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As very large proliferated constellations expand in LEO, MEO and beyond, the task of Ground Operations and Fleet Management is becoming untenable using previous approaches. There is simply too much data, with too little time to absorb it, for traditional human operated ground control to cope. Space is also contested. The Space Force may have to operate through a dynamic combat situation with dozens or thousands of satellites simultaneously under attack, or reacting to threats. Fortunately, the solution to these problems is presenting itself through the rapidly emerging technologies of AI, Quantum, and Edge Computing. This talk will explore how these will change the architecture of both ground and space, enable humans to focus on expert decision making during a crisis instead of overwhelmingly massive data sifting, and how all of this will be tied together with unbreakable security and possibly even instantaneous communications.

Quantum technology is already in space, and it is easy to understand why more will be coming. It is harder, though, to appreciate that quantum technology will ultimately become ubiquitous in space and elsewhere, why this is so, and what it will take to get there. Anderson will address both the easy and the hard. He will speak primarily about atom-based quantum technology because it is what he knows the best; the underlying value of quantum technology, though, is more about the nature of quantum mechanics than it is about how it is made manifest, while the choice of modality is significantly embedded in practical considerations.

As a harbinger of the near future, consider that today’s laboratory (quantum) timekeepers are over a million times more precise than the world timekeeping clocks at NIST and elsewhere around the globe. If you are new to the world of timekeeping, you will be amazed at the breadth of applications of high-performance timing systems, including better positioning and navigation, synchronization within energy grids, secure communication, enabling coherence among distributed sensors for both civil and national security purposes and so on. It is fair, even if overhyped, to ultimately expect decades of performance headroom for other applications of quantum sensors, such as inertial sensors for navigation, gravity sensors for mineral exploration around the moon and asteroids, and detection of radio-frequency signals. In the case of atoms, exquisite sensitivity has been enabled by laser cooling techniques that have made temperatures close to absolute zero routine. At these temperatures, thermal noise is largely eliminated, leaving quantum noise as the performance limitation. Yet it is not just low noise that makes quantum technology compelling; it also provides a means for quantum signal processing and information processing that cannot be done classically.Ìý