed encoders offer a rugged and cost-effective source of motion data, measuring wheel rotation to determine ground speed and distance traveled. Their design ensures quick integration across tactical platforms. Ideal for firm terrain and structured routes, they provide dependable dead-reckoning performance when GNSS is denied, making them a practical choice for missions that demand reliability over complexity.
When paired with a wheel speed encoder, Boreas D90 delivered reliable dead-reckoning performance ideal for platforms operating in predictable or structured environments. Across the demonstration, the Boreas D90–wheel encoder configuration maintained strong navigation continuity, achieving a 0.018% error per distance traveled (11.7 m over 65 km), without reliance on GNSS, even under deliberate jamming.
APNT Technology’s Next Steps
For Advanced Navigation, the results from APEX show significant potential for a range of current and future defense applications. The technologies exceeded the team’s expectations, demonstrating the level of accuracy and operational reliability required for successful navigation under GNSS-denied and -degraded conditions.
These demonstrations represent just the beginning of what’s possible. Continued investment in research and development – particularly in integrating inertial navigation systems with next-generation photonics – promises to further advance capability, resilience, and adaptability on the battlefield.
As companies continue to innovate, events like APEX will play a crucial role in shaping the next generation of APNT solutions.
The next experiment will include partners within the United States Air Force’s 746th Test Squadron and the Joint Navigation Warfare Center, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, and the Army Test and Evaluation Command. Advanced Navigation looks forward to returning in 2026.
About APEX
Previously known as the Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Assessment Experiment (PNTAX), the sixth annual APEX event was held at the U.S. Army’s premier military test range, designed to replicate the complex, contested conditions forces are expected to face in future multi-domain operations.
APEX provides a rigorous environment for evaluating mission resilience across a broader spectrum of technologies. While resilient PNT remains a core component, the event extends to integrated sensing capabilities, advanced communications architectures, data transport, and edge processing. These systems are evaluated under threat-informed, operationally realistic scenarios that reflect the evolving demands placed on modern military platforms in GPS-degraded or -denied environments.
About Advanced Navigation
Advanced Navigation is a global leader in APNT and autonomous system technologies. By leveraging capabilities in software-enhanced hardware, every solution delivers unrivaled capabilities and exceptional performance across land, air, sea and space applications where GNSS is contested.
Made possible with extensive research, testing and vertically integrated manufacturing, the company has progressed into deep technology fields, including robotics, inertial, photonic and quantum sensing, artificial intelligence, underwater acoustics, and GPS antennas and receivers. Customers choose Advanced Navigation for rapid product delivery and unmatched technical field expertise. #JoinTheAutonomyRevolution
For additional information, visit www.advancednavigation.com
