11 Aug 2025

Event Round-up: From Cargo to Code - Why Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Matters to Autonomy, AI & More

In a recent webinar hosted by techUK, the National PNT Office in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology led an engaging session on the strategic importance of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) technologies. The discussion focused on the foundational role PNT plays in the UK’s economy, its vulnerabilities, and the opportunities for innovation and resilience through emerging technologies.

The potential of PNT technologies

The National PNT Office opened the session by outlining the criticality of PNT—a capability essential to modern infrastructure. From synchronising financial transactions to enabling navigation and supporting emergency services, PNT is deeply embedded in daily operations across sectors. Reliance on GNSS, particularly GPS, to provide PNT exposes UK businesses and CNI to risks such as jamming, spoofing and signal failure.

Learn more about the potential of PNT and how you can contribute to the Government’s thinking on this critical technology here.

To address these vulnerabilities, the session highlighted the need for resilient, GNSS-independent PNT systems. These alternatives are vital for ensuring business continuity and national security, especially in remote or high-risk environments. Technologies such as eLoran, network-based timing, inertial sensors, and quantum sensors were presented as viable solutions to diversify and strengthen the UK’s PNT infrastructure.

The webinar also explored a range of alternative PNT technologies with potential applications across industries:

eLORAN is a terrestrial system using pulse signals, and offers robustness against interference and jamming.
Ultra-Wide Band enables accurate indoor positioning through low-power radio pulses.
LiDAR and computer vision provide spatial awareness in visually rich environments, useful for autonomous systems.
Inertial navigation systems (INS) use accelerometers and gyroscopes to estimate movement from a known starting point, ensuring continuous positioning without external signals.

These technologies are not just theoretical—they are increasingly relevant to sectors such as logistics, transport, emergency services, agritech, telecoms, utilities, finance, space, robotics, AI, construction, and defence. The session emphasized that implementing GNSS-independent solutions across these domains could prevent costly failures and unlock new efficiencies.

One of the key messages was the importance of business resilience. With GPS vulnerabilities posing real threats, having multiple backup sources of PNT is essential. This includes integrating terrestrial and non-terrestrial systems, such as coupling terrestrial networks with dedicated satellite-based alternatives.

Call for evidence on PNT and Growth

To support policy development, the National PNT Office launched a Call for Evidence on PNT and Growth. This initiative invites stakeholders to share insights on current PNT usage, adoption of GNSS-independent technologies, and recommendations for government support. The survey includes sections on operational needs, and future opportunities, and aims to capture a comprehensive view of the UK’s PNT ecosystem.

Please follow this link to submit a response: Positioning, Navigation and Timing Growth: call for evidence - GOV.UK

Participants were encouraged to submit responses by 23:59 on Monday, 25 August, and to share the survey with colleagues and partners to ensure broad representation. The feedback will help shape future policy and guide investment in resilient PNT infrastructure.

In closing, the National PNT Office reiterated the importance of stakeholder involvement. Building a resilient future for UK businesses, customers and critical national infrastructure depends on collective action and informed decision-making. Participants were thanked for their engagement and encouraged to stay involved in future PNT initiatives by signing up for PNT alerts on GOV.UK. The National PNT Office welcomed any questions, providing their email address: [email protected].

Separately, TechUK invited its members to submit suggestions to the TechUK team on how to improve PNT resiliency—in areas like timing for data centres and telecoms—for further discussion.

Slides

Contact us

Sophie Greaves

Associate Director, Digital Infrastructure, techUK

Sophie Greaves is Associate Director for Digital Infrastructure at techUK, overseeing the Communications Infrastructure and Services Programme at techUK, and the UK Spectrum Policy Forum.

Sophie was promoted to Head having been Programme Manager for Communications Infrastructure and Services, leading techUK's telecoms activities, engagement and policy development. Previously, Sophie was Programme Assistant across a variety of areas including the Broadband Stakeholder Group, Central Government, Financial Services and Communications Infrastructure programmes.

Prior to joining techUK, Sophie completed a masters in Film Studies at University College London; her dissertation examined US telecoms policy relating to net neutrality and content distribution.

Email:: [email protected]
Phone:: 020 7331 2038
Twitter:: @SJMJames1,@SJMJames1
LinkedIn:: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiegreaves/,https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiegreaves/

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Tales Gaspar

Programme Manager, UK SPF and Satellite, techUK

Tales has a background in law and economics, with previous experience in the regulation of new technologies and infrastructure.

In the UK and Europe, he offered consultancy on intellectual property rights of cellular and IoT technologies and on the regulatory procedures at the ITU as a Global Fellow at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI).

Tales has an LL.M in Law and Business by the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and an MSc in Regulation at the London School of Economics, with a specialization in Government and Law.

Email:: [email protected]
Phone:: +44 (0) 0207 331 2000
Website:: www.techUK.org
LinkedIn:: www.linkedin.com/in/talesngaspar

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Josh Turpin

Programme Manager, Telecoms and Net Zero, techUK

Josh joined techUK as a Programme Manager for Telecoms and Net Zero in August 2024.

In this role, working jointly across the techUK Telecoms and Climate Programmes, Josh is responsible for leading on telecoms infrastructure deployment and uptake and supporting innovation opportunities, as well as looking at how the tech sector can be further utilised in the UK’s decarbonisation efforts.

Prior to joining techUK, Josh’s background was in public affairs and communications, working for organisations across a diverse portfolio of sectors including defence, telecoms and infrastructure; aiding clients through stakeholder engagement, crisis communications, media outreach as well as secretariat duties.

Outside of work, Josh has a keen interest in music, painting and sailing.