Radiolabs’ contribution to the ION GNSS + international conference.
Innovative high-tech positioning capabilities are a fundamental requisite for the transition to autonomous driving of vehicles. One of the main users is expected to be the railways community that represents a reference case for its challenging safety and interoperability requirements, following the aviation sector already relying on GNSS positioning with a proper technical and regulatory framework. In the railways sector GNSS positioning has been recognised a strategic technology for the evolution of the ERTMS-ETCS train control system and the ATO – autonomous train operations. These technologies are included in the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking plan to boost the capacity and the economical sustainability of the trains that is the greenest and safer transportation means.
The ION GNSS+ event, to be held September 8-12, 2025, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, is the largest technical event and exhibition of GNSS technology, products and services in the world. In this year’s edition, Radiolabs presents two incoming projects: VICE4RAIL, RAN, and two innovative techniques that confirm its vision and plans to drive developments in connected and autonomous vehicle technologies and make a contribution to achieve a dedicated ecosystem in Europe that complies with standards and regulatory requirements.
The VICE4RAIL project is developing an innovative testing environment for assessing and certifying the ASTP – Advanced Safe Train Positioning device that has been defined by the rail stake-holders to be included into the train on-board system. The ASTP – already part of the roadmap for establishing the new interoperability standard – aims to enhance train positioning capabilities, potentially leveraging multi-sensor fusion including GNSS, IMUs, and other inputs like Digital Maps and GNSS Augmentation services. VICE4RAIL is funded under the HORIZON-EUSPA-2023-SPACE Call and is developed by a European team led by RFI – the Italian Railways Infrastructure manager. Radiolabs is responsible of the HyVICE – a hybrid platform based on simulations in the laboratory and tests on the field, with the objective to maximize virtual tests towards the objective of a zero on-site testing capability. The goal is to replicate in the laboratory the operational scenarios to evaluate the effects of rare GNSS hazards that having a low occurrence probability becomes difficult and costly to assess only with tests on the field. The envisaged next step is an open and standard testing infrastructure – connected with the ERTMS accredited laboratories – as the one of CEDEX in Spain (one of the partners of VICE4RAIL) where ASTP products of different suppliers can be validated and certified for guaranteeing the compatibility with the ERTMS system. Hybrid-Virtual Test Environment to Validate GNSS-Based Train Positioning for the ERTMS Train Control System | Technical Program – ION GNSS+ 2025
The other project, RAN – National Augmentation Network – has been conceived and funded by ASI – the Italian Space Agency to provide the Rail and Automotive users with the data for augmenting the GNSS signals to achieve the required positioning with high accuracy and Integrity. RAN, inheriting the results of the previous ERSAT EAV and HELMET projects funded by EUSPA, is stepping to a demonstrator for the rail and automotive application of a future operational system to support the new applications in Italy and to contributing to a standardizable solution in Europe. A novelty of RAN is the simultaneous use of DGNSS, RTK,PPP-RTK technologies and reusing the SBAS, GALILEO infrastructures including the recent GALILEO-HAS service. This multi-level architecture, that includes also Local networks, makes the system robust, resilient, avoiding a dependency from a single technology, while at the same time it will offer to the rail and automotive users differentiated data in relation to the specific requirements of their application. Yet, RAN will adopt the incoming standard RTCM SC 134 tailored for high accuracy – integrity rail, automotive and maritime applications based on standard messages and data applicable to COTS GNSS receivers. RAN project is managed by Leonardo with Radiolabs, RFI and Sogei partners. RAN, the Italian Augmentation and Integrity Monitoring Network for High Accuracy and High Integrity Positioning for Rail and Road Applications | Technical Program – ION GNSS+ 2025
Looking to the future, accurate and reliable environment perception is becoming crucial for the safe operation of automated train control systems. The paper Fault Detection and Exclusion for LIDAR-Camera Fusion in Railway Positioning: Enhancing Localization in Adverse Environments shows the results obtained with a multi-sensor fusion approach combining Camera with LiDAR data to enhance scene understanding in complex railway environments. We evaluated the robustness of state-of-the-art 2D and 3D object detectors under environment-induced data degradation, highlighting the trade-offs between computational efficiency and detection accuracy, placing emphasis on system-level integrity. The results of a test campaign have confirmed the suitability of these sensors, already adopted by cars, for the rail environment. Fault Detection and Exclusion for LIDAR-Camera Fusion in Railway Positioning: Enhancing Localization in Adverse Environments | Technical Program – ION GNSS+ 2025
The paper Conditional Path Planning for Collaborative GNSS Positioning investigates a cooperative GNSS positioning strategy allowing multiple vehicles to share their positioning data to improve individual accuracy and robustness against inevitable degradations when travelling in challenging environments as urban canyons, tunnels and forested areas. The identified strategy is to integrate path planning tools with cooperative positioning to enhance the overall navigation performance. As a result, it has been demonstrated how path planning algorithms can be empowered with more robust and reliable GNSS positioning through cooperative strategies. Conditional Path Planning for Collaborative GNSS Positioning | Technical Program – ION GNSS+ 2025
For more information:
Radiolabs partner of the national augmentation network for autonomous mobility | Radiolabs
