Railway automation with reliable & robust GNSS/GPS

GNSS receivers and positioning solutions

Railway systems worldwide are on track towards automation. Semi or fully automated trains can deliver service timed to the second, optimize energy use and increase railway safety. Knowing the train’s precise position, velocity and heading is one of the key components to enabling smart railways.

Railway safety is paramount when it comes to passengers; as well as track workers. Both Positive Train Control (PTC) and the European Train Control System (ETCS) seek to improve railway safety by automating braking in emergency situations. With multiple adjacent tracks,precise and reliable positioning is key to knowing exactly on which track the train is operating.

Rail modernization includes replacement of balises and signaling copper wires with more accurate and robust positioning solutions. Multi-frequency, multi-GNSS receivers have proven to deliver reliable centimeter-level positioning even when tracks run through challenging environments such as near cliffs, under foliage and in remote areas such as Alaska.

Rail-GNSS-positioning — BNSF Railway and Septentrio GPS experts share their knowledge about GPS/GNSS security in this webinar. Topics include cybersecurity, jamming, spoofing. This webinar was recorded by the GPS World Magazine.

Reference station receivers transmit GNSS corrections to rover receivers for augmenting positioning to centimeter-level. Septentrio GNSS receivers are part of Position Reference Modules, which have been deployed for use by Class 1 railroads across USA.

Track mapping and inspection is done with multi-sensor, high-speed mapping systems to collect data for transportation infrastructure management in a single pass. Septentrio’s ultra-low latency, high-update rate GNSS receivers are core elements of multi-sensor data acquisition systems.

More questions? Do not hesitate to contact our GNSS Railway solutions expert today.