Advanced Navigation has appointed Pawel Michalak as Chief Technology Officer, a move that reflects the growing pressure on positioning and navigation technologies as GPS reliability comes under strain in contested, remote and extreme operating environments.
The appointment comes at a time when satellite-based navigation alone is increasingly insufficient. Electronic warfare, signal interference, harsh terrain and operations in deep-sea or space environments are exposing the limits of GPS-only approaches, particularly for autonomous systems that depend on continuous, trusted positioning data.
As CTO, Michalak will lead Advanced Navigation’s next phase of technology development, centred on building resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing architectures that do not rely on any single signal source. The strategy focuses on fusing multiple sensing modalities to ensure continuity of navigation even when GPS is degraded or unavailable, while also supporting the company’s global expansion of engineering teams.
Advanced Navigation CEO Chris Shaw said the industry can no longer assume satellite signals will be available or reliable. Instead, disruption must be treated as a baseline condition. He said Michalak brings the rare combination of deep academic expertise and industrial experience needed to translate advanced research into deployable technology at speed, while also shaping long-term architecture for future autonomy.
At the core of the company’s roadmap is an inertial-centric, multi-sensor approach that Advanced Navigation describes as a “nervous system” for autonomous platforms. Under Michalak’s leadership, this architecture will integrate inertial sensing, photonics, robotics, artificial intelligence, quantum sensing, underwater acoustics, and advanced GPS antennas and receivers. The aim is to deliver trusted positioning across subsea, land, air and space domains, even in environments where conventional navigation fails.
Michalak said there is no single solution to resilient navigation. Instead, future PNT systems will depend on the fusion of raw data from multiple sensor types, with inertial navigation acting as the central reference. By combining laser, vision, quantum and other advanced sensors, autonomous systems can maintain situational awareness and decision-making capability even when external signals disappear.
The appointment builds on Michalak’s extensive background in spatial intelligence and complex systems. Prior to joining Advanced Navigation, he led digital transformation at Fugro, overseeing global engineering, AI and robotics programs focused on real-world decision making at scale. His career spans senior leadership roles across Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Australia, with experience across sectors such as energy transition, resilient infrastructure and climate-related monitoring.
Michalak holds a PhD in satellite geodesy, an MBA, and executive postgraduate qualifications from institutions including Stanford University, Warsaw University of Technology and Business School Lausanne.
For organisations deploying autonomous systems in safety-critical or contested environments, the appointment underscores a broader shift underway in navigation and autonomy. As reliance on single-signal systems becomes a liability, resilience, sensor fusion and architectural depth are emerging as defining characteristics of the next generation of positioning technology.
