Xona Pulsar: Commercial PNT from LEO

Tyler Reid

Xona is developing Pulsar, a commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation designed to deliver high-performance, resilient positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services. Ultimately, this is a near 260-satellite LEO constellation offering dual L-band navigation services near L1 and L5. Designed for interoperability, Pulsar provides centimeter-level accuracy, resilience, and authentication, while maintaining a format that existing GNSS receivers can support through a firmware update. Using spectrally compact QPSK modulation, Pulsar minimizes interference to existing GNSS despite higher signal power. With the successful launch of Xona’s first production-class satellite, Pulsar-0, Xona has initiated on-orbit validation of core performance metrics under operational conditions. We showcase early results including the first range authentication from orbit, receiver integration with partners, and compatibility with GPS and Galileo. Finally, we discuss broader trends in the commercial and LEO PNT ecosystem.

Keywords: LEO, GNSS, PNT, Pulsar, resilience