Solutions for the Autonomous, High-Precision Positioning of Railway Rolling Stock, Based on Rail Current Measurement

The following paper will provide a comprehensive overview of the available solutions for autonomous positioning of railway and non-railway rolling stock. The paper sets out a method of autonomous positioning of railway transport that allows the realtime coordinates of any moving railway unit on a railway section of known length to be calculated with high accuracy. The method is predicated on the analysis of the measured rail current parameters. These may be either the track circuit signal current or the code current of automatic locomotive signalling. This method will ensure the physical implementation of the algorithms of modern device functionality, thus ensuring traffic safety. The proposed method facilitates the issue of positioning moving rolling stock throughout their entire route, including sections and stations, in the absence of satellite navigation systems, a crucial consideration in real-time operating conditions. The primary benefits of this method of positioning, in addition to its high accuracy, are its simplicity and the absence of the need for additional equipment along the railway bed and supplementary signals in the track circuits. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the high accuracy of determining the coordinates of moving railway units using the proposed method.