It quantifies, in hard and reproducible numbers, what quantum clocks, quantum inertial sensors, and optical time-transfer buy a navigation system over classical PNT — scored against the operational figures of merit that matter for resilient navigation. Every result is reproducible from scenario + seed + engine version, and every sensor parameter is traceable to a published source — consolidated in one citable table in docs/PROVENANCE.md.

Free and open source under the GNU AGPL-3.0 — with a commercial licence available from Ashforde OÜ for proprietary/closed integration (see LICENSING.md). Professionally developed and maintained by Ashforde OÜ; commercial support, integration, and proprietary extensions available.

Status: v0.19.0 · a simulation substrate, not yet a product. A validated, fully reproducible engine spanning the PNT stack — orbit geometry and constellation design, a numerical (Cowell) propagator with a six-perturbation force model, maneuver and trajectory design, time systems, inertial navigation (incl. map-aided and gravity-map-matching alt-PNT), GNSS/INS fusion (loose, tight, UKF, coupled clock+position, 17-state), orbit determination, ARAIM integrity, clocks, advanced time-and-frequency transfer, the GNSS measurement domain, resilience (jamming + multi-layer spoofing), and an open deep-space / Mars radiometric navigation engine (light-time + Shapiro, CCSDS-TDM, reduced-dynamic SRIF, one-/two-way fusion); plus first-order mission-analysis budgets (launch / re-entry / EO-coverage / pointing / ground-station passes / link), a space-weather environment model, an AI/ML RF-impairment evaluation testbed, and the versioned Kshana Interchange Format (KIF). Honest by design: every figure of merit is labelled validated or modelled, and optical-clock figures are space goals on ground hardware (no strontium optical clock has flown).

Validation ladder (maturity is not uniform across domains — and saying so is the point):

Domain	Tier
Earth PNT (orbit, frames, time, clocks, IMU, integrity)	Real-data validated — ESA SP3 (Galileo 0.13 m, Swarm-A 0.10 m), NIST SP1065, SOFA/ERFA, heritage vectors
Deep-space / Mars navigation	Simulation-validated — synthetic closed-loop OD + analytic self-consistency; Sun-central dynamics cross-checked vs JPL DE440 (137 m @ 1-day arc)
Real-mission deep-space OD	Roadmap — pending real DSN/ESTRACK tracking-data validation

Deep-space figures (Mars-LMO OD ≈ 0.2 m; relay-PNT orbiter 0.4 m / rover 5.1 m) are simulation / covariance figures of merit, not real-mission results. See Capabilities for what it does, What it is / is not for scope, and docs/CAPABILITY.md / docs/VALIDATION.md for per-capability maturity. The overclaim closure ledger docs/CLAIMS-VS-REALITY.md tracks every historical overclaim, how it was resolved, and a CI guard (tests/no_overclaims.rs) that keeps it resolved.

Try it in your browser: the playground runs the engine client-side as WebAssembly — pick a scenario, edit the parameters, and see the result, with nothing uploaded. Build it locally with ./web/build.sh (see web/README.md), or publish it to GitHub Pages via the pages workflow.

New to this? In plain terms: GPS-style satellite signals tell things where they are and what time it is. When those signals are lost (jammed, blocked, or out of view in space), a system has to keep going on its own onboard clock and motion sensors — and they slowly drift. "Quantum" clocks and sensors drift far more slowly. Kshana measures, in honest numbers, how much longer a quantum-equipped system can coast before it exceeds its accuracy limits. New readers should start with the plain-language primer and the glossary.

Contents

• Why · What it is / is not · Capabilities · Results

• Install & build · Usage (Python, WebAssembly)

• Scenario format · Output · Architecture

• Repository layout · Validation & honesty

• Documentation · FAQ · Troubleshooting

• Roadmap · Contributing · Citing · Versioning & releases · License

• Support & professional services · References

Related MCP server: Satellite MCP Server

Why

Resilient PNT depends on holding position and time when GNSS is denied or jammed. Quantum sensors promise far slower drift during those outages. There is no good open tool to quantify that advantage honestly and reproducibly — so primes, agencies, and labs each rebuild private one-offs. Kshana aims to be the neutral, citable reference for exactly this question.

The engine knows nothing about "quantum" vs "classical": each sensor is an error model plugged into a common pipeline, so a quantum and a classical device are compared apples-to-apples on the same scenario, with independent noise realizations.

What it is / is not

It is: a deterministic, dependency-light engine spanning the PNT stack — orbit geometry, inertial navigation, GNSS/INS fusion, integrity, clocks, and timing. It runs a scenario (often a GNSS outage), evolves calibrated sensor error models through the appropriate estimator, and scores the result against the operational figures of merit — emitting a reproducible JSON result and an SVG chart, from a Rust library, a CLI, a Python extension, an in-browser WebAssembly module, a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for AI agents, or a JetBrains IDE plugin.

It is not: flight hardware, a quantum-payload design, a full GNSS signal receiver, or a certified avionics product. Quantum-hardware fidelity comes from published error models, not from this tool. The granular maturity of each capability is documented in docs/CAPABILITY.md.

It is not (yet): a full atom-interferometry physics engine (most quantum sensors consume published Allan/noise-budget coefficients; the CAI accelerometer has a first-principles layer — Mach–Zehnder phase, projection noise, contrast decay, and vibration coupling — but Coriolis and light-shift systematics remain a P2 roadmap layer, see ROADMAP.md and docs/QUANTUM-MODELS.md); a full GNSS signal-acquisition receiver (it now solves a single-point PVT position fix from real RINEX code observations — validated on real IGS data — but does not acquire or track raw signal); or a full mission-design suite (it has Lambert / porkchop / maneuver / orbit-determination building blocks, but is the performance-simulation layer above GMAT/Orekit, not a replacement). Owning this scope is deliberate. If you need first-principles cold-atom interferometer error budgets (e.g. CARIOQA-PMP-grade or X-37B-style validation), see the P2 roadmap and get in touch to collaborate.

Capabilities

Each capability is reachable as a Rust API, a runnable scenario kind, or both. Maturity per capability — validated, runnable, or library — is tracked in docs/CAPABILITY.md. A machine-checked verification matrix (src/verification.rs) renders the requirement → module → test → oracle → status cross-reference, with unit-tested honesty invariants that permit a validated label only where an independent external oracle backs it — and that record the hardware/PA capabilities Kshana deliberately does not provide.

Results

Each scenario compares a quantum sensor against its classical counterpart through a ~1.8 h GNSS outage. Numbers are reproducible (scenario + seed + version).

The capstone shows the fusion thesis: optical inter-satellite time-transfer keeps even a classical clock locked, isolating the inertial sensor as the classical suite's weak link — i.e. quantum inertial + optical timing together.

A further scenario, orbit-gnss-challenged.toml, derives GNSS availability from orbital geometry rather than hand-authored windows: a spacecraft inside the GNSS shell is propagated against a GPS-like Walker constellation, and the visible-satellite count (line-of-sight, Earth-occultation, elevation mask) sets the fix state at each step. Over a day the user is in fix only ~59% of the time; the quantum clock holds a 5 ns timing solution through every gap (availability 1.0), the chip-scale clock only ~0.83.

The constellation can also be given as real two-line element sets. A full TLE (line 1 + line 2) is propagated with the full SGP4/SDP4 model — including atmospheric drag and the deep-space lunar-solar and 12 h / 24 h resonance terms that matter for ~12 h GNSS orbits — validated against the official AIAA 2006-6753 vectors to a worst-case ≈ 4 mm. scenarios/orbit-sgp4-gps.toml ships a real Celestrak gps-ops snapshot of the operational GPS constellation (2021-07-28, 30 satellites) and requires valid TLE checksums — two-line element sets are open data from the US Space Force / 18th Space Defense Squadron catalogue, redistributed by Celestrak (Dr T. S. Kelso, celestrak.org); refresh with scripts/fetch_tles.sh. A line-2-only block keeps the analytic two-body propagation (scenarios/orbit-real-tle.toml); the two forms can be mixed in one constellation. A constellation can equally be built from a block of RINEX-3 GPS broadcast-ephemeris records — the format a receiver decodes — propagated by the IS-GPS-200 user algorithm and fed through the same geometry (scenarios/orbit-rinex.toml).

Install & build

Requires a Rust toolchain (≥ 1.75; developed on 1.93).

git clone https://github.com/AshfordeOU/kshana
cd kshana
cargo build --release
cargo test # all tests pass

Usage

Run any scenario; the CLI dispatches on the scenario's kind field and writes a <scenario>.result.json and a <scenario>.chart.svg next to it:

cargo run -- scenarios/clock-holdover.toml
cargo run -- scenarios/imu-deadreckoning.toml
cargo run -- scenarios/timetransfer.toml
cargo run -- scenarios/hybrid-pnt.toml
cargo run -- scenarios/orbit-gnss-challenged.toml
cargo run -- scenarios/orbit-sgp4-gps.toml
cargo run -- scenarios/orbit-rinex.toml
cargo run -- scenarios/integrity-raim.toml

# Export a propagated constellation to an SP3-c precise-ephemeris file:
cargo run -- scenarios/orbit-sgp4-gps.toml --export-sp3 gps.sp3

# Export the constellation's mean elements to a CCSDS OMM catalogue (one OMM
# message per TLE-defined satellite, with its real NORAD id / COSPAR designator):
cargo run -- scenarios/orbit-sgp4-gps.toml --export-omm gps.omm

# Export the velocity-carrying state to a CCSDS OEM 2.0 ephemeris (GMAT/Orekit/STK):
cargo run -- scenarios/orbit-sgp4-gps.toml --export-oem gps.oem

Interoperability role. Kshana is the performance-simulation layer that sits alongside the post-processing toolchain, not a replacement for it: feed its RINEX output into RTKLIB or gLAB for a position solution, and use its SP3 output as a precise-orbit product for tools like Ginan — Kshana answers what resilience a given PNT architecture buys before you have real signals, in formats those tools already ingest (--export-sp3, or export_sp3 = true in an orbit scenario, writes <scenario>.sp3). The same orbit can be published as standards-track CCSDS OMM mean elements (--export-omm, or export_omm = true, writes <scenario>.omm) — one OMM 502.0 KVN message per TLE-defined satellite, carrying each object's real NORAD catalogue number, COSPAR international designator, and epoch, for any OMM-aware consumer instead of a bespoke two-line element set.

Example output (clock holdover — note the Integrity and Security figures of merit):

scenario c827e5d40d25 | quantum holdover 6600s p95 0.0ns integrity 1.000 security 0.997 | classical holdover 2610s p95 19.7ns integrity 1.000 security 0.000
wrote scenarios/clock-holdover.result.json and scenarios/clock-holdover.chart.svg

The optical clock's tight detection floor keeps security 0.997; the chip-scale clock's own noise over the monitoring window exceeds the 20 ns spec, so it has no spoof-detection margin (security 0.000). The orbit scenario additionally reports a geometry block — fraction of samples with a fix, and best/median PDOP and position accuracy — alongside the clock result.

Read these two numbers carefully. security is an analytic spoof-detectability bound derived from each clock's stability — it is meaningful only against a configured spoofing scenario and is not a multi-satellite RAIM detector. integrity here is the filter's self-consistency (fraction of outage samples inside its own k-sigma bound), not an aviation HPL/VPL integrity figure. See docs/INTEGRITY.md.

For genuine receiver-autonomous integrity, the integrity scenario kind (scenarios/integrity-raim.toml) runs real snapshot and solution-separation (ARAIM-style) RAIM over the propagated constellation geometry: it computes horizontal/vertical protection levels (HPL/VPL) per epoch and reports the fraction of epochs that meet the configured alert limits, with a Stanford integrity diagram for error-vs-PL classification.

Python

An optional Python extension (PyO3, abi3) wraps the same engine. Build and install it with maturin:

pip install maturin
maturin develop --features python # or: maturin build --features python

import json, kshana

result = json.loads(kshana.run(open("scenarios/clock-holdover.toml").read()))
print(result["quantum"]["fom"]["integrity"])

# json, svg, and a one-line summary at once:
result_json, chart_svg, summary = kshana.run_full(open("scenarios/orbit-gnss-challenged.toml").read())
print(kshana.version(), summary)

Wheels are built for Linux, macOS, and Windows by the wheels workflow on each release tag.

WebAssembly

The engine also runs in the browser via wasm-pack:

wasm-pack build --target web -- --features wasm

import init, { run, chart_svg, version } from "./pkg/kshana.js";
await init();
const result = JSON.parse(run(tomlText));
console.log(version(), result.classical.fom.timing_p95_ns);

AI agents (MCP)

👁 kshana MCP server

Kshana ships an MCP server, kshana-mcp, so AI assistants and agents can run the validated engine instead of guessing the math — usable from Cursor, JetBrains AI Assistant / Junie, and any MCP-compatible assistant or agent. It exposes run_scenario, list_scenario_kinds, validate_scenario, export_sp3, and export_omm (each a thin wrapper over kshana::api).

cargo install kshana-mcp # crates.io
docker run --rm -i ghcr.io/ashfordeou/kshana-mcp # or OCI, no Rust toolchain

Then register kshana-mcp in your client's mcpServers config — see mcp/kshana-mcp/README.md for per-client snippets. The server is a standalone, workspace-excluded crate (the rmcp SDK is edition 2024), so it never affects the lean published kshana crate or its build.

In a JetBrains IDE you can also install the Kshana — PNT simulator plugin from the JetBrains Marketplace (or Settings → Plugins → Marketplace → search "Kshana") to run scenarios from a right-click — see ide/jetbrains/.

Scenario format

Scenarios are declarative TOML. A top-level kind selects the pack — thirty-four in all (clock is the default if omitted): inertial, timetransfer, hybrid, hybrid-ukf, fusion, gnss-ins, orbit, ephemeris, gnss-sim, integrity, lunar-integrity, spoof, spoof-detect, jamming, sweep, sweep-nd, gravity-map, terrain-nav, terrain-slam, combined-altpnt, pvt, mars-pnt, impairment-eval (AI/ML RF-impairment detection evaluation testbed — labelled synthetic corpus + detector-agnostic ROC/AUC harness + in/out-of-distribution optimism gap), quantum-trade (quantum-vs-classical PNT trade with measured-ADEV ingestion + GNSS-denied resilience envelope; MODELLED), space-weather (solar/geomagnetic indices + Jacchia-71 exospheric temperature + activity-driven thermospheric density over the static atmosphere; MODELLED), oem-interop (CCSDS OEM import/round-trip bridge for GMAT/Orekit/STK ephemerides; MODELLED), the mission-analysis trio launch-window (two-body launch azimuth / plane-change / opportunities), reentry (Allen-Eggers ballistic re-entry corridor), eo-coverage (EO swath / GSD / access / revisit geometry), space-packet (CCSDS 133.0 TM/TC Space Packet framing — exact bit layout, round-trip verified), and attitude-budget (3-DOF gravity-gradient torque + RSS pointing error budget), passes (ground-station rise/set pass prediction — AOS/TCA/LOS, max elevation, access), and link-budget (one-way CCSDS/DSN link equation — FSPL / Eb·N₀ / margin / closure) — all MODELLED. Common fields: seed, a [time] grid, a [gnss] availability timeline (the outage driver), and per-sensor blocks with provenance strings citing the source of every figure. Example (clock):

seed = 42
threshold_ns = 20.0
[time]
step_s = 10.0
duration_s = 7200.0
[gnss]
windows = [
 { t0 = 0.0, t1 = 600.0, state = "nominal" }, # 10 min GNSS sync
 { t0 = 600.0, t1 = 7200.0, state = "denied" }, # ~1.8 h outage
]
[clock_quantum]
id = "optical-sr-lattice"
provenance = "Strontium optical lattice clock, space-oriented goal sigma_y(1s)=1e-15 (arXiv:1503.08457)"
y0 = 5.0e-17
q_wf = 1.0e-30 # white FM: q_wf = sigma_y(1s)^2
q_rw = 0.0 # random-walk FM
drift = 0.0 # linear aging (per second)
[clock_classical]
id = "csac-sa45s"
provenance = "Microchip SA65 / SA.45s CSAC datasheet sigma_y(1s)=3e-10"
y0 = 5.0e-10
q_wf = 9.0e-20
q_rw = 0.0
drift = 0.0

Optional fields (off when absent): a clock may add flicker_floor (1/f FM Allan floor); an inertial sensor may add gyro_bias and q_arw (gyro bias and angular random walk), and bias_instability and q_aa (the Allan bias-instability floor and acceleration random walk) — together a single-axis (1-DOF) accelerometer error budget (VRW/ARW and bias-instability). This is the error budget the shipped inertial scenario pack runs. Separately, the library now carries a verified 3-axis strapdown navigator (src/inertial/{attitude,mechanization,imu_errors}.rs): quaternion attitude with coning/sculling compensation, a full NED mechanization (Earth-rate and transport-rate terms, WGS-84 Somigliana gravity), and a deterministic IMU error model in which scale-factor, misalignment, g-sensitivity, quantization, and rate-ramp are modelled (IEEE Std 952-1997 §A.2; Groves 2013 §4.3). That 3-axis path is now wired into a runnable loosely-coupled GNSS/INS pack (kind = "gnss-ins"): a 15-state error-state EKF disciplines the strapdown solution against noisy fixes while GNSS is up, then coasts through the outage, reporting the fused horizontal error against the open-loop free-INS coast. A tightly-coupled pseudorange update is also available (it forms the innovation in the range domain, so it keeps correcting with fewer than four satellites). A clock-holdover scenario may add runs (> 1) to run a Monte Carlo ensemble — each figure of merit is then reported as a mean with a 5th–95th-percentile spread and the chart shades the error confidence band (see scenarios/clock-ensemble.toml).

A fusion scenario (same blocks as hybrid) runs two independent Kalman estimators — one for the clock state, one for the position state — disciplined by GNSS and aided by optical time transfer, and reports a combined holdover FoM. The two blocks share no cross-covariance: this is a stacked pair of error budgets, not a true coupled clock+position joint filter (cross-block covariance is a roadmap item). See scenarios/fusion-pnt.toml.

A spoof scenario injects a time-spoof — one of four [attack.shape] kinds (linear_ramp, step_jump, meaconing, replay; a bare rate_ns_per_s is still accepted as a linear ramp) — and runs each clock's spoof detector. The detector is a two-sided χ²₁ energy / Neyman–Pearson test on the clock-aided monitor statistic: the threshold is set from a target false-alarm budget target_pfa, and the missed-detection probability P_md is reported both closed-form and by Monte-Carlo (mc_runs trials per hypothesis — the two agree to a few ×1/√N). The Security figure of merit is 1 − P_md at the operationally-harmful (spec) magnitude, so a quiet clock that catches a spec-sized spoof scores ≈ 1 and a noisy one that often misses it scores lower (see scenarios/spoof-attack.toml, scenarios/spoof-meaconing.toml).

A gnss-sim scenario is a measurement-domain simulation: for each visible satellite it synthesises the pseudorange ρ = geometric range + c·δt_rx − c·δt_sv + I + T + noise + multipath and the L1 Doppler, with the Klobuchar single-frequency ionosphere ([iono], IS-GPS-200 §20.3.3.5.2.5) and the Saastamoinen zenith troposphere projected by the Niell (1996) mapping function ([tropo]). The residuals feed snapshot RAIM for per-epoch HPL/VPL, and every satellite's pseudorange, Doppler, C/N₀, and iono/tropo corrections are emitted in the JSON gnss_measurements array. It is a forward simulator (it generates measurements from a known truth), not a receiver/solver — a zero-noise run reproduces geometry plus the corrections to sub-millimetre (see scenarios/gnss-sim-raim.toml).

A jamming scenario models RF interference as a link budget: a [jammer] (ECEF position, transmit power_dbw, type) raises the jammer-to-signal ratio at a [receiver] watching a Walker [constellation]. From the geometry (free-space path loss and the per-direction receive-antenna gain) it computes each satellite's J/S, the effective C/N₀ via the standard anti-jam equation (despreading processing gain × the spectral-separation factor Q; Kaplan & Hegarty §9.4), and flags loss of lock below a configurable tracking threshold — reporting an availability_under_jamming figure of merit. A 10 W broadband jammer at 1 km denies the receiver entirely (J/S ≈ 72 dB); the same jammer at 100 km only degrades the links (see scenarios/jamming-demo.toml).

A sweep scenario runs a trade study: it varies one parameter (threshold_ns, duration_s, quantum_q_wf, or classical_q_wf) from start to stop over steps points on a lin or log scale, records a metric (e.g. holdover_s) for both clocks, and charts the two curves. The base scenario goes under [base] (see scenarios/sweep-clock-stability.toml).

A sweep-nd scenario generalises this to any pack and any number of axes: it varies dotted TOML keys of a [base] scenario (of any kind) over the Cartesian product of [[axes]], re-runs each grid node, and records metrics given as dotted JSON paths into the result (e.g. classical.fom.holdover_s). It works for every pack because it operates at the TOML/result boundary; native runs evaluate the grid in parallel (no extra dependency, wasm falls back to sequential) and the output is deterministic and row-major (see scenarios/sweep-nd-inertial.toml).

An orbit scenario derives the [gnss] timeline from geometry instead of authoring it — give a [user] orbit, a [constellation], an elevation mask_deg, and the two clock blocks. It also reports position accuracy from the satellite geometry; the optional sigma_uere_m (1-sigma user-equivalent range error, default 1 m) scales the position dilution of precision into a position sigma. The user orbit may be made eccentric with eccentricity and argp_deg, and j2 = true adds Earth-oblateness secular drift (see scenarios/orbit-molniya.toml). The constellation can instead be a real one: give [constellation] a tle block of two-line element sets and the satellites are parsed from it (see scenarios/orbit-real-tle.toml). Add one or more [[constellations]] blocks for multi-GNSS (e.g. GPS + Galileo; see scenarios/orbit-multignss.toml):

kind = "orbit"
seed = 7
threshold_ns = 5.0
mask_deg = 10.0
sigma_uere_m = 1.0 # optional; position sigma = position-DOP * this
[time]
step_s = 60.0
duration_s = 86400.0
[user] # spacecraft (altitude in km, angles in deg)
altitude_km = 8000.0
inclination_deg = 0.0
[constellation] # Walker-delta GNSS (GPS-like)
altitude_km = 20180.0
inclination_deg = 55.0
planes = 6
sats_per_plane = 4
phasing_f = 1.0
[clock_quantum] # ... as above
[clock_classical] # ... as above

The GPS-denied alt-PNT kinds navigate with no GNSS at all, matching a measured field sequence against a map through a particle filter. A gravity-map scenario flies a track through a spherical-harmonic gravity-anomaly field and recovers it from a cold-atom gravimeter's reading (scenarios/gps-denied-gravity-nav.toml); a terrain-nav scenario does the same against an SRTM elevation DEM (TERCOM/SITAN, scenarios/terrain-nav.toml); and a combined-altpnt scenario fuses gravity + IGRF magnetic + terrain in one filter (scenarios/combined-altpnt.toml).

A lunar-integrity scenario evaluates cislunar PNT: it runs a lunar south-pole ARAIM protection-level pass against a LunaNet/LNIS relay set and honestly reports the integrity gap — a ~30 m lunar σ_URE drives the protection level well above a 50 m alert limit, so the service is unavailable under aviation-style integrity rules (scenarios/lunanet-araim.toml).

See scenarios/ for one example of every kind.

Output

The result artifact is versioned, self-describing JSON: per-step time series, the scored figures of merit, the active model specs (with provenance), the seed, a scenario hash — so any chart can be reproduced from the file — and, for each clock, an adev_curve ([{tau_s, adev, n_samples, noise, edf, ci_lo, ci_hi}]): the overlapping Allan deviation across octave-spaced averaging times — the standard way to read a clock's stability — now with a noise-type-specific 95% confidence band per point (the record's power-law type is identified from its modified-Allan slope, and the χ² interval uses the matching NIST SP 1065 effective degrees of freedom). The browser playground renders it as a log-log "Clock stability (ADEV)" chart. (MDEV, TDEV, and HDEV are available as library estimators; the exported result curve is the overlapping ADEV.) Every field, with units and a source pointer, is documented in docs/SCHEMA.md.

Every chart is self-describing. The browser playground, the CLI's *.chart.svg export, and the HTML scorecard all stamp each chart image with a footer reading Kshana v<version> · scenario <hash> · kshana.dev. The scenario <hash> is the first 12 hex characters of the run's scenario hash — a SHA-256 over the canonical scenario definition (seed, thresholds, model parameters, GNSS windows, …); the integrity and lunar reports, which carry no hash of their own, fall back to a SHA-256 of the scenario source. It is the same fingerprint shown in the one-line summary and the result JSON, so a saved or pasted chart always carries its version, the exact scenario that produced it (for bit-for-bit reproduction), and the source — change any input and the hash changes.

The figures of merit follow the standard operational PNT figures of merit:

New to these terms? Each is defined in plain language in the glossary.

Architecture

One engine, many front doors. A single Rust core (kshana) runs every scenario, reached through a CLI, a Python extension, an in-browser WebAssembly module, an MCP server for AI agents, and a JetBrains IDE plugin — all converging on one api::run_toml dispatch. Inside, the sensor packs plug into a common error-model interface; alongside them sit a reference-frame layer (IAU 2006/2000A precession–nutation and the CIO-based GCRS↔ITRS reduction), an astrodynamics/numerical layer (analytic SGP4/SDP4 and a numerical Cowell propagator with its EGM2008/perturbation force model, maneuver design, and orbit determination), an integrity/GNSS layer (RAIM/ARAIM, SBAS, the measurement domain, jamming, cislunar), and a fusion / alt-PNT layer (the GNSS/INS estimators and the gravity/terrain/magnetic map-matchers).

Two standalone, workspace-excluded crates sit beside the core — mcp/kshana-mcp (the MCP server, built on the edition-2024 rmcp SDK) and xval/anise-frames (the ANISE/SPICE frame cross-check, which pulls MPL-2.0 deps) — kept out of the published crate's dependency graph, Cargo.lock, license gate, and MSRV build by the root Cargo.toml exclude list. The JetBrains plugin (ide/jetbrains) is a separate Kotlin project. See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the full set of diagrams.

flowchart LR
 SCN["Scenario (.toml)<br/>seed · GNSS timeline · sensor params"] --> ENG
 subgraph ENG["Engine (per step)"]
 direction TB
 M["Error model<br/>step(): evolve noise state"] --> E["Estimator<br/>GNSS-disciplined holdover"]
 E --> F["FoM scoring<br/>vs the 6 figures of merit"]
 end
 ENG --> OUT["result.json + chart.svg<br/>(reproducible: scenario+seed+version)"]

flowchart TD
 cli["CLI · Python · WebAssembly · MCP server · JetBrains plugin"] --> api["api — run_toml: typed dispatch over 34 kinds"]
 subgraph shared["Shared core"]
 types["types · scenario · GNSS timeline"]
 allan["allan — ADEV/MDEV/TDEV/HDEV"]
 end
 subgraph frames["Time & reference frames"]
 ts["timescales · jd2 — UTC/TAI/TT/UT1"]
 pn["precession · nutation — IAU 2006/2000A"]
 cio["cio — GCRS↔ITRS (CIO, SOFA-anchored)"]
 end
 subgraph packs["Sensor packs"]
 p1["clock — models · estimator · kalman · security"]
 p2["inertial — strapdown INS + quantum-CAI"]
 p3["timetransfer — optical/RF/TWSTFT/PPP"]
 p4["hybrid — fused PNT suite"]
 end
 subgraph astro["Astrodynamics & numerical"]
 orbit["orbit · walker — geometry → GNSS + DOP"]
 sgp4["sgp4 · tle — SGP4/SDP4"]
 prop["propagator — Cowell"]
 forces["forces — J2–J6 · 3rd-body · SRP · drag · GR"]
 gsh["gravity_sh — EGM2008 d/o 70"]
 integ["integrator — RK4 · DOPRI"]
 man["maneuver · orbit_determination"]
 cr["cr3bp — Earth–Moon CR3BP + halo/NRHO corrector"]
 end
 subgraph intg["Integrity & GNSS"]
 raim["raim — RAIM/ARAIM · HPL/VPL"]
 sbas["sbas — DO-229E PL · L1/L5"]
 gsim["gnss_sim · ionex — measurement domain"]
 jam["jamming — J/S → C/N₀"]
 nsig["navsignal — PSD · SSC → anti-jam Q · DLL jitter"]
 lun["lunar — cislunar ARAIM"]
 end
 subgraph fnav["Fusion & alt-PNT"]
 fus["fusion — EKF · UKF · 17-state · coupled"]
 grav["gravimeter · mapmatch · particle_filter"]
 terr["altpnt/terrain · igrf — terrain + magnetic"]
 end
 subgraph ds["Deep-space & Mars"]
 dsr["radiometric · ccsds_tdm — light-time · Δ-DOR · TDM"]
 dso["deepspace_od — reduced-dynamic SRIF"]
 dsm["mars_pnt · gse_sim — relay-PNT + GSE sim"]
 end
 subgraph io["Interop formats"]
 iofmt["rinex · sp3 · oem · omm · glonass · ccsds_tdm"]
 end
 api --> packs
 api --> astro
 api --> intg
 api --> fnav
 api --> ds
 packs --> shared
 astro --> frames
 orbit --> sgp4
 prop --> forces
 prop --> gsh
 prop --> integ
 cr --> integ
 nsig --> jam
 fus --> p2
 grav --> p2
 terr --> grav
 orbit --> p1
 orbit --> io
 p4 -. composes .-> p1
 p4 -. composes .-> p2
 p4 -. composes .-> p3

Components & distribution. The core crate ships through the Rust, Python, and JavaScript ecosystems; the MCP server and IDE plugin reach AI agents and JetBrains IDEs. Each vX.Y.Z tag republishes every channel automatically (see Versioning & releases).

flowchart LR
 subgraph repo["One repository"]
 core["kshana core<br/>library + CLI"]
 mcp["mcp/kshana-mcp<br/>MCP server (excluded crate)"]
 ide["ide/jetbrains<br/>Kotlin IDE plugin"]
 xval["xval/anise-{frames,lunar-od,mars-od}<br/>SPICE/DE440 cross-checks (excluded)"]
 end
 core --> crates["crates.io"]
 core --> pypi["PyPI — wheels"]
 core --> npm["npm — WebAssembly"]
 core --> rel["GitHub Releases<br/>binaries · SBOM · SLSA · validation summary"]
 core --> pages["kshana.dev<br/>GitHub Pages playground"]
 core -. archived .-> zen["Zenodo DOI"]
 mcp --> crates
 mcp --> ghcr["ghcr.io — OCI image"]
 mcp --> reg["official MCP registry"]
 ide --> jb["JetBrains Marketplace"]

Repository layout

kshana/
├── src/ # the kshana core crate (library + CLI)
│ ├── api.rs · main.rs · lib.rs # typed dispatch (34 kinds) + CLI + crate root
│ ├── python.rs · wasm.rs # optional PyO3 / wasm-bindgen bindings
│ ├── types.rs · scenario.rs · allan.rs # shared core (time grid, GNSS timeline, Allan)
│ │
│ ├── models.rs · estimator.rs · kalman.rs # Pack 1 — clock holdover + integrity
│ ├── security.rs · detection.rs · spoof.rs · spoof_monitors.rs # spoof detection
│ ├── filter_health.rs · fom.rs · report.rs · chart.rs · run.rs # health · scoring · output
│ ├── inertial/ # Pack 2 — strapdown INS (attitude · mechanization · imu_errors · quantum_imu)
│ ├── timetransfer.rs · timetransfer_adv.rs · timegeo.rs # Pack 3 — TWSTFT/CV/PPP/optical, Sagnac
│ ├── hybrid.rs · ensemble.rs · sweep.rs # Pack 4 — fused PNT, Monte-Carlo, trade sweeps
│ │
│ ├── timescales.rs · jd2.rs · ephem.rs # time systems, two-part JD, Sun/Moon ephemeris
│ ├── precession.rs · nutation.rs · cio.rs # IAU 2006/2000A precession-nutation + CIO GCRS↔ITRS
│ ├── frames.rs · *_data.rs # TEME↔ECEF + generated nutation/CIO/EGM2008/IGRF tables
│ │
│ ├── orbit.rs · sgp4.rs · tle.rs · walker.rs # geometry, SGP4/SDP4, TLE, Walker design
│ ├── propagator.rs · forces.rs · gravity_sh.rs · integrator.rs # Cowell + perturbations (EGM2008 d/o70, GR) + RK4/DOPRI
│ ├── maneuver.rs · batch_ls.rs · orbit_determination.rs # burns/Lambert/porkchop, Gauss-Newton, OD
│ ├── cr3bp.rs · lunar.rs # Earth–Moon CR3BP + halo/NRHO STM corrector, cislunar/LunaNet ARAIM
│ ├── body.rs · mars_frame.rs · ephem_provider.rs · radiometric.rs · ccsds_tdm.rs # deep-space: multi-body · Mars frame · ephemeris seam · radiometric obs + CCSDS-TDM
│ ├── deepspace_od.rs · clock_state.rs · mars_atmos.rs · mars_pnt.rs · linkbudget.rs · gse_sim.rs # SRIF OD · onboard clock · Mars drag · relay-PNT · link budget · GSE sim
│ │
│ ├── fusion/ # GNSS/INS — EKF · UKF · tightly_coupled(17) · coupled · closed_loop
│ ├── raim.rs · sbas.rs # RAIM/ARAIM HPL/VPL, SBAS DO-229E PLs + L1/L5 iono-free
│ ├── gnss_sim.rs · ionex.rs · pvt.rs · jamming.rs # measurement domain · ionosphere maps · single-point positioning · jamming
│ ├── navsignal.rs # nav-signal PSD (BPSK-R/BOC) · spectral-separation → anti-jam Q · DLL code-tracking jitter · multipath envelope
│ ├── gravimeter.rs · igrf.rs · mapmatch.rs · particle_filter.rs · altpnt/ # gravity/magnetic/terrain alt-PNT
│ ├── rinex.rs · rinex_obs.rs · glonass.rs · sp3.rs · oem.rs · omm.rs · permalink.rs # interop formats
│ ├── launch.rs · reentry.rs · eo_payload.rs · attitude_budget.rs · passes.rs · space_packet.rs # mission-analysis budgets + CCSDS Space Packet
│ ├── space_weather.rs · holdover.rs # space-weather environment · GNSS-denied clock-holdover calculator
│ ├── impairment_eval.rs · quantum_trade.rs · frugal.rs · integrity_impact.rs # AI/ML RF-impairment eval · PNT trade · cost-per-coverage ROI · integrity impact
│ ├── interchange.rs · verification.rs # KIF artifact envelope · machine-checked verification matrix
│ └── bin/validation_report.rs # builds the release validation-summary HTML
│
├── mcp/kshana-mcp/ # standalone, workspace-EXCLUDED crate — the MCP server (+ Dockerfile, server.json)
├── ide/jetbrains/ # standalone Kotlin/Gradle IntelliJ-Platform plugin
├── xval/anise-{frames,lunar-od,mars-od}/ # standalone, workspace-EXCLUDED ANISE/SPICE cross-checks (frames · lunar DE440 · Mars DE440)
│
├── scenarios/ # one cited .toml per kind + geometry-driven + GPS-denied
├── scripts/ # reproducibility + repo-hygiene + SBOM guards
├── docs/ # CONCEPTS, ARCHITECTURE, CAPABILITY, VALIDATION, PROVENANCE, GLOSSARY, …
├── web/ # the WebAssembly playground + kshana.dev site
├── tools/ # table generators (EGM2008 · IGRF · nutation · CIO) + fetch_tles.sh
├── .github/workflows/ # ci · release · publish · wheels · pages · mcp-publish · jetbrains-plugin · frame-xval
├── pyproject.toml # Python packaging (maturin)
├── CHANGELOG.md # Keep a Changelog + SemVer
└── CITATION.cff · ROADMAP.md · CONTRIBUTING.md · SECURITY.md

Documentation

Validation, reproducibility & honesty

• Every noise term is calibrated to a published, cited figure and validated against the standard relation (Allan deviation for clocks; Groves' dead-reckoning error growth for inertial; the timing→ranging conversion for time transfer). Status per term is tracked in docs/VALIDATION.md as validated or not modeled — nothing is presented as validated that is not.

• Reproducible by construction: scenario + seed + engine version → identical bits. scripts/check-reproducible.sh enforces it; quantum and classical runs use independent seeds so their noise is uncorrelated.

• Maturity is stated honestly: optical-clock and optical-link figures are targets / ground-demonstrator results, not flown.

Validation at a glance

Every row is enforced by a named test in CI; the full evidence (and what is not modelled) is in docs/VALIDATION.md and the per-release kshana-validation-summary.html artifact (generated by cargo run --bin validation_report, SLSA-attested).

The Status column states the kind of evidence, matching the validation ladder above: VALIDATED = checked against an independent external oracle (real data, an independent library, or published reference vectors); MODELLED = checked against analytic truth or simulation self-consistency (no independent external dataset). VALIDATED describes the method of checking, not a pass/fail — an honest miss against real data (the LRO row) is still VALIDATED. CI rows are process guards, not figures of merit.

FAQ

Do I need to understand quantum physics to use this? No. If you can run a command line you can run Kshana. Start with the plain-language primer; look terms up in the glossary.

Is this a quantum-hardware design or flight software? No. It is a performance simulator. Quantum-hardware fidelity comes from published error models, not from this tool. See What it is / is not.

Are the quantum results realistic, or marketing? Every parameter is cited to a datasheet or paper, every model is validated against a textbook relation, and maturity is labelled honestly in VALIDATION.md — including that no strontium optical clock has flown. The engine is neutral: quantum and classical are the same code with different published numbers.

Can I trust two runs to agree? Yes — runs are deterministic: scenario + seed + engine version → bit-identical output, enforced by scripts/check-reproducible.sh.

Can I use it from Python or in a browser? Yes — see Python and WebAssembly. Both call the same engine.

How do I model my own sensor? Write a scenario .toml with your sensor's published figures in the provenance fields. See Scenario format and the examples in scenarios/.

Is it free for commercial use? Yes — under the AGPL-3.0, including in commercial settings, as long as you honour the AGPL's copyleft (notably: if you modify Kshana and offer it over a network, you must offer those users your modified source). If that does not suit you — e.g. you need to embed Kshana in a proprietary product or run a closed network service — a commercial licence is available from Ashforde OÜ; see LICENSING.md and Support.

Troubleshooting

cargo build fails on an old toolchain. Kshana needs Rust ≥ 1.75. Update with rustup update.

Building the Python extension fails to link on macOS (Undefined symbols … _Py…). A Python extension resolves its symbols at load time. maturin sets the right linker flag automatically — use maturin develop --features python rather than a bare cargo build.

The Python build complains the interpreter is newer than PyO3 knows. Set PYO3_USE_ABI3_FORWARD_COMPATIBILITY=1 (abi3 wheels are forward-compatible across CPython versions).

WebAssembly build can't find the target. Install it once with rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown, then wasm-pack build --target web -- --features wasm.

Where did my output go? Each run writes <scenario>.result.json and <scenario>.chart.svg next to the input .toml. These are git-ignored by design.

Roadmap

See ROADMAP.md for the phased roadmap, CHANGELOG.md for released history, and docs/CAPABILITY.md for the per-capability roadmap. The ITRF-precise frame reduction is now delivered — the full CIO-based IAU 2006/2000A GCRS↔ITRS chain (polar motion + sub-arcsecond nutation), validated bit-for-bit against SOFA/ERFA and independently cross-checked against ANISE (pure-Rust SPICE) to ≤ 3.6 m at GNSS orbit. Near-term items include tightly-coupled carrier-phase fusion and surfacing the loosely-/tightly-coupled GNSS/INS navigator across more packs; the deep-space / Mars radiometric-navigation engine landed in v0.17.0 (simulation-validated). The quantum physics layer is a P2 item: the CAI accelerometer is now simulated from first principles (Mach–Zehnder phase, projection noise, contrast decay, vibration coupling), while the clock/time-transfer sensors are still driven by published Allan/noise-budget coefficients. GMST-based TEME↔ECEF, the IERS leap-second time systems (UTC/TAI/TT/UT1), SGP4/SDP4 orbit propagation (v0.7.0, validated against the AIAA 2006-6753 vectors), and the runnable gnss-ins fusion pack have all shipped, and the inertial velocity is exposed downstream. An active stochastic time-spoof detector (Neyman–Pearson / χ²₁ energy test with Monte-Carlo P_fa/P_md and a Security FoM of 1−P_md), a link-budget jamming model (J/S → effective C/N₀ → loss of lock), multi-constellation availability, a single-axis (1-DOF) IMU error budget, two independent (clock + position) Kalman estimators reported as a combined FoM, real constellation geometry from TLEs, an HTML scorecard report, geometry-derived GNSS availability and dilution of precision from Keplerian orbits with eccentricity and J2 drift, Monte Carlo confidence bands, trade-study parameter sweeps, an in-browser WebAssembly playground, and optional Python (PyO3) and WebAssembly (wasm-bindgen) bindings have landed on main.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. In short: tests pass (cargo test), the two guard scripts pass, Conventional Commits, and a CHANGELOG.md [Unreleased] entry for every user-visible change. Participation is governed by our Code of Conduct. To report a security issue, see the Security policy — please do not open a public issue for vulnerabilities.

Citing

If you use Kshana in academic or technical work, please cite it. Machine-readable metadata is in CITATION.cff (GitHub renders a "Cite this repository" button from it); cite the version you used (e.g. v0.19.0) together with the scenario and seed for full reproducibility. Every release is archived on Zenodo with a citable DOI — the concept DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20528627 always resolves to the latest version.

Baweja, C. (2026). Kshana — a PNT-resilience simulator with quantum-sensor performance models. Ashforde OÜ. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20528627

Versioning & releases

Kshana follows Semantic Versioning. While pre-1.0 the public scenario/result schema may still change; breaking changes are called out explicitly in the CHANGELOG.md. Every result is reproducible from scenario + seed + engine version.

Every vX.Y.Z tag publishes all channels automatically — one CI pipeline fans out to:

The MCP server's crate / image / registry version tracks the engine (it bundles the library); the JetBrains plugin versions independently (it shells out to your installed kshana binary).

License

Dual-licensed. Use Kshana under either the GNU AGPL-3.0-only (see LICENSE) or a commercial licence from Ashforde OÜ for proprietary/closed integration that the AGPL does not suit. Which one applies, and why it is set up this way, is explained in LICENSING.md.

Contributions are licensed inbound under the AGPL and grant Ashforde OÜ the right to include them in the commercially-licensed edition (so the dual-licence keeps working) — see CONTRIBUTING.md. Sign off each commit per the Developer Certificate of Origin with git commit -s.

Trademark. "Kshana" and its marks are trademarks of Ashforde OÜ. The licence covers the code, not the name — please rename forks and derivative distributions.

Support & professional services

Kshana is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 and professionally developed and maintained by Ashforde OÜ (Estonia). The open engine is complete and usable on its own. For organisations that need more, Ashforde OÜ offers:

• Commercial support & integration — embedding Kshana in your toolchain, custom scenarios, and priority fixes.

• Custom sensor models — calibrated to your hardware, including export-sensitive resilience models maintained in a private overlay.

• Kshana Pro — proprietary model-based systems-engineering and programme tooling that plugs into the open engine to complete the workflow.

• Training & consulting on quantum/classical PNT performance analysis.

This is the open-core model: the engine is, and stays, openly licensed; the sustaining business is expertise, support, and the proprietary extensions — not license fees. Contact contact@ashforde.org.

Key references

Validation oracles & standards — the external authorities Kshana's checks are anchored to:

• Vallado, Crawford, Hujsak & Kelso — Revisiting Spacetrack Report #3 (AIAA 2006-6753; test data): the SGP4/SDP4 verification set Kshana matches to 4.12 mm, and the worked frame examples the TEME→ITRF chain is checked against.

• IAU SOFA / ERFA — the reference time and frame routines the IAU 2000A nutation and the CIO GCRS↔ITRS reduction are validated bit-for-bit against.

• Petit & Luzum (eds.) — IERS Conventions (2010), IERS TN 36 (Earth-orientation, polar motion, and frame standards).

• Riley — Handbook of Frequency Stability Analysis, NIST SP 1065 (Allan-deviation relations and the NBS14 reference series).

• Pedregosa et al. — scikit-learn: Machine Learning in Python, JMLR 12 (2011): the reference ROC/AUC, confusion-matrix and precision/recall/F1 implementations the RF-impairment evaluation testbed is matched to exactly (tests/eval_metrics_reference.rs).

• Virtanen et al. — SciPy 1.0, Nature Methods 17 (2020): optimize.nnls, stats.chi2 and linalg.expm — the reference routines the quantum-trade measured-ADEV NNLS fit, the χ² consistency bands, and the van-Loan clock process-noise covariance are validated against (tests/scipy_reference.rs).

• Knowles, Kanhere, Neamati & Gao — gnss_lib_py, SoftwareX 27 (2024): used both as open prior art (see Comparison & open prior art below) and as the independent DOP oracle the GDOP/PDOP/HDOP/VDOP/TDOP computation is matched to 1e-6 (tests/dop_reference.rs).

• Montenbruck & Gill — Satellite Orbits: Models, Methods and Applications (Springer): the force models behind the force-model fit to agency precise ephemerides.

• Howell — Three-dimensional, periodic, halo orbits, Celestial Mechanics 32(1) (1984), doi:10.1007/BF01358403; Zimovan-Spreen, Howell & Davis — Near rectilinear halo orbits and nearby higher-period dynamical structures, Astrodynamics 6 (2022), doi:10.1007/s42064-021-0125-x (the halo/NRHO families the CR3BP differential corrector reproduces).

Device & method physics — the cited sources behind the sensor models:

• Origlia, Schiller, Bongs et al. — arXiv:1503.08457 (strontium optical lattice clock, space-oriented goal).

• Oelker et al., Nature Photonics (2019) — doi:10.1038/s41566-019-0493-4 (laboratory Sr clock, 4.8×10⁻¹⁷).

• Templier et al., Science Advances (2022) — arXiv:2209.13209 (hybrid quantum accelerometer triad).

• Groves, Principles of GNSS, Inertial, and Multisensor Integrated Navigation — IEEE AESS tutorial (UCL Discovery) (dead-reckoning error growth).

• Giorgetta et al., Nature Photonics 7, 434 (2013) — arXiv:1211.4902; Deschênes et al., Phys. Rev. X 6, 021016 (2016) — APS (optical two-way time-frequency transfer; the optical inter-satellite link models its non-reciprocity budget after these).

• Betz — Binary Offset Carrier Modulations for Radionavigation, NAVIGATION 48(4) (2001), doi:10.1002/j.2161-4296.2001.tb00247.x (the BOC modulation and spectral-separation theory behind src/navsignal.rs).

• Kaplan & Hegarty (eds.) — Understanding GPS/GNSS: Principles and Applications (3rd ed., Artech House, 2017): the anti-jam effective-C/N₀ equation and the early–late DLL code-tracking thermal-noise jitter the nav-signal and jamming models use.

Comparison & open prior art — the tools and surveys Kshana is positioned against:

• Humphreys et al. — TEXBAT (ION GNSS 2012): the spoofing test-battery parameters the multi-layer detector is characterised against.

• González et al. — NaveGo (2017): the open, validated inertial-navigation error profiles used as the classical baseline.

• Iiyama, Casadesús Vila & Gao — LuPNT (ION GNSS+ 2023, Stanford NavLab): open lunar-PNT simulator.

• Knowles, Kanhere, Neamati & Gao — gnss_lib_py, SoftwareX 27 (2024), doi:10.1016/j.softx.2024.101811: open GNSS data analysis.

• Li, Zaminpardaz, Kealy & Greentree — Quantum sensors for enhanced positioning and navigation: a comprehensive review, GPS Solutions 30(1):62 (2026), doi:10.1007/s10291-026-02030-y.

• Bertone et al. — Earth and Space Science 8(6) (2021), doi:10.1029/2020EA001454: GRAIL reduced-dynamic OD, the empirical-acceleration floor the LRO fit reproduces.

Maintenance

Resources

• GitHub Repository
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