Ukrainian soldier, Instagram influencer, stock trader—even you, as a reader of an online article—all share a common reliance on an “invisible utility” that most everyone takes for granted: time. Accurate, measurable, indispensable time.
Accurate timekeeping is at the heart of civil and military navigation systems, power grids, the financial sector, communications networks, and the everyday smartphone user’s ability to coordinate a meet-up at the local pub with friends. Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), like the Global Positioning System (GPS) in North America and Galileo in Europe, depend on highly accurate atomic clocks to maintain precise timing. These atomic clocks serve as a consistent and reliable time reference crucial for properly operating various contemporary networks and systems. This timing service essentially is provided free via GNSS signals to commercial users, and both government and commercial users have become reliant on easy and reliable access to “time as a service.”
Time and Security Vulnerabilities
Yet, GPS is a single point of failure and vulnerable to hacking, spoofing, and denial of service attacks. A disruption to timing “truth” would be catastrophic in terms of national and economic security. It is estimated that an outage of GPS in the U.S. alone would cost over $1 billion per day. Repeatedly, we see the ability of state and non-state actors to disrupt GPS, most vividly highlighted in Russia’s use of electronic warfare and GPS-denial across portions of Eastern Europe and Ukraine.
Time has become both Athena’s sword and an Achilles’ heel. NATO countries must join together to have the opportunity to ensure uninterrupted access to “timing truth” or risk extreme disruption both on the battlefield and in our daily interconnected lives and economies.
Securing GNSS Through Quantum Devices
Fortunately, there are solutions for addressing this critical point of failure. One of the most promising is through quantum devices, which represent the next generation of computers, telecom (6G), sensors, and life science devices that take advantage of quantum physics to increase their functionality exponentially. Unlike semiconductor-based devices that are facing a projected end to Moore’s Law (2x better every two years), quantum devices represent an entirely new era in technology, driving scalability in existing data infrastructure and creating entirely new industries and market opportunities.
When most people hear the term quantum, they instantly think of quantum computing. And while quantum computing likely will transform the world in ways we cannot imagine, this is an area still in the throes of extensive research and development (R&D). However, there are quantum devices that are ready here and now for commercialization that will be critical to solving our timing fragility.
Highly precise, cost effective, and deployable optical quantum clocks would allow communications systems to still function even amid GPS denial, as well as help enable continued navigation in contested environments. The importance of properly developed and deployed quantum devices to NATO’s long-term security is clear, but member states will have to work together closely to make that happen.
The uses for these clocks go far beyond the battlefield. In 2023, the world is projected to generate an enormous amount of data, reaching 100 Zettabytes (equivalent to 1,000 trillion GB). A significant portion of this data is stored in distributed databases worldwide. To maintain data synchronization, each data segment requires an accurate time stamp. As the prevalence of ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms continues to grow, the overwhelming volume of data becomes a significant challenge. Small, highly precise, and cost-effective quantum clocks make it possible to ensure critical systems reliability with ever increasing data traffic in the presence of fundamental latencies.
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Accurate Timekeeping At Risk Without NATO
Photo by Şahin Sezer Dinçer on Unsplash
July 9, 2023
We take accurate timekeeping for granted but its accuracy is at the heart of civil and military infrastructure. GPS is a key point of vulnerability to timekeeping, and disruption to timing "truth" could be devastating, but NATO can secure timekeeping through quantum devices, writes Laura Thomas.
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Ukrainian soldier, Instagram influencer, stock trader—even you, as a reader of an online article—all share a common reliance on an “invisible utility” that most everyone takes for granted: time. Accurate, measurable, indispensable time.
Accurate timekeeping is at the heart of civil and military navigation systems, power grids, the financial sector, communications networks, and the everyday smartphone user’s ability to coordinate a meet-up at the local pub with friends. Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), like the Global Positioning System (GPS) in North America and Galileo in Europe, depend on highly accurate atomic clocks to maintain precise timing. These atomic clocks serve as a consistent and reliable time reference crucial for properly operating various contemporary networks and systems. This timing service essentially is provided free via GNSS signals to commercial users, and both government and commercial users have become reliant on easy and reliable access to “time as a service.”
Time and Security Vulnerabilities
Yet, GPS is a single point of failure and vulnerable to hacking, spoofing, and denial of service attacks. A disruption to timing “truth” would be catastrophic in terms of national and economic security. It is estimated that an outage of GPS in the U.S. alone would cost over $1 billion per day. Repeatedly, we see the ability of state and non-state actors to disrupt GPS, most vividly highlighted in Russia’s use of electronic warfare and GPS-denial across portions of Eastern Europe and Ukraine.
Time has become both Athena’s sword and an Achilles’ heel. NATO countries must join together to have the opportunity to ensure uninterrupted access to “timing truth” or risk extreme disruption both on the battlefield and in our daily interconnected lives and economies.
Securing GNSS Through Quantum Devices
Fortunately, there are solutions for addressing this critical point of failure. One of the most promising is through quantum devices, which represent the next generation of computers, telecom (6G), sensors, and life science devices that take advantage of quantum physics to increase their functionality exponentially. Unlike semiconductor-based devices that are facing a projected end to Moore’s Law (2x better every two years), quantum devices represent an entirely new era in technology, driving scalability in existing data infrastructure and creating entirely new industries and market opportunities.
When most people hear the term quantum, they instantly think of quantum computing. And while quantum computing likely will transform the world in ways we cannot imagine, this is an area still in the throes of extensive research and development (R&D). However, there are quantum devices that are ready here and now for commercialization that will be critical to solving our timing fragility.
Highly precise, cost effective, and deployable optical quantum clocks would allow communications systems to still function even amid GPS denial, as well as help enable continued navigation in contested environments. The importance of properly developed and deployed quantum devices to NATO’s long-term security is clear, but member states will have to work together closely to make that happen.
The uses for these clocks go far beyond the battlefield. In 2023, the world is projected to generate an enormous amount of data, reaching 100 Zettabytes (equivalent to 1,000 trillion GB). A significant portion of this data is stored in distributed databases worldwide. To maintain data synchronization, each data segment requires an accurate time stamp. As the prevalence of ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms continues to grow, the overwhelming volume of data becomes a significant challenge. Small, highly precise, and cost-effective quantum clocks make it possible to ensure critical systems reliability with ever increasing data traffic in the presence of fundamental latencies.
