Disruptive GNSS Receiver Technologies for Future Railway Signalling Applications

Programme	Activity	Status	Thematic areas
TDE	General	Ongoing	Signalling

The project aims to investigate at new technologies and concepts that can benefit the inclusion of GNSS in Future Railway Signalling Applications. The project will not only look at the alternative technologies – proven and emerging – but also the risks and challenges implementing them into a rail environment, as well as the safety cases and product approvals that would need to be addressed to allow operational deployment.

The planned activities include investigating and defining candidate architectures and high-level system designs, based around 2 paradigms,

Innovative application of existing technologies and techniques, either being utilised in a Rail environment currently or from other sectors, such as aviation. The focus must be on actual deployments rather than theoretical exercises that has led guidance papers from organisations such as the RSSB in the UK.
New emerging technologies and techniques targeting challenging scenarios, predominantly from outside Rail. This will look at the work needed to adapt and prove the solutions but also the Risk associated.

The project will assess real-world operational circumstances experienced by rolling stock to achieve the aims of a cost-effective Enhanced Train Positioning System (ETPS), even under conditions in which current GNSS is not available or strongly reduced in accuracy to operate in a rail environment. This will take into account the environmental contexts such as in densely built-up areas (urban canyons), tunnels, cuttings as well as factors associated with installing equipment onto Trains and Rail infrastructure which can also contribute to compromised performance.

Specific key items will be prioritised to develop proof of concept(s) to support technology innovation and to confirm their feasibility, with the target of achieving a Technical Readiness Level (TRL) target of between level 2 (technology concept formulated) and level 3 (experimental proof of concept). It is expected that the architecture and proof of concept will include fusion of 5G NR PRS signals into a multi-sensor architecture to complement the use of GNSS.