Dirac Labs is building a quantum universal positioning system designed to work underwater, underground and in environments where GPS won’t work.
The Madison, Wisconsin-based quantum-enabled navigation company, announced that it has joined the Wisconsin Security Research Consortium (WSRC) as an industry affiliate, providing resilient navigation alternatives to enable autonomous maritime missions.
WSRC, led by the Wisconsin Technology Council, connects Wisconsin’s universities, technology manufacturers and government partners to advance defense research and economic development opportunities in the state.
Dirac Labs’ affiliation builds on the Autonomous Heartland effort to position Wisconsin — with its shipyards, airspace, industrial base, workforce, and research anchors — at the center of America’s autonomous and maritime future. Along with the Sagamore Institute, the Midwest Defense Accelerator and TitletownTech, WSRC supports the growing Area 52 initiative.
Area 52 was originally proposed by retired U.S. Navy captain Jerry Hendrix to serve as the Navy’s equivalent to the Air Force’s Area 51. Hendrix argued that the Navy needed a secure area to develop and test autonomous and unmanned platforms away from the adversary surveillance possible in international waters.
Lake Michigan is a uniquely suitable option, as it is the only Great Lake entirely within U.S. territory that is large and deep enough for both surface and subsurface testing, and it has existing FAA-designated restricted military airspace overhead connected to assets like Volk Field.
The company’s diamond-based sensors measure Earth’s magnetic field with extreme precision, and its AI models perform real-time signal processing to turn those magnetic measurements into a perpetually reliable position unaffected by drift.
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