Nautel, the Nova Scotian maker of radio transmitters, has signed a “significant” deal to work with a Massachusetts partner to provide advanced navigation equipment to South Korea.

The company said in a statement Thursday that it will provide an Enhanced Loran transmitter to UrsaNav, of North Billerica, Mass. UrsaNav will then provide the Nautel eLoran transmitter technology together with its own timing and control system to the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Oceans Engineering, or KRISO.

Nautel said this contract represents the first phase in a larger program to upgrade South Korea’s Loran-C stations to improve the Asian country’s nautical position, navigation and timing systems. The statement did not say how much the contract for the eLoran technology is worth.

“The robust land-based signal of eLoran is a key vital element in ensuring national security,” said Nautel President and CEO Kevin Rodgers in the statement. “Nautel’s innovative transmitter, when paired with UrsaNav’s advanced timing, control, and receiver technology, will be a cornerstone of a system which combines satellite and terrestrial elements to ensure the reliability of navigation and timing services.”

Based in Hackett’s Cove near Peggy’s Cove, Nautel has grown into one of the world’s largest makers of AM and FM radio transmitters over the past five decades. While that continues to be the cornerstone of Nautel’s business, the company has found opportunities in new fields, including making the eLoran transmitter.

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The Nautel/UrsaNav system helps to provide accurate time and position data that is essential in such key industrial sectors as maritime transport, aviation, electrical distribution, telecommunications, finance, and digital broadcasting.

The statement said the solution is more dependable than competitors like GPS that use low-powered signals from satellites. The space-based systems can be easily jammed or “spoofed”, thereby providing inaccurate information.

By contrast, Nautel said eLoran uses high-power radio waves from land-based transmitters to send positioning and timing information to receivers on ships, aircraft, vehicles, and critical infrastructure. ELoran’s service is complementary to satellite services, such as GPS, and helps ensure continuity of operations.

Nautel said the KRISO Test Bed System uses the NL40, one of the Nova Scotia company’s NL series of navigational transmitters. These transmitters are capable of eLORAN operation in power levels up to one megawatt.

It said the NL40 has “unmatched levels of efficiency” and is the most sophisticated, fully solid-state, eLORAN transmitter available.