All activities have been carried out accordingly to the original Grant Agreement and its Amendment reference n. AMD-687399-9.
During the first period (1rst Jan 2016 - 30 Sept. 2016) the following activities have been performed.
The RHINOS project begun with the definition of European and USA scenarios for the railway control systems. In parallel, harmonization of railway and avionics concepts and terminology has been performed.
The current status of GNSS Augmentation Network services in terms of architectures, services, and standards, together with hints about future trends and relevant updates suitable for meeting RHINOS target applications have been investigated, and some recommendations for the exploitation of high accuracy and high integrity systems for railway applications have been given.
In parallel, modifications to ARAIM to cope with local faults to be expected along the train track have been investigated.
Activities on Railway environment modelling (WP5) have been focused on those landscape features in the immediate vicinity of railway tracks that can have a deleterious effect on positioning.
During the second reporting period (01 Oct 2016 - 31 Oct 2017), the following activities have been performed.
In WP7, performance analytical models and a SWOT analysis have been applied to the candidate Augmentation and Integrity Monitoring (AIM) subsystem architectures. Based on them, the 2-Tiers candidate has been selected as the RHINOS reference architecture.
In WP8, the analytical model of the GNSS based Virtual Balise Reader performances assessment has been reviewed. Moreover, algorithms for multiple track discrimination have been investigated, and a qualitative comparative analysis between the proposed OBU Integrity Monitoring Methods has been performed. Finally, as result of the previous analysis, ARAIM has been selected as the OBU Reference Architecture.
In WP9, a “proof-of-concept” design and evaluation for several variations of the preferred RHINOS architecture has been carried out. Several complementary simulation tools have been used to evaluate the nominal and faulted performance of this architecture and demonstrate its suitability: Stanford University MAAST, Radiolabs’s VIRGILIO and the SOGEI’s TAAN simulation packages.
The Performance Analysis activities have been performed within the RHINOS WP 10. Tests have been performed by means of real GNSS raw data recorded on board of a Pilot Train in the Cagliari-S. Gavino railway, in the framework of the ERSAT EAV project, as well as simulated data.
In WP11, the main guidelines to support the rail navigation community to standardize the use of GNSS for safety-critical applications have been provided. A plan to mature the Railway High Integrity Navigation Overlay System (RHINOS) has been reported with a summary of the hazards and monitors that will require the most effort in the upcoming validation and verification phase.
Finally, the assessment and the verification activities required for putting in service new ERTMS interoperability constituents and/or new ERTMS subsystems have been reported together with the description of the possible steps to be applied for the use of the GNSS positioning technology into the innovative ERTMS evolution. The CENELEC standards to be applied in the certification process of new ERTMS interoperability constituents and/or new ERTMS subsystems have been reported together with a description of the cross acceptance process recommended by CENELEC to reuse, when feasible, products / generic applications already accepted by one authority in accordance with other relevant European Standards. Finally, the possible risks associated with the introduction of the GNSS Positioning technology into the ERTMS certification process have been described.
The Dissemination events (WP12) have been organized according with the Dissemination Plan. All communication channels and services have been used to give maximum diffusion to the events, by means of an intensive and parallel use of: Project Website, Social media, Conferences and Scientific Journals (19 papers published), Workshops (4), participation to forums, press releases.
