TrustPoint and NovAtel have demonstrated a C-band positioning signal operating through GNSS interference, marking an important step toward navigation systems that can continue producing positioning data when conventional satellite navigation signals are degraded or denied.
The demonstration used an enhanced NovAtel receiver developed under a U.S. Navy Naval Air Systems Command program. According to TrustPoint, the receiver successfully acquired and tracked the company’s C-band signals and generated positioning information while GNSS interference was present.
The work was conducted under a Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract led by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. TrustPoint and Hexagon, NovAtel’s parent company, are positioning the technology as a complementary navigation layer rather than a replacement for existing GNSS receivers.
That distinction could ultimately be more important than the demonstration itself.
C-Band Navigation Under Jamming
Most conventional GNSS services, including GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou, operate primarily within L-band spectrum.
That creates a common vulnerability. A sufficiently powerful jammer targeting those frequency ranges can affect multiple navigation constellations at the same time, even if a receiver is capable of tracking several GNSS systems.
TrustPoint is developing its navigation architecture around C-band signals transmitted from low Earth orbit. The company has identified the 5010 to 5030 MHz radionavigation satellite service allocation as the foundation for its C-band GNSS system.
Using a different frequency range does not make a navigation system immune to interference. However, frequency diversity significantly complicates the task of denying navigation because an attacker must address another part of the spectrum rather than simply increasing interference around traditional GNSS frequencies.
Combining that frequency diversity with satellites in low Earth orbit introduces another potential advantage. LEO navigation satellites operate much closer to the user than conventional GNSS satellites in medium Earth orbit, potentially allowing substantially stronger received signals.
NovAtel Receiver Integration
One of the most relevant parts of the latest test is the receiver.
TrustPoint did not demonstrate C-band positioning only on a specialized laboratory prototype. The signal capability was incorporated into an existing NovAtel receiver architecture.
NovAtel is an established supplier of high-precision GNSS receivers, antennas, inertial systems and anti-jamming technologies used across defense, aviation, agriculture, marine, surveying and autonomous applications.
The company says it has more than 350 employees, while its GNSS reference-receiver technology is used in national aviation infrastructure in the United States, Europe, Japan, China and India.
Integrating a new navigation signal into that type of receiver ecosystem is important because resilient PNT will be much easier to deploy if manufacturers can add C-band capability to familiar GNSS hardware architectures rather than requiring operators to install an entirely separate navigation system.
For military platforms in particular, size, weight, power consumption, certification and integration costs can matter almost as much as raw positioning performance.
$1.2 Million NAVAIR Program
The current work follows a $1.2 million SBIR Phase II contract awarded to TrustPoint in 2025 by the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command.
The program brought TrustPoint together with Hexagon NovAtel and Hexagon US Federal to develop and demonstrate C-band GNSS-enabled receiver technology for U.S. government applications.
At the time the contract was announced, Hexagon specifically described the objective as combining TrustPoint’s C-band service with advanced anti-jam receiver technology.
The latest interference demonstration therefore represents more than an isolated signal test. It shows progress toward the original objective of putting alternative-frequency navigation into practical receiver hardware.
C-Band and Anti-Jam Technology
C-band also has interesting implications for controlled reception pattern antennas, or CRPAs.
These antenna systems use multiple elements and signal-processing techniques to suppress interference arriving from particular directions. TrustPoint has previously stated that CRPA systems can provide up to approximately 50 dB of interference suppression compared with conventional antenna configurations.
The company also argues that C-band CRPA designs could be 75% to 90% smaller than equivalent L-band systems because antenna dimensions generally decrease as operating frequency increases.
That could become particularly important for UAVs, autonomous vehicles and smaller military platforms where traditional anti-jam antenna systems can be difficult to accommodate.
The more interesting future architecture may therefore combine several layers: conventional multi-constellation GNSS, inertial navigation, anti-jam antennas and an independent C-band navigation service.
None of those technologies needs to solve the entire resilient-navigation problem alone.
TrustPoint Builds Toward LEO PNT
TrustPoint has been gradually moving the C-band concept from signal experiments toward an operational navigation architecture.
In June 2025, the company launched its third free-flying satellite, named Time Flies. TrustPoint said the spacecraft incorporated increased power and autonomy along with its compact C-band payload.
The company later demonstrated a ground-to-space PNT link as part of its work toward a navigation network that does not depend on GPS for its own timing and orbital information.
That independence is technically important.
A backup navigation constellation that still requires GPS internally for synchronization or orbit determination is not fully independent when GPS itself becomes unavailable.
TrustPoint’s longer-term architecture is designed to separate those dependencies.
Four-Satellite Demonstration Next
The company is now moving toward a larger system-level test.
In May 2026, the U.S. Space Force awarded TrustPoint a $4 million Tactical Funding Increase contract through SpaceWERX to demonstrate an end-to-end GPS-independent PNT system.
The planned architecture includes four satellites and four ground stations, with live trilateration across multiple space and ground assets. Initial deployments are planned within a 12-month program window.
That upcoming demonstration will be considerably more significant than a single-signal receiver test because true positioning requires the system to solve timing, ranging, orbit determination and geometry simultaneously.
A successful multi-satellite demonstration would therefore move TrustPoint closer to proving an actual navigation service rather than individual components of one.
Why This Test Matters
The most important part of the TrustPoint and NovAtel demonstration is not that a C-band signal survived interference.
Engineers already know that frequency diversity can improve resilience.
The real progress is that another navigation layer is beginning to enter conventional GNSS receiver architectures.
For decades, resilient PNT development has largely focused on making GPS reception harder to disrupt through better antennas, signal processing, inertial sensors and interference detection. Those technologies remain essential, but they still revolve around protecting access to broadly similar satellite signals.
TrustPoint is approaching the problem differently by adding another frequency band, another orbital regime and eventually another independent navigation infrastructure.
That changes the resilience model.
Instead of asking how long a receiver can keep GPS working under interference, the industry can begin asking how quickly the receiver can transition between several genuinely independent positioning sources.
For autonomous vehicles, UAVs and defense platforms, that is likely the more scalable long-term solution.
The latest demonstration does not prove that commercial C-band navigation is ready for global deployment. Coverage, satellite density, receiver cost, antenna design and production-scale integration still have to be demonstrated.
But integrating the signal into an established NovAtel receiver and producing positioning data under GNSS interference moves C-band navigation another step away from experimental PNT research and toward deployable equipment.
About TrustPoint
TrustPoint is a U.S. positioning, navigation and timing company developing a GPS-independent LEO navigation system built around C-band signals. Its goal is to provide a resilient alternative or backup to conventional GNSS for defense, autonomous systems, aviation and critical infrastructure. The company has already launched three free-flying demonstration satellites and is moving toward a larger operational test.
Key figures include the 5010 to 5030 MHz C-band allocation, a $1.2 million U.S. Navy SBIR Phase II contract for receiver development with NovAtel, and a $4 million U.S. Space Force TACFI award announced in 2026. The next major demonstration is expected to use four satellites and four ground stations.
About NovAtel
NovAtel is a Canadian developer of high-precision GNSS receivers, antennas, inertial navigation systems and anti-jamming technologies. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Calgary, the company has become one of the established suppliers of positioning hardware for surveying, agriculture, aerospace, defense and autonomous systems.
NovAtel is part of Hexagon, a global technology group with roughly 24,500 employees and about €5.4 billion in 2025 net sales. NovAtel itself employs more than 350 people, and its positioning technology is used in major aviation and GNSS infrastructure projects worldwide.
