by Peter Gurnik, Project Manager, AZD Praha and Jose Bertolin, Technical Affairs Manager, UNIFE

1. STARS project: GNSS performances, rail environment characterisation and conclusions
towards future adoption of European GNSS
Space For Innovation in Rail
19th March 2019, Vienna
Jose Bertolin, Project Manager (UNIFE),
Peter Gurnik, Systems Engineer (AZD)

2. 2
Why use GNSS in Safety Critical Railway Applications

3. 3
Origin STARS project

4. 4
Basic figures about the STARS project STARS Project Consortium

5. 5
STARS Project Rationale
The overall motivation for the STARS project:
• Performance of GNSS is directly dependent on the environmental
conditions. These conditions impact localization function performance
and influences the overall system’s availability, reliability and safety.
Detailed understanding and analysis of the local railway environment is
therefore a critical precondition for a full deployment of GNSS services
in railways.
• The major objective of the STARS consortium was therefore focused on
filling the technological gap to allow a full implementation of GNSS in
railway safety critical applications through a complex analysis and
characterisation of the railway environment. Associated aspects have
been also taken into account, including economical implications,
ERTMS analysis and further EGNOS developments.

6. 6
Major Achieved Results
The main results of the STARS project can be summarized as follows:
STARS consortium has developed a complex and universal methodology
for performing field measurement for rail environment characterization.
Using this methodology, STARS consortium has performed an
unprecedented field measurement campaign, taking place in several
environmentally and operationally diverse locations, using installations in
multiple locos, under the support of European railways and consortium
partners.
For rail environment analysis and characterization, the consortium has
developed a set of open tools and methods for evaluating all the
identified environmental factors, including raw data analysis, RF data
analysis, visibility masks evaluation, etc.

7. 7
STARS Conclusions and Further Steps
The further critical aspects investigated by STARS can be summarized as
follows:
STARS consortium has investigated linked economical aspects using
developed economical models, allowing cost benefit and impact analysis
of defined railway applications and scenarios.
From the perspective of future GNSS applications in ERTMS, the STARS
has analyzed its safety and operational requirements and relevant
implications.
A significant focus was put on the investigation of future evolution of
EGNOS service to allow a full benefit for safety critical railway
applications.
Consortium has provided a consolidated set of conclusions and
recommendations for railway stakeholders to support further
developments of GNSS applications. STARS is continuously supporting
linked research projects such as those within Shift2Rail, but also others.