June 22, 2026 (JST)

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Spacid Inc.

Spacid Inc,. (head office: Koto-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: SHIGEMICHI Masayuki; hereinafter “Spacid”), a wholly owned subsidiary of BIPROGY Inc. (head office: Koto-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: SAITO Noboru; hereinafter “BIPROGY”) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (President: YAMAKAWA Hiroshi; hereinafter “JAXA”) have begun a joint business demonstration of the spatial authentication system that uses the signal authentication service of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) “Michibiki”. This project is being carried out within the framework of JAXA Space Innovation through Partnership and Co-creation (J-SPARC)^*1, a program aimed at creating new space-related businesses based on innovative ideas.

Background of the Project

The signal authentication service provided by QZSS “Michibiki” (to allow users to confirm that a received signal was genuinely transmitted by “Michibiki”) was launched in April 2024. (Refer to the Cabinet Office’s related website at: https://qzss.go.jp/overview/services/sv14_sas.html (Japanese Only))

This service provides the capability to verify the authenticity (containing no data falsification or fabrication) of navigation messages transmitted from satellites using digital signature technology, which has improved the performance to detect spoofing attacks using false positioning signals from third parties. This service is expected to support applications where safety and reliability are important, including autonomous driving, drone delivery, and infrastructure maintenance. However, adoption across a wider range of sectors has been limited, principally by the need to address increasingly sophisticated spoofing attacks and other methods such as radio interference as well as by the requirement for dedicated receivers to use the signal authentication service.

Outline and Role of the Joint Demonstration

To solve the above-described issues, JAXA has been developing the “Michibiki Spatial Authentication System” by adding Michibiki-based location and time signals to conventional electronic certification (to prove authenticity) to enable users to prove that they were physically present at a specific place on a specific date and time. Through this joint demonstration, JAXA will accelerate these efforts by focusing on stabilizing received signals at ground-base stations that handle the system’s spatial authentication work (hereinafter “spatial authentication station”), strengthening countermeasures against radio interference, and advancing use of the signal authentication service, thereby contributing to increasing technical capabilities to use the service.

Spacid will build a system that can run on general-purpose devices such as smartphones. The company aims to support “data trust” by preventing the tampering of digital data and assuring the authenticity of acquired information, seeking to enable the system to be utilized in various fields related to logistics, agriculture, construction, disaster prevention, and finance.

Target Outcomes

This demonstration aims to build the “Michibiki Spatial Authentication System” that provides the capability to verify the time and location information on digital data obtained by combining Michibiki’s signal authentication and existing timestamp functions, in a bid to create value related to the following issues:

Major envisioned uses

1. ・Logistics: confirming completion of contactless delivery service, international cargo tracking
2. ・Agriculture: use for the certificate of origin of agricultural products
3. ・Construction and maintenance: ensuring data authenticity for construction and inspection records and completion inspections
4. ・Disaster prevention: assuring trustability of the information collected from sites of the disaster
5. ・Finance: use for geotagged cashless payment