Deep inside a building in Adelaide, Australia, scientists have built something that sounds like science fiction—but it's very real. They created two small devices that use the strange rules of quantum physics to protect the timing signals that keep modern life running. Without these signals, your phone's maps would fail, planes couldn't land safely, and banks couldn't process payments. Now those signals are facing new threats, and this Australian team is fighting back.
The Global Navigation Satellite System, or GNSS, is the name for the network of satellites— including GPS—that beam timing signals down to Earth. Atomic clocks aboard these satellites timestamp each signal. Receivers on the ground use those timestamps to calculate their exact position. Everything from navigation to emergency services depends on this system working smoothly.
But here's the problem: those signals are being attacked. In war zones around the world, enemies are jamming GNSS deliberately, causing vital systems to fail. This isn't theoretical anymore—it's happening now. That's where the CSIRO team comes in.
CSIRO is Australia's national science agency. Its researchers, based in Adelaide, just delivered two Quantum Light Sources to the Defense Science and Technology Group. These devices generate tiny particles of light called photons that are linked through quantum entanglement—a phenomenon where two particles become so connected that affecting one instantly affects the other, no matter how far apart they are. One photon stays on the ground while its partner travels to a satellite hundreds of kilometers overhead. Despite that huge distance, they remain linked.
This matters because quantum entanglement is extremely sensitive. If someone tries to intercept or tamper with the signal, the quantum state changes and the disruption is detected instantly. The user can then switch to a different channel before any harm is done. The CSIRO team calls their device spoof-proof.
The device is surprisingly simple at its core. The heart of it is just a small glass cube. Pairs of photons travel in opposite directions through this cube, and it puts them into a quantum entangled state. The whole thing is designed to be portable and easy to deploy—not stuck in a lab, but usable in the field.
The project started with collaboration from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, whose researchers helped bring the concept out of the laboratory. Now, by building these quantum components at home, CSIRO is helping Australia develop its own expertise in quantum technology—an area that will shape the future of secure communications and navigation.
And while the work was driven by defense needs, the technology could protect far more than military systems. The same secure timing that helps soldiers operate when GNSS is disrupted also protects the civilian infrastructure everyone relies on: power grids, financial services, communications networks, and transportation. When a system this important gets a quantum upgrade, everyone benefits.