Geo-Distributed Simulation and Verification Infrastructure for safe train Galileo-based positioning

The work shows the high level concept and methodology followed for designing a geo-distributed simulation and verification infrastructure connecting remotely GNSS excellence centres and ERTMS/ETCS laboratories to evaluate the GNSS performances in the railway environment. Proper methodology and tools are adopted to simulate GNSS behaviour in different railway scenarios in nominal or in presence of global and local hazards. Particularly, the test-bed main goals are: i) achieving a realistic characterization of the environment in terms of railway and GNSS infrastructures able to evaluate the performances and properties of some fail-safe train positioning components in nominal and fault conditions; ii) defining a common test process framework for zero on-site testing instead of testing on-site saving effort and time. The test-bed offers the unique advantage to stress the global system in presence of very rare GNSS fault events instead of performing long and expensive measurement campaigns on field for detecting them and analysing their impact on ETCS. The work will show its description and the methodology adopted for its design and implementation.