AB4Rail aims to identify and select alternative communication bearers (ABs) and selection of proper communication protocols for the Adaptable Communication System (ACS) of the Shift2Rail technical demonstrator TD2.1. The project will review the state-of-the-art technologies assessing their suitability for the ACS in terms of expected performance, economic sustainability, and status of maturity. A wide spectrum of potential technologies have been identified including existing optical technologies for visible light communications (VLC), powerline communications (PLC) and short/long range technologies for the Internet of Things (IoT). Yet, breakthrough technologies under development and available in the next 3-5 years will be evaluated such as High-Altitude Platforms (HAPS) and high throughput Low Earth Orbit Satellites (LEO). The selected ABs will be tested in the lab (TRL 4) and on field (TRL 5) using the laboratories and on-field test bed of Radiolabs. A liaison with technology providers will be established leveraging on the network of Radiolabs, being the first in Europe having introduced, in 2015, a multi-bearer telecom architecture with public and satellite operators for ERTMS. The selection criteria for application/transport communication protocols will be assessed by theoretical results and simulations using an ad hoc software platform for network emulation/simulation at IP level to be developed in AB4Rail. Furthermore, AB4Rail is synergic with other projects funded by ESA, Shift2Rail, and Italian Ministry of Economic Development addressing multi-bearer telecom solutions for the ERTMS evolution. Special effort is allocated to the dissemination activities with the goal to involve the rail, telecom, satellite stake-holders and the standardization bodies. The project coordinator will be Radiolabs, a no-profit research consortium already involved in two Shift2Rail projects, with Guglielmo Marconi University as a partner.

The main objective of HELMET is to develop innovative EGNSS applications capable to impacting on eco-friendly and green transportations means. Target adopters of EGNOS and Galileo are the Connetcted and driverless cars, Train signaling, UAV for surveillance of roads and railways. Multi-modality is HEMET’s differentiator to federate innovative applications transforming the independent habit of roads and railways into a synergic ecosystem sharing digital infrastructures, safety and certification processes to lower energy consumption and pollution. HELMET capability to operate UAVs increases the safety by introducing new means for integrated car and train automation. The high integrity and high accuracy platform relies on the Consortium’s know how of SBAS-EGNOS technology to stepping into the multi-constellation multi frequency and multi sensor domain to fight back against common hazards characterizing land mobile scenarios. HELMET will develop innovative algorithms with multi-sensors and a representative proof of concept to be tested in Italy, on the l’Aquila town test bed of EMERGE, the Italian project based on Galileo and 5G for the connected car coordinated by Radiolabs. Collaborative effort is foreseen with rail, road stake-holders and with the RTCM Committee on GNSS-based High Accuracy Applications already involved on train and car applications. The outcomes of HELMET are along the way to set up and operate such services that are crucial to enable cost-competitive vehicle’s positioning beyond the state of the art. HELMET consortium is composed by Radiolabs, DLR, Sogei, University of Pardubice, Stanford GNSS team, already partners in RHINOS project and two SMEs: RoboAuto for the driverless car and Kentro Kainotomon Tecnologion for GNSS technology. HELMET will seek to create a bridge with the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and Ministry of Economical Development on the adoption of Galileo for smart mobility.

The S5LECT SatCom and 5G Link, Edge and CybersecuriTy project, coordinated by SNCF and developed by Railenium, GTS France (THALES), Radiolabs and CEIT, will experiment a solution for seamless handover between 5G terrestrial network, Satellite link and GSM-R communication system. In the automotive and rail domains, vehicles are entering the era of full automation thanks to wireless sensors and communication systems shifting control functions from the human driver to computers. Railways need to increase functionalities of the existing signalling and automation systems and related design and validation processes therefore providing a more competitive, flexible, real-time, intelligent traffic management and decision support system. Those technological innovation will help Railway to answer his ambition to increase rail traffic with the future ATO and FRMCS. The consortium will study the hybridization of terrestrial and satellite communications networks for railway critical applications. The project will last 30 months and is tailored to define and develop an innovative solution for seamless handover between terrestrial and satellite communication networks, to assess cyber-security risks and propose solutions, to propose innovative architecture for Edge computing and finally to provide a proof of concept of all the bricks developed in the project thanks to an original laboratory testing platform. The S5LECT project will directly contribute to the development of solutions for the use of GOVSATCOM satellite communications in the railway domain. It will also contribute to the development and testing activities to deliver more reliable and robust wireless communication prototypes. This should help to enhance the testing activities and minimize time and efforts to deliver the next generation of adaptable wireless communications for all railway segments.

RHINOS aims at increasing the use of EGNSS to support the safety-critical train localization function for train control in emerging regional and global markets. RHINOS adds value to EGNSS by leveraging the results from prior or existing projects, and develops a Railway High Integrity Navigation Overlay System to be used by the rail community. RHINOS pillar is the GNSS infrastructure realized for the aviation application with additional layers that meet the rail requirements in the difficult railway environments. RHINOS will feature an international cooperation with the Stanford University that has been involved in the aviation application since the birth of the GPS, gaining an undeniable knowledge of the GNSS performance and high-integrity applications. The ambition is a positive step beyond the proliferation of GNSS platforms, mainly tailored for regional applications, to favor a global solution to release the potential benefits of the EGNSS in the fast growing train signaling world market. The RHINOS work programme includes the investigation of candidate concepts for the provision of the high integrity needed to protect the detected position of the train, as required by the train control system application. The EGNSS (GALILEO and EGNOS) plus GPS and WAAS constitute the reference infrastructure that is available world-wide. Moreover, local augmentation elements, ARAIM techniques and other sensors on the train are the add-on specific assets for mitigating the hazards due to the environmental effects which dominate the rail application. A further objective of RHINOS is to contribute to the definition of a standard for the Railway High Integrity Navigation Overlay System leveraging on the EU-US Cooperation Agreement on ARAIM. The RHINOS dissemination plan includes three specific Workshops with the rail and satellite stakeholders, at Stanford University for the US community, in Roma for the Western European community and in Prague for the Eastern European community.