NextNav
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Wireless, Location technology |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Reston, Virginia , United States |
| Products | Metropolitan Beacon System (MBS), Pinnacle vertical location service, TerraPoiNT |
Number of employees | 61 (2021) |
NextNav, Inc. is the developer behind the Metropolitan Beacon System (MBS), a three-dimensional geolocation solution designed to provide extensive location and timing capabilities where GPS signals prove unreliable. Utilizing NextNav’s licensed 920-928 MHz frequency band within the United States, MBS offers advantages such as reduced power usage and highly accurate altitude data. The company focuses on markets that demand precise indoor and urban positioning, capitalizing on its superiority compared to satellite-based navigation systems.
Established in 2007 and based in Reston, Virginia, NextNav had a workforce of 61 employees as of 2021 and operates within the wireless and location technology sectors. Its commercial strategy centers on supplying sophisticated geolocation technologies and services to industries including public safety, telecommunications, and smart infrastructure development.
NextNav entered the public market via a Nasdaq listing in October 2021 following a merger with the special-purpose acquisition company Spartacus Acquisition Corporation. This public offering represented a pivotal advancement in the company’s expansion and financial standing, broadening its capital resources to enhance global reach and accelerate technological innovation.
Technology
In January 2021, NextNav introduced its Pinnacle vertical location service, which delivers floor-level positioning by utilizing barometric sensors embedded in smartphones and other devices. The Pinnacle service is deployed through a partnership with AT&T, covering more than 4,400 cities across the United States. More broadly, NextNav’s network employs its Metropolitan Beacon System (MBS) technology to provide precise three-dimensional indoor location services across various markets. Functioning similarly to GPS, MBS transmits carefully timed signals from wide-area beacons that enable trilateration for accurate positioning.
Operating terrestrially within the sub-GHz spectrum, MBS signals can travel multiple kilometers and effectively penetrate indoor environments where satellite systems like GPS and GLONASS typically fail. This network is optimized for indoor use with lower energy consumption than GPS and incorporates barometric pressure adjustments to achieve altitude accuracy generally within a single floor level.
A further benefit of NextNav’s MBS infrastructure is its capacity to deliver Stratum-1-level timing indoors or during GPS outages. MBS receivers are being commercialized as an additional constellation option within multi-constellation GNSS processors, often requiring only firmware upgrades.
The emergency call location capabilities of this technology were initially showcased in 2012 and have been refined since then. It is integrated into major international telecommunications standards organizations such as 3GPP (Release 13) and OMA (SUPL 2.0.3), with MBS signal technology available under FRAND licensing terms.
NextNav’s scalable platform supports a wide array of applications including mobile devices, Internet of Things (IoT) equipment, enterprise solutions, and public safety systems.
On March 11, 2024, NextNav announced it had acquired additional spectrum licenses totaling 4 MHz in the lower 900 MHz band (902–928 MHz) from Telesaurus Holdings GB LLC and Skybridge Spectrum Foundation for up to $50 million paid in cash and shares. These newly acquired licenses augment NextNav’s existing spectrum portfolio.
Subsequently, on April 16, 2024, NextNav submitted a petition to the Federal Communications Commission requesting rule changes to facilitate terrestrial positioning, navigation, timing networks, and broadband services within the Lower 900 MHz band as a complementary and backup system to GPS. The FCC comment period concluded on September 5, 2024, encountering opposition from groups including the American Radio Relay League and the LoRa-based Meshtastic community operating within the same frequency range.
Coverage
NextNav's TerraPoiNT service, designed for Urban and Indoor Positioning, is available in the San Francisco Bay Area, McLean, Virginia, and several other selected regions. Additionally, its Pinnacle vertical location solution extends coverage to more than 4,400 cities across the United States and collaborates with AT&T FirstNet to assist emergency response teams.
Acquisitions
In November 2022, NextNav expanded its global footprint and technology offerings by acquiring Nestwave, a geolocation technology firm based in France that focuses on low-power solutions.