NAVSYS Corporation

In the rapidly evolving world of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), few companies stand as boldly at the crossroads of innovation and necessity as NAVSYS Corporation. Under the leadership of President and CEO Dr. Alison Brown, the company has established itself as a pioneer of novel technological frameworks and a critical voice challenging entrenched perceptions about the future of PNT—particularly for defense and critical infrastructure resilience.

“Founded on a bedrock of engineering expertise and system-level innovation, we have long worked at the interface between commercial technology and national security,” says Dr. Brown.

With growing interest from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in commercial alternatives for resilient PNT, the company’s signature platform—PNT as a Service (PNTaaS)—may be the disruptive solution the sector has been awaiting.

Technically Superior, Financially and Logistically Pragmatic

The U.S. Space Force’s Commercial Space Strategy highlights PNT as a key area for commercial integration to improve resilience. Despite this, government funding has lagged, favoring only select companies like Xona and Iridium, while others—such as NAVSYS—remain underfunded despite offering aligned proposals. Initiatives like AFRL’s CAPR and the SpaceWERX AltPNT Challenge are helping bridge this gap. However, skepticism persists, with officials such as SSC’s Charlotte Gerhart claiming that true commercial PNT alternatives don’t yet exist. This view contrasts with the Defense Science Board’s recommendation for the strategic adoption of commercial PNT—a position now weakened in USSF plans.

NAVSYS, however, stands firm in its belief that its PNTaaS platform represents a technically superior and financially and logistically pragmatic alternative. While others propose launching entire satellite constellations to deliver PNT capabilities, NAVSYS sidesteps this expensive and time-consuming process by leveraging existing infrastructure. The PNTaaS model transforms current satellite communication broadcasts—from platforms such as Eutelsat, OneWeb, Intelsat, Viasat, and SES—into PNT signals through software-defined data services and ground-based monitoring hardware. This approach significantly reduces capital expenditure and enables near-global scalability without requiring a proprietary satellite network.
The advantages extend beyond cost and coverage. Unlike Iridium’s Satellite Time and Location (STL) service—which is constrained by limited satellite visibility and operates in the easily jammed L-band—NAVSYS’s PNTaaS functions across the C-, Ku-, and Ka-bands using multiple constellations of existing satellite signals. Its ability to harness hybrid constellations—spanning GEO, MEO, and LEO satellites—results in improved signal geometry, resilience, and redundancy, significantly enhancing anti-jam capabilities. In short, NAVSYS offers a secure, adaptable, and high-performance alternative to traditional GNSS systems.

This distinction becomes increasingly important as real-world threats to GNSS escalate. Spoofing and jamming events are now tracked daily, with Eastern Europe experiencing extensive PNT disruptions. Websites such as gpsjam.com and spoofing.skai-data-services.com document the prevalence of these attacks, underscoring the vulnerability of existing L-band GNSS systems. With national security and civilian operations at stake, NAVSYS’s approach—using frequency-diverse commercial satellite networks—delivers the resilience that current systems lack.

Scalable and Future-Ready

The path to adoption, however, remains complex. While European partnerships—such as NAVSYS’s collaboration with Viavi to deliver a Ku-band timing service—are progressing, U.S. policy is still in flux. Agencies like the Department of Transportation continue to study critical infrastructure vulnerabilities without committing funding, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has only recently begun formal inquiries into PNT resilience. The FCC’s Notice of Inquiry (WT Docket No. 25-110) outlines the urgency of the issue and suggests a future role for regulatory incentives, but concrete government backing remains elusive.

Rather than waiting for policy to catch up, NAVSYS is proactively deploying PNTaaS across military and commercial domains. Through research and development contracts with AFRL and SpaceWERX, the company is launching coverage across the continental U.S. to support performance evaluation by DoD stakeholders and deployment to early adopters in commercial markets. At the same time, commercial rollouts in Europe are underway, with early deployments expected by mid-2025. Partnerships with academic institutions—such as the Naval Postgraduate School and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab—further strengthen the credibility and robustness of the technology, laying the groundwork for broad adoption.

What makes NAVSYS’s strategy particularly compelling is its scalability and future readiness. As new commercial satellite constellations—such as Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Telesat Lightspeed—come online, PNTaaS is designed to integrate their signals seamlessly. This ensures continued geographic expansion, including into contested and remote areas like the Arctic. Moreover, the company’s vision for a PNTaaS Community of Interest aims to bring together researchers, operators, and end-users in a collaborative ecosystem that accelerates deployment and innovation.

Despite policy inertia, NAVSYS remains confident that market forces—and the growing threat landscape—will eventually drive adoption.

“Our goal is not just to provide a backup to GNSS,” says Dr. Brown. “We’re here to redefine how PNT is delivered in the digital era. We’re building a resilient, adaptive, and fundamentally commercial system. And we’re doing it without asking the government to underwrite another free service.”