SBQuantum
Sherbrooke, Canada
www.sbquantum.com
SBQuantum, a company developing quantum diamond magnetometers capable of providing accurate and timely data for navigation, defense, and public safety applications, launched its sensor into space on March 29 as part of the final phase of the MagQuest Challenge. Led by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the multi-million-dollar MagQuest competition seeks to identify and accelerate new technologies to monitor Earth’s magnetic field and ensure the ongoing accuracy of the World Magnetic Model (WMM).
The WMM underpins navigation systems relied upon by billions of people worldwide. More than a billion smartphone users depend on it for mobile navigation apps, commercial airlines use it for flight routing, and militaries around the globe rely on it for mission-critical operations. The satellites currently collecting the data needed to produce the WMM are approaching end of life. Earth’s magnetic field is also shifting at an accelerating rate, making continuous, high-quality monitoring more important than ever.
“Reaching the final phase of MagQuest is the most significant technical milestone in our company’s history,” said David Roy-Guay, Founder of SBQuantum. “Our technology has now been validated for the most demanding conditions imaginable, and we are proud to bring to market a device which could soon play a central role in how the world navigates on land, air, and sea. Applications for this sensor go far beyond the WMM itself, from defense and navigation to resource exploration and public safety. We believe quantum sensing is the next frontier, and we are at the forefront of delivering on its potential.”
SBQuantum’s diamond quantum magnetometer (SBQDM) represents a significant leap forward in addressing the challenge of magnetic navigation. Current infrastructure for monitoring Earth’s magnetic field is large, expensive, and provides only periodic snapshots of the field. SBQuantum’s device is roughly the size of a quart of milk and harnesses the principles of quantum physics to deliver continuous, highly detailed monitoring of the field and its movement with exceptional precision, even in the extreme conditions of space.
The SBQDM integrates all ODMR subsystems into a self-contained instrument with no need for external laboratory equipment, using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronic and optics components. The elongated form factor of the SBQDM reflects a design philosophy centered on maximizing magnetic accuracy. To meet stringent (nanotesla scale) performance requirements, the instrument minimizes magnetic disturbances at the sensing region by strategically distancing potential sources of interference. Most COTS electronic components contain ferromagnetic or paramagnetic materials and are placed as far as possible from the sensor head. Additionally, electrical currents are routed with precision to limit their magnetic influence, ensuring that both static and dynamic perturbations are kept well below the noise floor of the sensing element.
Although the bias magnets are manufactured from high‑stability materials, residual thermal effects can produce small offset drifts. These effects are mitigated by anchoring the magnets thermally to the aluminum frame of the sensing head and actively monitoring their temperature. Each unit undergoes an in‑house calibration procedure to correct for residual temperature dependencies and assembly variations. The resulting instrument is compact and portable, measuring only 23 × 7 × 4 cm (including casing), weighing 483 g, operating at under 6 W at 24 V, and USB connected.
It provides real‑time vector magnetic measurements without any external processing or equipment, while machine‑learning correction algorithms are applied locally on the host computer. This combination of quantum sensing principles and engineering optimization makes the SBQDM a portable, robust solution for high‑precision magnetometry in real‑world environments.
In June 2024, SBQuantum tested the SBQDM onboard a high-altitude balloon flight launched from the Esrange Space Center, Sweden, as part of the ATMOSFER mission20. The purpose of this mission was twofold: to conduct experiments in a near-space environment, characterized by low pressure, extremely low temperatures, limited communication, and exposure to mechanical shocks, while also providing hands-on training for students in quantum technologies. The SBQDM maintained functionality throughout the whole flight — withstanding temperatures as low as -60 °C at 32 km altitude — and survived the landing impact. These results demonstrate the sensor’s robustness and suitability for deployment in extreme environments.
The journey of building this magnetometer for space deployment started in 2020 and reached its completion with the launch of the SBQDM payload in March 2026.
Beyond improving the WMM, the data collected by SBQuantum’s sensor has significant implications for the future of navigation. Unlike GPS, magnetic navigation provides reliable and accurate readings across all environments, including those where satellite signals are denied, degraded, or contested. This makes it a strategic priority for defense and aerospace sectors seeking resilient alternatives to GPS in an era of growing electronic warfare. In the company’s home country of Canada, quantum sensors have recently been recognized as one of 10 “Key Sovereign Capabilities” in the country’s new Defence Industrial Strategy, underscoring the critical importance of the technology SBQuantum is developing.
MagQuest is a seven-year open innovation challenge launched by the NGA in 2019 with a total prize pool exceeding $2.1 million across its first three phases alone. Three finalist teams entered Phase 4, each receiving several million dollars in awards including a $1.55 million Phase 4a incentive prize purse, to design, build, test, and launch these devices. SBQuantum is competing as part of a partnership with Spire Global, a global provider of space-based data and analytics. Spire’s satellite infrastructure, ground stations, and data processing capabilities complement SBQuantum’s magnetometer technology. The final phase of the challenge is expected to conclude in the fall of this year, with results informing the NGA’s acquisition strategy for WMM data collection capacity, expected to be operational by 2030.
SBQuantum’s magnetometers are capable of a wide range of applications beyond navigation, including security screening around controlled-access facilities and a range of defense and intelligence functions that conventional sensors cannot perform.
This article was contributed by SBQuantum (Sherbrooke, Canada). For more information, visit here .
