
Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) provide robust and accurate navigation information. However, GNSS can be spoofed, potentially leading to dramatic errors in localization estimation. Inspired by nature, research has been undertaken into skylight polarization as a reliable alternative to the existing navigation systems. Recent studies have used skylight polarization to estimate the observer's position. Nevertheless, such methods generally require a precise knowledge of time, date, and solar ephemeris. Alternatively, time invariances of the skylight polarization pattern, obtained from at least three polarization snapshots, were used to estimate the position of the north celestial pole (NCP) in the sky, without additional information, providing the true north bearing and the latitude of the observer. Here, we explain how these skylight polarization time invariances are related to the solar declination, and how this relation can be used to find the position of the NCP. Based on this property, we introduce a method to find the position of the NCP requiring only two skylight polarization observations over time and a prior knowledge about the solar declination. We tested our method on real skylight polarization images acquired by a polarimetric camera during a 1-month observation. A comparison between estimated and ground truth coordinates validates the theoretical model. Finally, our method can also be used in reverse to find the solar declination from the skylight polarization time invariances and the position of the NCP, demonstrating how skylight polarization can be used as a celestial calendar.
GPS-less geolocation, [SPI.AUTO] Engineering Sciences [physics]/Automatic, celestial compass, solar declination, Celestial navigation, polarized vision, GPS-denied environment, [SPI.SIGNAL] Engineering Sciences [physics]/Signal and Image processing
GPS-less geolocation, [SPI.AUTO] Engineering Sciences [physics]/Automatic, celestial compass, solar declination, Celestial navigation, polarized vision, GPS-denied environment, [SPI.SIGNAL] Engineering Sciences [physics]/Signal and Image processing
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 0 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Average | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
