Digital Twin for Analog Mars Missions: Investigating Local Positioning Alternatives for GNSS-Denied Environments
Future planetary exploration missions will rely heavily on efficient human–robot interaction to ensure astronaut safety and maximize scientific return. In this context, digital twins offer a promising tool for planning, simulating, and optimizing extravehicular activities. This study presents the de...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-07-01
|
| Series: | Sensors |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/15/4615 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849406409314140160 |
|---|---|
| author | Benjamin Reimeir Amelie Leininger Raimund Edlinger Andreas Nüchter Gernot Grömer |
| author_facet | Benjamin Reimeir Amelie Leininger Raimund Edlinger Andreas Nüchter Gernot Grömer |
| author_sort | Benjamin Reimeir |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Future planetary exploration missions will rely heavily on efficient human–robot interaction to ensure astronaut safety and maximize scientific return. In this context, digital twins offer a promising tool for planning, simulating, and optimizing extravehicular activities. This study presents the development and evaluation of a digital twin for the AMADEE-24 analog Mars mission, organized by the Austrian Space Forum and conducted in Armenia in March 2024. Alternative local positioning methods were evaluated to enhance the system’s utility in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied environments. The digital twin integrates telemetry from the Aouda space suit simulators, inertial measurement unit motion capture (IMU-MoCap), and sensor data from the Intuitive Rover Operation and Collecting Samples (iROCS) rover. All nine experiment runs were reconstructed successfully by the developed digital twin. A comparative analysis of localization methods found that Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)-based rover positioning and IMU-MoCap localization of the astronaut matched Global Positioning System (GPS) performance. Adaptive Cluster Detection showed significantly higher deviations compared to the previous GNSS alternatives. However, the IMU-MoCap method was limited by discontinuous segment-wise measurements, which required intermittent GPS recalibration. Despite these limitations, the results highlight the potential of alternative localization techniques for digital twin integration. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-eb78cf4487e9406b87cbec59b73761dd |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj-art-eb78cf4487e9406b87cbec59b73761dd2025-08-20T03:36:23ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202025-07-012515461510.3390/s25154615Digital Twin for Analog Mars Missions: Investigating Local Positioning Alternatives for GNSS-Denied EnvironmentsBenjamin Reimeir0Amelie Leininger1Raimund Edlinger2Andreas Nüchter3Gernot Grömer4Institute of Mechatronics, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaLudwig-Maximilians-University, 80539 Munich, GermanyDepartment of Smart Automation and Robotics, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria Campus Wels, 4600 Wels, AustriaDepartment of Computer Science XVII: Robotics, Julius-Maximilians-University, 97074 Würzburg, GermanyAustrian Space Forum, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaFuture planetary exploration missions will rely heavily on efficient human–robot interaction to ensure astronaut safety and maximize scientific return. In this context, digital twins offer a promising tool for planning, simulating, and optimizing extravehicular activities. This study presents the development and evaluation of a digital twin for the AMADEE-24 analog Mars mission, organized by the Austrian Space Forum and conducted in Armenia in March 2024. Alternative local positioning methods were evaluated to enhance the system’s utility in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied environments. The digital twin integrates telemetry from the Aouda space suit simulators, inertial measurement unit motion capture (IMU-MoCap), and sensor data from the Intuitive Rover Operation and Collecting Samples (iROCS) rover. All nine experiment runs were reconstructed successfully by the developed digital twin. A comparative analysis of localization methods found that Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)-based rover positioning and IMU-MoCap localization of the astronaut matched Global Positioning System (GPS) performance. Adaptive Cluster Detection showed significantly higher deviations compared to the previous GNSS alternatives. However, the IMU-MoCap method was limited by discontinuous segment-wise measurements, which required intermittent GPS recalibration. Despite these limitations, the results highlight the potential of alternative localization techniques for digital twin integration.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/15/4615analog space missionhuman–robot interactionAMADEE-24mobile robots3D motion capturedigital twin |
| spellingShingle | Benjamin Reimeir Amelie Leininger Raimund Edlinger Andreas Nüchter Gernot Grömer Digital Twin for Analog Mars Missions: Investigating Local Positioning Alternatives for GNSS-Denied Environments Sensors analog space mission human–robot interaction AMADEE-24 mobile robots 3D motion capture digital twin |
| title | Digital Twin for Analog Mars Missions: Investigating Local Positioning Alternatives for GNSS-Denied Environments |
| title_full | Digital Twin for Analog Mars Missions: Investigating Local Positioning Alternatives for GNSS-Denied Environments |
| title_fullStr | Digital Twin for Analog Mars Missions: Investigating Local Positioning Alternatives for GNSS-Denied Environments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Digital Twin for Analog Mars Missions: Investigating Local Positioning Alternatives for GNSS-Denied Environments |
| title_short | Digital Twin for Analog Mars Missions: Investigating Local Positioning Alternatives for GNSS-Denied Environments |
| title_sort | digital twin for analog mars missions investigating local positioning alternatives for gnss denied environments |
| topic | analog space mission human–robot interaction AMADEE-24 mobile robots 3D motion capture digital twin |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/15/4615 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT benjaminreimeir digitaltwinforanalogmarsmissionsinvestigatinglocalpositioningalternativesforgnssdeniedenvironments AT amelieleininger digitaltwinforanalogmarsmissionsinvestigatinglocalpositioningalternativesforgnssdeniedenvironments AT raimundedlinger digitaltwinforanalogmarsmissionsinvestigatinglocalpositioningalternativesforgnssdeniedenvironments AT andreasnuchter digitaltwinforanalogmarsmissionsinvestigatinglocalpositioningalternativesforgnssdeniedenvironments AT gernotgromer digitaltwinforanalogmarsmissionsinvestigatinglocalpositioningalternativesforgnssdeniedenvironments |