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Optimizing Earth-Moon Transfer and Cislunar Navigation: Integrating Low-Energy Trajectories, AI Techniques and GNSS-R Technologies

Muhammad, Arsalan, Ahmed, Wasiu Akande, Ojonugwa, Omada Friday, Biswas, Paul Puspendu

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

The rapid growth of cislunar activities, including lunar landings, the Lunar Gateway, and in-space refueling stations, requires advances in cost-efficient trajectory design and reliable integration of navigation and remote sensing. Traditional Earth-Moon transfers suffer from rigid launch windows and high propellant demands, while Earth-based GNSS systems provide little to no coverage beyond geostationary orbit. This limits autonomy and environmental awareness in cislunar space. This review compares four major transfer strategies by evaluating velocity requirements, flight durations, and fuel efficiency, and by identifying their suitability for both crewed and robotic missions. The emerging role of artificial intelligence and machine learning is highlighted: convolutional neural networks support automated crater recognition and digital terrain model generation, while deep reinforcement learning enables adaptive trajectory refinement during descent and landing to reduce risk and decision latency. The study also examines how GNSS-Reflectometry and advanced Positioning, Navigation, and Timing architectures can extend navigation capabilities beyond current limits. GNSS-R can act as a bistatic radar for mapping lunar ice, soil properties, and surface topography, while PNT systems support autonomous rendezvous, Lagrange point station-keeping, and coordinated satellite swarm operations. Combining these developments establishes a scalable framework for sustainable cislunar exploration and long-term human and robotic presence.


Graph Network-based Structural Simulator: Graph Neural Networks for Structural Dynamics

Lucchetti, Alessandro, Cadini, Francesco, Giglio, Marco, Lomazzi, Luca

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have recently been explored as surrogate models for numerical simulations. While their applications in computational fluid dynamics have been investigated, little attention has been given to structural problems, especially for dynamic cases. To address this gap, we introduce the Graph Network-based Structural Simulator (GNSS), a GNN framework for surrogate modeling of dynamic structural problems. GNSS follows the encode-process-decode paradigm typical of GNN-based machine learning models, and its design makes it particularly suited for dynamic simulations thanks to three key features: (i) expressing node kinematics in node-fixed local frames, which avoids catastrophic cancellation in finite-difference velocities; (ii) employing a sign-aware regression loss, which reduces phase errors in long rollouts; and (iii) using a wavelength-informed connectivity radius, which optimizes graph construction. We evaluate GNSS on a case study involving a beam excited by a 50 kHz Hanning-modulated pulse. The results show that GNSS accurately reproduces the physics of the problem over hundreds of timesteps and generalizes to unseen loading conditions, where existing GNNs fail to converge or deliver meaningful predictions. Compared with explicit finite element baselines, GNSS achieves substantial inference speedups while preserving spatial and temporal fidelity. These findings demonstrate that locality-preserving GNNs with physics-consistent update rules are a competitive alternative for dynamic, wave-dominated structural simulations.


Quantum-Classical Hybrid Framework for Zero-Day Time-Push GNSS Spoofing Detection

Enan, Abyad, Chowdhury, Mashrur, Dasgupta, Sagar, Rahman, Mizanur

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are critical for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) applications. However, GNSS are highly vulnerable to spoofing attacks, where adversaries transmit counterfeit signals to mislead receivers. Such attacks can lead to severe consequences, including misdirected navigation, compromised data integrity, and operational disruptions. Most existing spoofing detection methods depend on supervised learning techniques and struggle to detect novel, evolved, and unseen attacks. To overcome this limitation, we develop a zero-day spoofing detection method using a Hybrid Quantum-Classical Autoencoder (HQC-AE), trained solely on authentic GNSS signals without exposure to spoofed data. By leveraging features extracted during the tracking stage, our method enables proactive detection before PNT solutions are computed. We focus on spoofing detection in static GNSS receivers, which are particularly susceptible to time-push spoofing attacks, where attackers manipulate timing information to induce incorrect time computations at the receiver. We evaluate our model against different unseen time-push spoofing attack scenarios: simplistic, intermediate, and sophisticated. Our analysis demonstrates that the HQC-AE consistently outperforms its classical counterpart, traditional supervised learning-based models, and existing unsupervised learning-based methods in detecting zero-day, unseen GNSS time-push spoofing attacks, achieving an average detection accuracy of 97.71% with an average false negative rate of 0.62% (when an attack occurs but is not detected). For sophisticated spoofing attacks, the HQC-AE attains an accuracy of 98.23% with a false negative rate of 1.85%. These findings highlight the effectiveness of our method in proactively detecting zero-day GNSS time-push spoofing attacks across various stationary GNSS receiver platforms.


SmartPNT-MSF: A Multi-Sensor Fusion Dataset for Positioning and Navigation Research

Zhu, Feng, Zhang, Zihang, Teng, Kangcheng, Yakup, Abduhelil, Zhang, Xiaohong

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

-- High - precision navigation and positioning systems are critical for applications in autonomous vehicles and mobile mapping, where robust and continuous localization is essential. To test and enhance the performance of algorithms, some research institutions and companies have successively constructed and publicly released datasets. However, existing datasets still suffer from limitations in sensor diversity and environmental coverage. To address these shortcomings and advance development in related fields, the SmartPNT Multisource Integrated Navigation, Positioning, and Attitude Dataset has been developed. This dataset integrates data from multiple sensors, including Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), optical cameras, and LiDAR, to provide a rich and versatile resource for research in multi - sensor fusion and high - precision navigation. The dataset construction process is thoroughly documented, encompassing sensor configurations, coordinate system definitions, and calibration procedures for both cameras and LiDAR. A standardized framework for data collection and processing ensures consistency and scalability, enabling large - scale analysis. Validation using state - of - the - art Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithms, such as VINS - Mono and LIO - SAM, demonstrates the dataset's applicability for advanced navigation research. Covering a wide range of real - world scenarios, including urban areas, campuses, tunnels, and suburban environments, the dataset offers a valuable tool for advancing navigation technologies and addressing challenges in complex environments. By providing a publicly accessible, high - quality dataset, this work aims to bridge gaps in sensor diversity, data accessibility, and environmental representation, fostering further innovation in the field . I NTRODUCTION h e continuous advancement of positioning and navigation technologies has driven rapid development across various domains. Feng Zhu is with the School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China, and also with the Hubei Luojia Laboratory, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China (e - mail: fzhu@whu.edu.cn). Zihang Zhang, Kangcheng Teng, and Abduhelil Yakup are with Wuhan University Technology, the School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China (e - mail: zihangzhang@whu.edu.cn;


Real-Time Bayesian Detection of Drift-Evasive GNSS Spoofing in Reinforcement Learning Based UAV Deconfliction

Panda, Deepak Kumar, Guo, Weisi

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) rely on global navigation satellite system (GNSS) pseudorange measurements for accurate real-time localization and navigation. However, this dependence exposes them to sophisticated spoofing threats, where adversaries manipulate pseudoranges to deceive UAV receivers. Among these, drift-evasive spoofing attacks subtly perturb measurements, gradually diverting the UAVs trajectory without triggering conventional signal-level anti-spoofing mechanisms. Traditional distributional shift detection techniques often require accumulating a threshold number of samples, causing delays that impede rapid detection and timely response. Consequently, robust temporal-scale detection methods are essential to identify attack onset and enable contingency planning with alternative sensing modalities, improving resilience against stealthy adversarial manipulations. This study explores a Bayesian online change point detection (BOCPD) approach that monitors temporal shifts in value estimates from a reinforcement learning (RL) critic network to detect subtle behavioural deviations in UAV navigation. Experimental results show that this temporal value-based framework outperforms conventional GNSS spoofing detectors, temporal semi-supervised learning frameworks, and the Page-Hinkley test, achieving higher detection accuracy and lower false-positive and false-negative rates for drift-evasive spoofing attacks.


Online Performance Assessment of Multi-Source-Localization for Autonomous Driving Systems Using Subjective Logic

Orf, Stefan, Ochs, Sven, Zofka, Marc René, Zöllner, J. Marius

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Autonomous driving (AD) relies heavily on high precision localization as a crucial part of all driving related software components. The precise positioning is necessary for the utilization of high-definition maps, prediction of other road participants and the controlling of the vehicle itself. Due to this reason, the localization is absolutely safety relevant. Typical errors of the localization systems, which are long term drifts, jumps and false localization, that must be detected to enhance safety. An online assessment and evaluation of the current localization performance is a challenging task, which is usually done by Kalman filtering for single localization systems. Current autonomous vehicles cope with these challenges by fusing multiple individual localization methods into an overall state estimation. Such approaches need expert knowledge for a competitive performance in challenging environments. This expert knowledge is based on the trust and the prioritization of distinct localization methods in respect to the current situation and environment. This work presents a novel online performance assessment technique of multiple localization systems by using subjective logic (SL). In our research vehicles, three different systems for localization are available, namely odometry-, Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM)- and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based. Our performance assessment models the behavior of these three localization systems individually and puts them into reference of each other. The experiments were carried out using the CoCar NextGen, which is based on an Audi A6. The vehicle's localization system was evaluated under challenging conditions, specifically within a tunnel environment. The overall evaluation shows the feasibility of our approach.


An Inertial Sequence Learning Framework for Vehicle Speed Estimation via Smartphone IMU

Xiao, Xuan, Ren, Xiaotong, Li, Haitao

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

--Accurately estimating vehicle velocity via smart-phone is critical for mobile navigation and transportation. This paper introduces a cutting-edge framework for velocity estimation that incorporates temporal learning models, utilizing Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) data and is supervised by Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) information. The framework employs a noise compensation network to fit the noise distribution between sensor measurements and actual motion, and a pose estimation network to align the coordinate systems of the phone and the vehicle. T o enhance the model's generalizability, a data augmentation technique that mimics various phone placements within the car is proposed. Moreover, a new loss function is designed to mitigate timestamp mismatches between GNSS and IMU signals, effectively aligning the signals and improving the velocity estimation accuracy. Finally, we implement a highly efficient prototype and conduct extensive experiments on a real-world crowdsourcing dataset, resulting in superior accuracy and efficiency. HE emergence of smartphone-based vehicular applications has revolutionized how drivers access and take advantage of mobile services. These applications offer a wide range of valuable features that enhance driving safety and convenience, such as real-time vehicle positioning, analysis of driving behavior, intelligent navigation assistance, and traffic status updates. According to statistics, in 2021, nearly 70% of drivers use mobile navigation apps like Gaode and Baidu Maps while driving (Figure 1 (a)) in China. Ride-hailing drivers, in particular, rely heavily on the positioning services provided by these mobile navigation apps to ensure accurate passenger pick-up and drop-off. Consequently, navigation app service providers, such as DiDi, Uber, and Amap, are dedicated to enhancing the precision of smartphone-based vehicle positioning, thereby improving the user experience. Typically, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) information provides position [1]. However, the limitations of mobile phone hardware and complex urban environments can lead to signal degradation and even congestion, which challenges GNSS to provide a consistently stable signal over long periods of time, especially when the vehicle passes through densely built areas, tunnels, or underground parking facilities (Figure 1 (b)). The absence of satellite perception significantly hampers the driving experience, for instance, in subterranean parking lots where the provided location diverges considerably from the actual position, driver may encounter confusion and disorientation.


SeeTree -- A modular, open-source system for tree detection and orchard localization

Brown, Jostan, Grimm, Cindy, Davidson, Joseph R.

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Accurate localization is an important functional requirement for precision orchard management. However, there are few off-the-shelf commercial solutions available to growers. In this paper, we present SeeTree, a modular, open source embedded system for tree trunk detection and orchard localization that is deployable on any vehicle. Building on our prior work on vision-based in-row localization using particle filters, SeeTree includes several new capabilities. First, it provides capacity for full orchard localization including out-of-row headland turning. Second, it includes the flexibility to integrate either visual, GNSS, or wheel odometry in the motion model. During field experiments in a commercial orchard, the system converged to the correct location 99% of the time over 800 trials, even when starting with large uncertainty in the initial particle locations. When turning out of row, the system correctly tracked 99% of the turns (860 trials representing 43 unique row changes). To help support adoption and future research and development, we make our dataset, design files, and source code freely available to the community.


PO-GVINS: Tightly Coupled GNSS-Visual-Inertial Integration with Pose-Only Representation

Xu, Zhuo, Zhu, Feng, Zhang, Zihang, Jian, Chang, Lv, Jiarui, Zhang, Yuantai, Zhang, Xiaohong

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Accurate and reliable positioning is crucial for perception, decision-making, and other high-level applications in autonomous driving, unmanned aerial vehicles, and intelligent robots. Given the inherent limitations of standalone sensors, integrating heterogeneous sensors with complementary capabilities is one of the most effective approaches to achieving this goal. In this paper, we propose a filtering-based, tightly coupled global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-visual-inertial positioning framework with a pose-only formulation applied to the visual-inertial system (VINS), termed PO-GVINS. Specifically, multiple-view imaging used in current VINS requires a priori of 3D feature, then jointly estimate camera poses and 3D feature position, which inevitably introduces linearization error of the feature as well as facing dimensional explosion. However, the pose-only (PO) formulation, which is demonstrated to be equivalent to the multiple-view imaging and has been applied in visual reconstruction, represent feature depth using two camera poses and thus 3D feature position is removed from state vector avoiding aforementioned difficulties. Inspired by this, we first apply PO formulation in our VINS, i.e., PO-VINS. GNSS raw measurements are then incorporated with integer ambiguity resolved to achieve accurate and drift-free estimation. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed PO-VINS significantly outperforms the multi-state constrained Kalman filter (MSCKF). By incorporating GNSS measurements, PO-GVINS achieves accurate, drift-free state estimation, making it a robust solution for positioning in challenging environments.


GPS Is Vulnerable to Attack. Magnetic Navigation Can Help

WIRED

Far above your head, constellations of satellites are working constantly to provide the positioning, navigation, and timing systems that quietly run modern life. Known as the global navigation satellite system, or GNSS, signals from these satellites provide the foundation for mobile networks, energy grids, the internet, and GPS. And increasingly, their dependability is under threat. GPS signals can be jammed--deliberately drowned out with other powerful radio signals--and spoofed, where erroneous signals are released to fool positioning systems. GPS interference has been documented in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the South China Sea.