US Army places $11M bet on Austin-based GPS alternative Tern
Tern has described its tech as "Google Maps for the battlefield."
The U.S. Army has awarded Tern, an Austin-based startup, an $11.26 million contract to deploy its low-cost GPS alternative technology. This deployment will involve using Tern's navigation tech in military vehicles, though the exact scale of the deployment remains undisclosed. The Army has turned to Tern at a time when GPS disruptions are increasing, particularly in the Middle East and over Ukraine and Russia.
The U.S. military has reportedly been experimenting with GPS jamming, which may have been involved in a recent medevac plane crash.
Several efforts from Congress and President Trump during his first term aimed to develop resilient, non-GPS navigation technologies for military use. Modern vehicles produce various data while in operation, and Tern's technology stack focuses on utilizing some of this information for navigation without relying on GPS. Tern's device plugs into a vehicle's diagnostics board and connects to a tablet, which serves as the interface for soldiers.
The tablet displays the position, navigation, and routing information, providing a solution that does not disrupt the existing data flow.
Tern's co-founder and CEO, Shaun Moore, explained that their technology passively listens to the data without interfering with it. They then employ proprietary methods to convert the information into usable latitude and longitude data for navigation. This edge processing allows a vehicle to independently determine its position, which is beneficial both on- and off-road, as well as in challenging environments like tunnels or deserts.
Moore's co-founder, Brett Harrison, demonstrated Tern's technology during a 1,300-mile drive between Austin and Laguna Beach, California. Unlike traditional GPS, which can lose signal dozens of times, Tern's system never lost the vehicle's position during the journey. The closed nature of Tern's technology is another critical aspect.
Unlike GPS, which can be easily disrupted, Tern's system is designed to be more resistant to adversaries' interference. Moore highlighted the importance of accurate positioning and emphasized that Tern's technology is not just a backup but an integral, hard-to-disrupt component for military use. As a military veteran, Harrison's personal experience in Afghanistan fueled his determination to solve this problem, ensuring that the technology is deployable, scalable, and ready for real-world application.
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