ERTMS on SATELLITE – Enabling Application Validation

The ERSAT EAV proposal is relevant to the work programme for the exploitation of the space infrastructure, in particular prioritising the EGNSS uptake for the rail sector, fostering the competition and the innovation of the European space and rail industry and research community, and enhancing in parallel the strong coordination and synergy with the specific sector of European Railways and the main actors involved, building-up a system cantered to the ERTMS platform and able to bring to the ERTMS the “competitivity-dividend” of the satellite promises, linked with the enormous opportunity of the local and regional lines in Europe that represent about 50% of the total railways length.

Objectives

The main ERSAT EAV objective is to verify the suitability of EGNSS as the enabler of cost-efficient and economically sustainable ERTMS signalling solutions for safety railway applications.

The outcome of ERSAT-EAV is a priority for reusing the ERTMS standard architecture to satisfy the needs of the regional and local lines and for supporting the UNISIG Satellite Positioning Working Group that has been created (June 2012) to specify and standardize the application of the satellite positioning for the harmonization with the European ERTMS standard, by implementing and testing the solution on a pilot line as reference.

The objectives will be achieved, in a first phase by measuring and evaluating the gaps to be filled, in terms of technological criticalities and in relation to railway requirements. In particular, at first, by performing measurements under real operating conditions with the support of simulation tools and models. Then, by defining and developing a system solution, able to address and solve the critical issues, by implementing, testing and validating it on a pilot line, as reference for the future standardisation and certification processes. The solution will fully exploit all the advantages of the multi-constellation approach and of EGNOS and Galileo services, providing an optimized augmentation service to the trains, in order to meet the railway requirements.