Lumino Completes Contribution to InnovateUK Quantum Time Transfer Project

Lumino Technologies has completed its contribution to Phase 1 of Project TimeLink, an Innovate UK Contracts for Innovation project developing a quantum-secure alternative to GNSS-based timing.

Global positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) infrastructure relies heavily on GNSS satellite signals, which are vulnerable to jamming and spoofing. Quantum Time Transfer (QTT) uses the properties of entangled photons to offer a resilient, quantum-secure alternative for ultra-precise synchronisation between sites.

Lumino's contribution assessed its existing free-space entangled photon source (EPS) and Quantum Receivers (QRs) - previously developed for quantum networking and QKD applications - against the very different performance requirements of QTT, and defined a product roadmap for maturing it into a deployable timing subsystem. The completed assessment validates Lumino's EPS as a strong candidate for QTT applications, while identifying the specific engineering challenges that follow-on work will need to address, and gives Lumino a route into new markets including precision timing, defence, CNI and autonomous systems.

Project prime Xairos UK announced completion of the wider TimeLink Phase 1 programme in May 2026, reporting it had matured its Athena product line and established a path towards field demonstration and early commercial readiness. The programme was delivered by a consortium including Duality Quantum Photonics, Cranfield University, Quantum Technology Associates and Vodafone.

Ryan Kraliz, Director of Programmes at Lumino Technologies, said, "TimeLink gave us the chance to put our entangled photon source through its paces against a completely different application with real market traction, and the results give us real confidence in its potential for quantum-secure timing. We look forward to building on this roadmap with Xairos and the wider ecosystem."