Development of a connected balise-reader system

The railway industry is going through a constant process of evolution within the automation of signalling system. This will lead to a fully radio-based communication environment, eliminating lighting or visual signalling equipment, fixed path-segmentation, et al. Hope for the industry is to optimize time, improve safety, achieve interoperability, and consequently reduce costs. The European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) equips nowadays railways worldwide. Its dedicated beacon system is called Eurobalise: these sensors are allocated in large amount along the rail path ensuring communication between the vehicle and the lineside. Maintaining these systems faces considerable costs for both maintenance operations and loss of profits due to temporary traffic closure. That’s why the industry 4.0 aims to adopt a predictive maintenance approach which could contribute to maximize resources, although the market is currently at very early stages of introducing and adopting this technology. ERTMS defines the automation into different levels, where the upgrading process is long and expensive as it involves vehicles and railways infrastructures’ specifics. Therefore, this work can be meant as an attempt to reduce the gap between the automation levels, while designing and prototyping a connected balise-reader capable of achieving a predictive maintenance for both the balises and the reader itself.