TrustPoint has shown its C-band navigation signals can be received by third-party hardware, a step toward giving military users a jam-resistant alternative that runs alongside GPS rather than replacing it.
Lab work and an orbital pass both advanced TrustPoint’s C-band program this week: a NovAtel receiver locked onto a live signal from a TrustPoint satellite, while a combined L-band and C-band prototype faced simulated jamming in a separate test.
The work ran under a Small Business Innovation Research Phase 2 contract funded by the US Naval Air Systems Command. A $1.2M award in 2025 funded C-band receiver work with NovAtel and Hexagon US Federal.
Chief executive Patrick Shannon said the test pitted the hardware against a basic wideband high-power jammer, and the goal was to prove C-band capability can be added to established receiver technology and used alongside conventional L-band signals. Earlier TrustPoint demonstrations were internal; this was the first time the company supported a third party building C-band reception.
NovAtel, part of Sweden’s Hexagon, started from its existing L-band equipment and built the combined prototype in under a year.
The L-band is home to today’s GPS and other major navigation constellations. TrustPoint’s pitch to military customers is a blended approach: keep existing L-band services and layer in C-band signals that are harder to jam, drawing on spectrum with deep roots in satellite communications and 5G.
