Tag: SBIR

  • TrustPoint secures USSF contract to demonstrate GPS-independent PNT

    TrustPoint has been awarded a $4 million Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract to demonstrate a GPS-independent positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) system.

    The award was issued by SpaceWERX, the innovation arm of the United States Space Force, and jointly funded by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and the Commercial Space Office (COMSO). It supports a full end-to-end demonstration of TrustPoint’s resilient navigation architecture designed for defense and commercial applications.

    Under the contract, TrustPoint will design, deploy and operate a fully integrated PNT system comprising four satellites and four ground stations, delivering a complete operational architecture. The program will execute an end-to-end system demonstration, including live trilateration across multiple space and ground assets, operational services and advanced receivers.

    With an accelerated execution timeline, initial system deployments will occur within 12 months, establishing a rapid deployment model designed to scale to significantly larger constellations while prioritizing affordability, operational relevance, and capital efficiency.

    “We founded TrustPoint on the belief that resilient navigation does not require billion-dollar constellations,” said Patrick Shannon, founder and CEO of TrustPoint. “This program will prove our technology’s GPS independence while demonstrating that real, operational PNT capability can be delivered with exceptional capital efficiency.”

    Beyond GPS-independent C-band demonstrations, the system will validate a software-defined architecture that supports on-demand reconfiguration of navigation services in contested, degraded and denied environments, pioneering commercial delivery of this capability. TrustPoint’s experience includes the first C-band GNSS signal transmission with real-time reception and the first broadcast-based ground-to-space C-band PNT demonstration.

    The program directly advances national security objectives. It also establishes a scalable foundation for future commercial services, redefining what is possible for users who require reliable PNT in GPS-challenged environments.

  • Networking for assisted PNT

    A networked radio from Thales is designed to meet soldiers’ need for assured positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) while on foot.

    The MBITR2 is part of a broader defense effort to provide PNT solutions in case of GPS jamming or interference. The MBITR2 is one of a number of devices and technologies, many still in development, to address this need.

    For instance, under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory, Navsys Corporation is testing a network-assisted PNT acquisition algorithm to run on tactical radios such as the MBITR2. The algorithm is designed to provide improved acquisition performance in a GPS jammed environment by leveraging an innovative assisted GPS (A-GPS) architecture where navigation and timing data are shared across the tactical radio network.

    The AN/PRC-148B MBITR2 ground tactical handheld radio is small, light and power-efficient. It builds on the legacies of both the earlier narrowband AN/PRC-148 MBITR tactical handheld radio and the wideband AN/PRC-154 tactical handheld radio. It covers the 30–512 MHz frequency range.

    When equipped with the MBITR2, dismounted warfighters can connect with the wideband tactical Internet protocol and the voice network via the Soldier Radio Waveform wideband channel, while maintaining contact via the legacy narrowband channel.

    The MBITR2 is interoperable with MBITR radios already deployed. More than 200,000 are now in the field, and Thales said the earlier generation radios can be upgraded with a low-risk and cost-effective approach.

    Further, the MBITR2 retains compatibility with the existing installed base of ancillaries.

    MBITR2-WMBITR2 features

    • Two radios in one
    • Simultaneous two-channel (narrowband and wideband) operations
    • Adds a second wideband channel to the AN/PRC-148 to provide networking, data, and video capability
    • Retains the existing AN/PRC-148 JEM Type-1 capabilities and waveforms
    • Embedded GPS
    • Supports fielded ancillaries