Why SandboxAQ says the Gulf must lead on GPS alternatives
As GPS disruptions escalate across the Middle East, affecting everything from flights to smartphones, the risks to national security and economic stability are mounting.
Gulf Business
speaks with Luca Ferrara, GM of AQNav at SandboxAQ, about why GPS has become aviation's single point of failure — and how their new quantum-based navigation system, recently tested with Airbus, could offer the Gulf a strategic edge in aviation resilience.
GPS disruptions have made headlines in the Middle East recently, with incidents affecting shipping, aviation, and even personal devices. How serious is this threat, and what risks does it pose to regional economies and safety?
It's far more serious and taking place to a far greater degree than many people realise. Many commercial flights lose satellite signals mid-air, and when tensions in the region flared up recently, we even saw people in the UAE complain about their phones' clocks and maps being impacted.
What makes this especially urgent for the Gulf is how much of the economy and infrastructure depends on GPS. Every oil shipment, every aircraft, every logistics hub, all of it depends today on the signals from GPS satellites. And when these signals are jammed or spoofed the ripple effects can jeopardise safety, national security, and public trust.
Why has GPS become such a critical vulnerability for aviation, and why is it often described as a single point of failure? Don't reliable fallbacks already exist?
It's not an exaggeration to say that presently, GPS is the single most important navigation tool globally, especially for aviation. But in case of failure, the fallbacks deployed at present are not built for the scale and complexity of modern air traffic.
If a plane loses GPS, pilots have to revert to radar and radio communication with control towers, which are already under strain. They also switch to inertial navigation which drifts over time, like a spinning top wobbling out of balance.
Beyond GPS jamming there is also GPS spoofing, where the pilot is not aware that they are navigating with a misdirected fake GPS signal. That's even more dangerous because you don't even know you're off course.
SandboxAQ and Airbus recently announced the successful completion of comprehensive real-world trials of AQNav, a GPS-independent alternative. Can you explain how it works and why it offers greater resilience?
Absolutely. The system we've pioneered, AQNav, takes a radically different approach to positioning, inspired by nature. Birds and whales have been navigating vast distances for millennia by sensing the Earth's magnetic field.
Today we have the technology to achieve biomimicry of this capability. At
All this is done without reliance on any external sources such as satellites. It's entirely self-contained, about the size of a toaster, passive (so it can't be jammed or intercepted), and inherently resilient to spoofing. Everything happens inside the device. That's the beauty of it — simple, elegant, and resilient.
Your testing shows AQNav met FAA standards across more than 100 flights. What do these results tell us about its commercial viability and reliability?
Those results give us enormous confidence in both the technology and its readiness for real-world use. Over more than 100 flights, across diverse geographies and conditions, AQNav consistently showed performance that could satisfy FAA standards known as RNP1 and RNP2.
In total, we logged over 44,000 kilometres, which is more than the circumference of the Earth. And we did all this without GPS. That's proof not just of the science, but of the commercial viability. The system is already being tested with the biggest players in the industry — Airbus, Boeing, and the US Air Force.
Why are you inviting Middle East airlines and governments to participate in the next phase of testing? How can the region take a leading role in adopting this technology?
The Gulf is uniquely positioned to lead here. This region sits at the crossroads of global air travel, is home to some of the fastest growing airlines and logistics hubs in the world. At the same time, given ongoing geopolitical issues, it is also a region that faces some of the highest levels of GPS interference globally.
This combination of high stakes and strong growth makes the Gulf the perfect proving ground for resilient navigation. By partnering with
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tahawul Tech
7 hours ago
- Tahawul Tech
SANS Institute returns with fourth edition of SANS Cyber Leaders Forum to Riyadh
The fifth edition of SANS Riyadh Cyber Leaders delivers intensive training for cybersecurity managers and SOC leaders. The SANS Institute is set to return to the Kingdom's capital with the fourth edition of its Cyber Leaders Forum from August 24 to 28, 2025. Taking place at the Hyatt Regency Riyadh Olaya, the event will offer five days of high-impact leadership and technical training, tailored for security managers and SOC leaders facing today's complex cyber threats. This year's forum builds on Saudi Arabia's rising status as a global cybersecurity frontrunner. In 2025, the Kingdom secured the top position in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook's cybersecurity indicator, a milestone achieved through concerted national efforts led by the National Cybersecurity Authority and the Saudi Information Technology Company (SITE). Their strategic initiatives have not only boosted local cyber resilience but have also reinforced international partnerships and technology localisation. 'Saudi Arabia's position as a global cybersecurity leader is no coincidence, it's the result of strategic vision and long-term commitment,' said Ned Baltagi, Managing Director, Middle East, Africa, and Turkey at SANS Institute. 'At SANS, we're proud to support this progress by bringing world-class training to Riyadh through our Cyber Leaders event, helping to develop the next generation of cybersecurity leadership in the Kingdom.' Leadership-focused courses for strategic security professionals The Riyadh training event will feature specialised courses aligned with the needs of InfoSec leaders. These include: LDR512: Security Leadership Essentials for Managers , aimed at helping professionals strengthen strategic planning and leadership abilities. LDR514: Security Strategic Planning, Policy, and Leadership™ , offering tools for building comprehensive cybersecurity plans and policies. LDR551: Building and Leading Security Operations Centers™ , focused on SOC development and aligning operations to enterprise risk profiles. Each course incorporates 17 hands-on labs and Cyber42 leadership simulations, ensuring participants gain both conceptual knowledge and practical skills. Attendees can join either in person or via live online sessions. Community Night Talk: Focus on crypto mining threats The Cyber Leaders Community Night Talk will take place on August 25 from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM. Delivered by expert instructor Jan D'Herdt, the session will explore the detection of unauthorised cryptocurrency mining in corporate environments—an emerging risk with serious implications for enterprise networks. This open-access session offers a practical platform for cybersecurity professionals in Saudi Arabia and beyond to enhance their threat detection capabilities. Online attendance is also available through SANS Accounts.
Khaleej Times
10 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Iranians struggle with GPS disruption after Israel war
The streets of Tehran have become a confusing maze for driver Farshad Fooladi amid widespread GPS disruption, still ongoing nearly two months after the end of Iran and Israel's unprecedented 12-day war. "For weeks I have been unable to work," said Fooladi, who uses Iran's homegrown ride-hailing app Snapp to find customers. "Most of the time was wasted wandering around aimlessly," the 35-year-old Iranian driver added. Unprecedented disruption has plagued users of GPS, which stands for Global Positioning System, in Iran since Israel's surprise attack in mid-June which triggered a deadly 12-day war. Iran's communications ministry has said the disruptions were necessary for "security and military purposes", without giving further explanation. Missiles, drones and rockets often use GPS or other similar technologies, which involve triangulating signals from multiple satellites, to find their targets. Iran has long employed GPS jamming and spoofing around sensitive military sites but the recent disruptions have been the most sustained and widespread. It remains unclear how long the measures will last or how much damage they have caused to Iranian businesses. Ride-hailing apps, delivery platforms, and even basic mapping services like Google Maps and its Iranian equivalent Neshan have buckled under the interference. In many areas, especially around Tehran, users often spot themselves on the maps hundreds of kilometres away from their actual locations. "To get around, you either need a sharp memory for routes or already know the city well," Fooladi said. But the driver, originally from the western Lorestan province and less familiar with the capital's winding backstreets, frequently finds himself running into dead ends. "I only pick up passengers who know the directions, " he said, adding the strategy had severely cut his income. 'Collateral damage' In early August, the chief executive of the Neshan mapping app, Javad Amel, said in a video interview that daily disruptions through GPS spoofing had been ongoing for years, especially in Tehran. But he explained in recent weeks that Neshan's daily active users "had dropped by 15 percent, while navigation activity on the app fell by 20 percent". The continued disruption has heightened fears of a deepening economic crisis among Iranians. The Islamic republic's economy is already struggling under the weight of decades of international sanctions and mismanagement, compounded by the revival of US President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign earlier this year. Nuclear talks with Washington, which began in April, have also stalled since the United States joined its ally Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites in June. "This war has upended our lives and frozen our future plans," said Fooladi. In a report last week, the Khabar Online news agency warned against the disruption of GPS, saying it caused "collateral damage" to the digital economy and public safety, including delays to emergency services. Former communications minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi argued the disruption was costly and would likely have limited defensive results. "Drone manufacturers and operators are not stupid either. If the GPS is disrupted and another positioning system replaces it, they will also use the new system," Jahromi said according to his Telegram channel. 'Unclear future' With the significant impact on civilian lives, deputy communications minister Ehsan Chitsaz suggested that Iran could consider alternatives to GPS. "Disruptions are created by domestic systems on GPS, and this has pushed us toward alternative options such as BeiDou," he told Iranian daily Ham Mihan in July. The Chinese satellite system BeiDou, fully operational since 2020, is emerging as a global rival to the US-built and operated GPS. Chitsaz said Iran was "drafting a program" so some of the country's location-based services for transport, agriculture could "gradually migrate from GPS to BeiDou". He acknowledged disruptions in Iran, coupled with years-long internet restrictions, have damaged businesses and created "social distrust and despair". But experts say that replacing GPS would be complex. "Doing so would require extensive and costly infrastructure changes," said Amir Rashidi of the US-based Miaan group, adding that Iran is currently "highly vulnerable in cyberspace". Many in Iran believe that another confrontation with Israel is on the horizon as Israel and the United States continue to threaten attacks if Iran restarts its nuclear programme, which has been on hold since the war. "Everything is uncertain, and we can't plan. The future is unclear," said Mohammad Hossein Ghanbari, a 32-year-old Snapp driver.
Zawya
11 hours ago
- Zawya
Landmark Group's Home Centre achieves 39% brand awareness uplift with CTV Ads
Dubai, UAE – Home Centre, a leading furniture and home furnishings retailer in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Indian subcontinent, partnered with ThePubverse by ArabyAds to activate a Connected TV (CTV) advertising campaign during Ramadan 2025. The campaign focused on driving awareness for new product launches, engaging premium audiences in Saudi Arabia through immersive, tech-enabled experiences on the largest screen in the home. As part of its Ramadan strategy, Home Centre leveraged ThePubverse's exclusive home-screen placements on LG Connected TVs, delivering precise targeting and full-screen visibility to a premium female audience segment. To measure real-time campaign impact, a Brand Lift Study (BLS) was deployed directly on CTV devices, capturing performance across key upper- and mid-funnel metrics. The campaign exceeded engagement benchmarks for CTV in the region, delivering a significant uplift across brand awareness (39%), ad recall (37%), and brand consideration (29%), reinforcing the role of CTV as a powerful medium for brand amplification during peak shopping seasons. Akash Saxena, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Home Centre, commented: "We are committed to digital innovations. That's exactly why we invested in Connected TV advertising and partnered with ThePubverse by ArabyAds. The niche audience targeting capabilities, premium home-screen experience with 100% brand safety, and deterministic BLS - Brand Lift Survey were uniquely offered and are a mark of impactful technology innovation in the advertising landscape. The results have been very encouraging, with a very good response from the market, and we look forward to more such initiatives'. Building on this success, Ayman Haydar, CEO of ThePubverse by ArabyAds, added, "Our collaboration with Home Centre during Ramadan 2025 demonstrates the power of Connected TV to elevate seasonal campaigns with precision and scale. Through premium LG home-screen inventory, advanced audience targeting, and real-time measurement, ThePubverse delivered Home Centre's message directly into living rooms at a moment that truly matters. This campaign is a clear example of how CTV drives both engagement and brand lift. We're proud to have partnered once again with Landmark Group and remain committed to redefining how brands connect with audiences across MENA." About Home Centre Offering outstanding value, quality products, and exceptional customer experience, Home Centre is the largest omnichannel retailer for home furnishings in the Middle East, North Africa & the Indian sub-continent. Established in 1995 with its first store in the UAE, today Home Centre has a wide network of over 160 stores across the GCC, North Africa, and India. Easy to navigate and serving as a one-stop solution for all home furnishing, the Home Centre e-commerce platform provides customers with an extensive range of over 14,000 products at the tip of their fingers. Complying with international standards, Home Centre houses products sourced from over 50 countries worldwide. Home Centre's in-house team of designers and buyers draws inspiration from the latest global trends and brings stylish and innovative furniture, customised to suit local preferences. | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram About ThePubverse ThePubverse is the publisher monetization arm of ArabyAds, providing premium advertising inventory, precision targeting, and transparent measurement tools across digital platforms in the Middle East. As part of the ArabyAds ecosystem, ThePubverse enables brands to engage audiences through innovative solutions like Connected TV with measurable outcomes and brand-safe environments. For Media Enquiries: pr@
