Francesco Rispoli

Ansaldo STS, A Hitachi Group Company

After relatively long periods of operation, the rise of satellite technology and the importance of its great benefits have at
last been recognised as strategic advancements for the train control system business case especially when operations
are in rural and desert areas. The catalysts are a gained confidence in the reliability of satellite technologies and the
unprecedented plans to put into orbit new satellites during the coming years. Furthermore, after decades of steady
innovation in the telecom networks, 5G offers the ultimate solution with millisecond latencies and “network slicing”
capabilities to realize bespoke virtual networks. For these reasons satellite technologies and IP-based communications
are “game changer innovations” for the ERTMS. This paper aims to assess the satellite technology trends, the Ansaldo
STS projects that in Australia have set the world’s bench mark as the early adopter of satellite technology on heavy haul
lines, and the roadmap to exploit new satellite innovations after the positive field tests in Italy. This plan backed by RFI
(Italian Railways Infrastructure operator) aims to contribute to the certification process to implement by 2020 an ERTMS
innovative solution for regional networks based on virtualization of balises through satellite localization, an augmentation
network, and the upgrade of the communication system from GSM-R to a public telecommunications network.