A soldier in camouflage uses a tablet to control drones in a foggy forest, demonstrating modern military equipment. Photo: Xona Space Systems

Xona Space Systems signed a $4.65 million contract with Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to demonstrate commercial PNT (Positioning, Navigation and Timing) solutions for U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) missions, Xona announced on Feb. 25. 

Awarded through the Space Technology Advanced Research – Fast-tracking Innovative Software and Hardware (STAR-FISH) program, the contract increases Xona’s total signed contracts to over $20 million.

Xona will demonstrate key performance aspects of its Pulsar high-performance satellite navigation service on various commercial user devices in scenarios where GPS and other Global Navigation Satellite Signals (GNSS) may be challenged or denied.

Testing will include demonstrations of jamming and spoofing resilience, multipath effect reduction, and security key distribution.

As part of the contract, Xona has partnered with QinetiQ, StarNav, and Locus Lock, to manufacture and deploy Pulsar-enabled devices. The multi-year award will leverage Xona’s simulation tools and will include demonstrations using the first Pulsar satellite, which is set to launch in June 2025.

“The technology in modern GNSS user equipment is incredibly advanced these days, and capable of very high-performance if you can provide it a high-performance signal,” said Brian Manning, Xona CEO and co-founder. “This contract is enabling us to demonstrate not only the advanced capabilities these receivers can achieve with the Pulsar service, but also the utility of combining mass produced hardware with a securely controlled PNT service to support anything from small drones to large DoD systems.”