Xona Space Systems Raises $ 1 Million To Improve Satellite Navigation Services – TechCrunch

San Mateo-based start-up Xona space systems has raised a million dollar "pre-seed" round led by 1517, which includes the participation of Seraphim Capital, Trucks Venture Capital and Stellar Solutions. The company is focused on developing a satellite positioning, navigation and synchronization (PNT) service which it believes can replace global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), offering great benefits in terms of of security, precision and accuracy.

Xona argues that GNSS, which is essentially the backbone of almost all global navigation software and services, is relatively inaccurate and susceptible to disruption by malicious attackers. It is a technology that has been transformative in its time, but it does not meet the challenge of meeting the requirements of modern applications, including autonomous vehicle transport, drone fleets, automated maritime transport, etc.

The company pursues an ambitious goal: GNSS remains one of the most important, complete and impactful space technologies ever developed. Its impact is evident on a daily basis, from consumer applications such as step-by-step navigation via mobile mapping applications, to industrial services such as global logistics platforms. Anyone who can develop a credible new generation alternative that modernizes and improves GNSS can gain a lot.

Xona's approach promises tenfold improvements in accuracy over GNSS, and encryption that can help provide much more security. The company has a patent pending on its PNT service brand "Pular", which will use satellites in low Earth orbit (compared to current GNSS networks in upper orbit) to provide its new generation navigation technology.