Quantum Sensors, Deep Tech

Infleqtion UK gets funding to deploy quantum RF direction finding

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October 13, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

Innovate UK funding is driving Infleqtion to move quantum radio frequency sensing out of labs and into real-world applications, the company says. The company is developing a Quantum Spectrum-DF product, using Rydberg atoms to detect signals with optical techniques instead of conventional antennas. This approach aims to create a compact, deployable system for platforms that previously could not host this capability, according to Infleqtion Managing Director, UK, Colin Sullivan, who states this project will help establish the United Kingdom as a leader in radio frequency sensing technologies.

Rydberg Atom Technology Enables Compact RF Direction Finding

Infleqtion’s Quantum Spectrum-DF system uses the unique properties of Rydberg atoms to detect and geolocate high-frequency signals, a departure from traditional antenna-based methods that rely on physical size for performance. This approach uses optical techniques to perceive radio waves, potentially enabling direction-finding capabilities on platforms where conventional systems are impractical due to weight or space constraints. The system’s development builds on earlier Infleqtion work that successfully tested a prototype, now moving towards a robust, deployable product intended for both defense and civilian applications, according to the company.

Leonardo is collaborating with Infleqtion on this project, recognizing the potential for reduced size, weight and power consumption in future sensing technologies. “For defence platforms, reducing size, weight and power consumption while preserving operational effectiveness is a significant advantage,” said Oliver Sims, Electronic Warfare Chief Technologist at Leonardo.

This collaboration highlights a strategic investment in technologies aimed at transforming future sensing capabilities, with the promise of quantum-enabled RF sensing extending beyond sensitivity and precision to a dramatically smaller physical footprint. The potential for broad applicability across Leonardo’s electronics portfolio is driving continued research and development efforts to evaluate how quantum technologies can enhance future capabilities for customers.

The impetus for this advancement stems from a need to revitalize high-frequency direction finding, a capability the United Kingdom first pioneered nearly a century ago. “Nearly a century after the UK developed high-frequency direction finding (HF/DF) to gain intelligence advantage, Rydberg sensing offers the opportunity to reinvent that capability for a far more contested electromagnetic environment,” explained Colin Sullivan, Managing Director, UK at Infleqtion.

This reinvention is about restoring a historical advantage and about strengthening sovereign awareness of the radio frequency spectrum, improving threat identification, and enhancing national resilience against increasingly sophisticated actors. By applying atomic sensors to detect and characterize HF signals with exceptional precision, the project aims to provide a critical advantage in a challenging electromagnetic landscape. The system’s potential extends beyond defense applications, offering solutions for spectrum surveillance, passive radar and resilient navigation.

“Technologies based on Rydberg-atom sensing could enable new levels of performance in environments where traditional antenna-based approaches face practical limitations,” Sims added. This versatility is a key driver for the development of Quantum Spectrum-DF, which is designed for dual use across both defense and civilian markets. The ability to operate effectively in environments where conventional systems struggle opens up new possibilities for monitoring, tracking, and communication in a variety of sectors.

Infleqtion’s work is supported by funding from Innovate UK, which is facilitating the transition of quantum RF sensing research to operational environments. This funding highlights the government’s commitment to encouraging innovation in quantum technologies and solidifying the UK’s position as a leader in this rapidly evolving field.

The technology also promises to enable capabilities that are currently unattainable, suggesting a significant leap forward in RF sensing and potentially expanding applications from improving the accuracy of navigation systems to enhancing the effectiveness of radar technology. The development of Quantum Spectrum-DF represents a step towards realizing the full potential of quantum sensing in the real world.

By advancing quantum sensing from laboratory research to practical deployment, this project will help establish the United Kingdom as a leader in next generation radio frequency sensing technologies.

Colin Sullivan, Managing Director, UK at Infleqtion
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Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

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