NAVSYS Corporation emerged as a groundbreaking technology company dedicated to expanding Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities. The company distinguished itself through remarkable innovations, including the world's first GPS cell phone, critical Space Based Augmentation System technologies, innovative inertial navigation solutions, and advanced GPS Software Defined Radios. These breakthrough developments positioned NAVSYS as a leader in navigation technology, paving the way for future positioning and timing innovations.

The company subsequently pivoted to developing a backup solution to GPS to provide assured Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) in L-band denied environments. NAVSYS has successfully deployed PNTaaS infrastructure to provide CONUS-wide coverage and has initiated deployment of the PNTaaS ground infrastructure and data services over Europe. Following this strategic transition, the company has ambitious plans to expand its service coverage into Asia, South America, and Africa, with the goal of achieving global coverage by the end of 2027.

The VP of Business Development, Walker Koury, joined NAVSYS after completing a master thesis at UCLA Anderson’s School of Business on the viability of a privately funded, economically viable alternative to GPS. Walker’s thesis, which won the top 2025 UCLA Strategic Research Management Capstone Thesis award, critically examined the challenges of privately developed and maintained LEO orbit satellites. His research concluded that such satellite constellations could not become profitable due to cost-prohibitive capital expenditures and poorly defined market demand and segmentation. Ultimately, Koury was drawn to NAVSYS because the company's PNTaaS system represented the only economically viable alternative to GPS.

Dr. Alison Brown, the CEO of NAVSYS Corporation, spoke exclusively to Business Honor and discussed their approach to strategic technology innovation and values-driven leadership development.

Below is an excerpt from the interview.

What are the core services that NAVSYS Corporation provides, and how have those offerings evolved over time?

NAVSYS has evolved from developing GPS-based PNT solutions to solutions that can provide similar performance in the absence of GPS.  Our key technology that is now deployed is our PNT as a Service (PNTaaS) backup to GPS and our PNTaaS SDR products.

Are there any unique platforms, tools, or operational processes NAVSYS Corporation offers that differentiate you from traditional management providers?

NAVSYS PNTaaS technology is implemented on a cloud based (AWS) solution that allows existing satellite communication signals to be used for PNT through our ground infrastructure. Our competitors are building satellite navigation solutions that require new satellite constellations. Our differentiator is that we do not need to deploy new space capability – analogous to how Uber revolutionized the taxi industry by removing the need for capital investment to deploy taxi services.

How does NAVSYS Corporation manage and interpret complex operational data—such as usage patterns, maintenance requirements, contractual terms, or sustainability metrics—to deliver accurate and actionable insights for clients?

NAVSYS’s fundamental difference from other PNT solutions is that we developed a cloud-based service that minimizes capital expenditures, which reduces the burden of complex operational data. This reduction allows us to provide a faster, cheaper, and more reliable service to the customer. Compared to other Alt-PNT services, which rely on extensive capital expenditures (PNT SV constellations, hardware, IT services), NAVSYS aims to minimize the amount of physical hardware, making it easier for customers to adapt. Because our system can use multiple bands (Ku, Ka, & C), we can tailor the service to specific customers' needs. For example, commercial timing, military-grade PNT, and maritime navigation use different bands; NAVSYS’s software-defined radios and systems can be configured to the different clients’ needs, providing more timely and accurate service.

With rapid advancements in GPS, telematics, connectivity, and EV-related technologies, how is NAVSYS Corporation integrating or collaborating with leading tech providers to ensure your clients stay ahead of industry innovation?

We are leveraging advanced data services and cloud based technology to assure reliable, robust, secure multi-network data transport for our services. We are also collaborating with SATCOM terminal vendors to embed our PNTaaS capability into their products to allow rapid deployment integrated with these net generation GEO and pLEO broadband mobile data services.

What distinguishes NAVSYS Corporation in its ability to customize its mobility and technology concepts for different industries or company types as it continues to grow as an emerging leader?

NAVSYS has core technology that supports the PNTaaS deployment through advanced ground infrastructure, which continues to allow new satellite constellations to join the PNTaaS ecosphere providing signals that can be used for PNT.  Our advanced PNTaaS SDRs with integrated inertial navigation also allow our customers to rapidly deploy products with embedded PNTaaS capability to provide assured PNT services under GPS and L-band denial.

As an Emerging Company of the Year, what advantages do clients gain by choosing NAVSYS Corporation’s fully managed technology solutions compared to organizations that attempt to implement these concepts in-house?

NAVSYS patented PNT technology is the result of decades of R&D development of advanced PNT solutions and is currently the only alternative PNT capability that delivers multi-band (C, Ku and K) resilience against L-band jammer and multi-orbit (GEO, MEO, HEO, LEO) capability for GNSS equivalent PNT performance. Through our PNTaaS licenses, partners can take advantage of our PNTaaS services and infrastructure and can embed PNTaaS capability into their product lines leveraging our advanced PNTaaS SDR reference designs.

Dr. Alison Brown | CEO

Alison Brown is the President and CEO of NAVSYS Corporation, which she founded in 1986.  She studied engineering at Cambridge University, graduated from MIT with an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics and received a PhD in Mechanics and Aerospace from UCLA. At NAVSYS Corporation, she pioneered the development of the first GPS cell phone, the innovative “bent pipe” technology by the WAAS and MT-SAT space based augmentation systems to GPS, early advanced GPS Software Defined Radios with jammer location and beam forming capability, the first open-architecture inertial navigation product (InterNav). She is also CEO and Founder of PNTaaS Ltd, which was incorporated in July 2025 to introduce the innovative PNTaaS technology into UK & Europe where GNSS denial is the most prevalent threat.

She is a fellow of the Institute of Navigation and an Honorary Fellow of Sidney Sussex College.  She was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for her contributions to research and development of precision navigation and timing technologies.  She has previously served multiple terms on the Air Force Science Advisory Board and the Defense Science Board. In 2023, she was awarded the UCLA Samueli Professional Achievement Award as an internationally acclaimed expert in positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) technologies.

“NAVSYS  Corporation delivers next-generation navigation technologies at the  intersection of commercial innovation and national security, empowering military and commercial missions to operate with confidence in GPS-denied environments.”