Incorporating Standard GPS and Scaling the Precision in Tracking Railroad Assets

Cara M. Johnson, George E. Birch

Abstract:	The management of assets has always been important to the railroad industry, and the railroads are continually looking to leverage advancements in technology in pursuit of that goal. The location determination capability of GPS has significant appeal to the railroad industry. In order to obtain the accuracy needed to safely manage their assets, in certain situations the railroad industry needs to know a train’s location to an accuracy better than the standard GPS service of 100 meters. Therefore, it would appear that the railroad industry requires differential GPS service. Differential GPS service is currently not readily available, and when it is available the railroad industry will greatly benefit from it. However, until differential GPS service is universally available, the railroad industry can gain great benefit from standard GPS service. The location information available using standard GPS service can be combined with the location information that the railroad industry uses today. This incorporation of location data can be used to scale the location precision required to the need in a cost-effective manner. The objective of this paper is to present the application of GPS which exploits the realities of train movement and existing train location information to allow the railroad industry to be selective regarding the accuracy of location data. Standard GPS service provides sufficient accuracy for most situations; only in selective situations is increased accuracy necessary. The methodology used for presenting this approach is to analyze typical movement scenarios for trains and the resulting location accuracy required to maintain safe train operation. Scenarios representing situations that require greater accuracy than is available using standard GPS service are then analyzed. Approaches to using standard GPS service as a way to scale the accuracy required are presented that result in increased accuracy without having to invest in differential GPS service throughout the entire railroad. The conclusion of this analysis is that the railroad industry can immediately benefit from standard GPS service without having to wait for differential GPS service to be readily available. The railroads, and similar industries, can exploit standard GPS service through the incorporation of GPS into the existing environment.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1997) September 16 - 19, 1997 Kansas City, MO
Pages:	1363 - 1367
Cite this article:	Johnson, Cara M., Birch, George E., "Incorporating Standard GPS and Scaling the Precision in Tracking Railroad Assets," Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1997), Kansas City, MO, September 1997, pp. 1363-1367.
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