GNSS Jamming and Spoofing Threats in UAV Navigation: Countermeasure Status and Challenges

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become indispensable in both civilian and military applications. However, their reliance on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based navigation exposes them to escalating threats from sophisticated jamming and spoofing attacks. These threats severely compromise operational safety and mission integrity, necessitating the development of effective countermeasures. This survey provides a comprehensive overview of GNSS interference threats specific to UAV navigation, with a focus on the analysis of jamming and spoofing attacks, and summarizes state-of-the-art techniques for interference detection and mitigation. We first review the principles of satellite navigation for UAVs and identify the inherent vulnerability of GNSS signals to interference. Then, we systematically examine existing countermeasures, including signal processing-based, array antenna-based, and artificial intelligence-based approaches, highlighting their effectiveness against jamming and spoofing. Despite these advances, significant challenges remain in ensuring robust UAV navigation in adversarial electromagnetic environments, particularly those arising from resource constraints, limited algorithmic flexibility, and the lack of UAV-specific countermeasures. To address these issues, we propose a hierarchical framework that integrates robust signal reception, intelligent algorithm optimization, and system-level collaboration. This framework provides practical strategies for enhancing the resilience of next-generation UAV navigation systems to complex interference.