Summary

• Six named UK companies are among the projects receiving support through a £50m quantum sensing and positioning, navigation and timing programme.
• Applications include railway fault location, medical scanning, greenhouse gas detection and systems designed for environments where GPS is unreliable.
• Separate £20m quantum networking and £8m apprenticeship measures aim to strengthen domestic components and technical skills.

British businesses developing quantum sensing and navigation equipment will receive a share of £50 million in government support, with projects targeting railway fault detection, portable medical scanners and systems capable of operating when conventional satellite navigation cannot be relied upon.

The funding, announced on 13 October, is being delivered through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under its Sensing and Positioning, Navigation and Timing competition. It is intended to help companies move technologies beyond early testing and towards products that can be deployed by transport operators, healthcare providers and other potential customers.

Although quantum computing attracts considerable attention, the supported projects concentrate on technologies that measure physical properties or provide accurate information about position, signals and time. Their commercial prospects depend on whether those capabilities can be incorporated into equipment that performs reliably outside specialist laboratories.

The government has identified six businesses receiving support, but its announcement does not disclose the allocation to each company or establish when the resulting products will become commercially available. The £50 million is a programme-level figure rather than an individual award to any one of the developers.

Finding railway faults without dependable GPS

West Midlands company MoniRail is developing a railway monitoring system designed to establish the precise location of faults in tracks and signalling infrastructure. Its proposed application combines positioning technology with information gathered from trains, allowing maintenance teams to identify where further inspection or repair may be required.

Railway operators face particular difficulties in environments where satellite navigation signals are unavailable or obstructed. Tunnels, cuttings and other infrastructure can interfere with reception, while the location of a defect may need to be established more accurately than conventional navigation equipment can consistently provide.

Quantum inertial sensing offers one potential approach because highly sensitive measurements of movement can contribute to positioning without continuous access to external signals. However, the accuracy of an operational system depends on calibration, the behaviour of its sensors over time and how measurements are combined with other information.

MoniRail has previously participated in research and demonstration programmes involving railway quantum navigation, so the latest support builds on earlier engineering work. The company’s next commercial requirements include proving that equipment can function during ordinary railway operations and that its measurements can be integrated into existing maintenance procedures.

Locating faults accurately could reduce the time required to investigate them, but the government announcement does not provide independent evidence of fewer delays or lower maintenance costs resulting from the newly supported system. Such benefits remain potential outcomes to be demonstrated during deployment.

Navigation resilience is also relevant beyond railways, particularly where critical services depend on satellite positioning or timing signals that can be disrupted. Oxfordshire-based ColdQuanta UK is receiving support for a compact quantum radio-frequency sensing system intended to locate signals with high accuracy.

The proposed applications include defence, critical infrastructure and emergency response, where locating a transmission may be valuable when conventional methods are unavailable or insufficiently accurate. Moving from laboratory equipment to a mobile instrument introduces requirements concerning power consumption, calibration and the ability to operate in varied environments.

Medical devices face clinical as well as engineering tests

Healthcare projects include a handheld eye scanner under development by Bristol-based Siloton. The company is seeking to make advanced eye examinations available in settings that do not have the space or equipment normally associated with specialist hospital diagnostics.

More accessible scanning equipment could allow examinations to take place closer to patients, potentially helping providers manage demand for diagnostic services. Nevertheless, the practical benefit will depend on image quality, diagnostic accuracy, clinical workflows and the training required to operate the equipment.

The funding announcement does not establish that Siloton’s device has received every regulatory approval needed for routine clinical use or that it has already reduced NHS waiting times. Those outcomes require separate evidence from clinical evaluation and subsequent deployment.

Nottingham-based Cerca Magnetics is meanwhile developing wearable brain scanning technology, including potential applications in the assessment of patients before epilepsy surgery. Its approach is intended to make sensitive measurements of brain activity using equipment that differs from conventional fixed clinical systems.

Wearable measurement systems could provide greater flexibility in how examinations are performed, although their clinical use depends on whether the data produced is sufficiently reliable for the decisions healthcare professionals need to make. Patient safety, validation and integration with established diagnostic processes remain separate requirements from demonstrating that the underlying sensor can operate.

Other supported projects extend quantum sensing into industrial and communications applications. Welsh company QLM Technology is developing equipment intended to detect and measure greenhouse gases from energy, water and waste infrastructure, while Oxfordshire-based Quantum Fabrix is working on a clock for satellites and systems requiring dependable timing.

Industrial emissions monitoring presents a different commercial requirement from medical imaging because operators need equipment capable of detecting relevant gases under changing environmental conditions. A measurement device must also provide information accurate enough to support maintenance or reporting decisions, rather than merely demonstrating that a signal can be detected.

Precise timing systems have similarly demanding requirements. Communications and navigation infrastructure rely on consistent time references, and an advanced clock could reduce dependence on signals received from elsewhere. Commercial adoption would still require evidence of accuracy, stability and reliability over the device’s expected operating life.

Domestic components and technical skills

The government also announced £20 million for quantum communications technology through UKRI’s Enabling Commercial Quantum Networking competition. That investment is separate from the £50 million sensing and navigation programme and is intended to support domestic development of components such as lasers and photonic chips.

Sheffield-based Aegiq is among the businesses identified in connection with the networking programme. Its inclusion illustrates the importance of the components surrounding a quantum system, many of which require specialised manufacturing and integration before a finished product can be delivered.

Even where the central sensing technology performs as intended, a commercial device needs reliable light sources, control electronics, packaging and software. Manufacturers must be able to obtain those parts consistently, test assembled equipment and maintain it over a product’s working life.

Alongside component development, an £8 million expansion of UKRI’s QuEST Apprentices Programme is intended to help train engineering and quantum technicians. The government aims for 150 apprentices studying engineering subjects to be equipped to support the sector by 2030.

Those measures address a different commercial constraint from research funding. Companies developing advanced instruments need employees capable of assembling, calibrating and repairing specialised equipment, while prospective customers require confidence that suppliers can provide continuing technical support.

Techopia recently reported on Universal Quantum’s $100 million financing, where system engineering and manufacturing are similarly important, although the underlying technology and commercial applications differ from sensing and navigation.

The six projects receiving support under the latest programme offer identifiable applications against which progress can be assessed. Their next milestones will involve field performance, clinical or industrial validation where applicable, and evidence that prospective customers can operate the equipment at an acceptable cost. Public funding supports that development, but it does not establish that the proposed commercial benefits have already been achieved.