Advanced Navigation America, the US arm of global robotics company Advanced Navigation, said Monday it is expanding manufacturing in Huntsville, Alabama, to build and deliver high-precision mining navigation technology.
Backed by $110 million Series C round, this new Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Center of Excellence will research, develop, and manufacture deep technologies across fiber optics, MEMS, laser sensing, photonics, vision-based systems, AI, and quantum sensing, the company said.
The technologies will help autonomous systems in mining and heavy industries maintain precise vehicle positioning in deep, dark, and unmapped environments where GPS cannot reach.
The company said it will also accelerate U.S. mergers and acquisitions, and the investments will expand the technologies available to mining operators, helping equipment navigate more precisely, operate in GPS-denied environments and reduce reliance on human intervention in hazardous areas.
“Resilient navigation and positioning is becoming the backbone of the autonomy shaping the future of mining and other heavy industries,” Advanced Navigation America president Mike Cohen said in a news release. “The challenge for America is making sure the industrial base can produce these vital technologies as quickly and reliably as demand is growing. That is the gap we are addressing in Huntsville.”
The Huntsville facility establishes a major U.S. manufacturing node alongside Advanced Navigation’s Australian and United Kingdom operational arms, enabling a trilateral production footprint.
This strengthens supply chain redundancy, increases global production capacity and allows Advanced Navigation America to respond faster to local U.S. mining requirements, the company said.