Showing posts with label ISRO. Show all posts

Wednesday, 29 June 2016

Radar & Laser based Terrain Imagining Vision System ‘Tri-Netra’ to help Railways monitor obstructions on tracks

Radar & Laser based Terrain Imagining Vision System ‘Tri-Netra’ to help Railways monitor obstructions on tracks

Railways bank upon third eye to check collision on tracks

New Delhi: Indian Railways is getting a third eye to look out for obstruction on track ahead to prevent collision or mishap. India will be the first country in the world to use radar and laser based terrain imagining vision system called ‘Tri-Netra’ in railways for monitoring obstructions on tracks. The device will also be able to record all the events on the tracks ahead in for post‐event analysis.

The Ministry of Railways has invited global tender from companies to design, develop and implement Tri-Netra for locomotives in a phased manner. The idea has been mooted by Member Mechanical Railway Board Hemant Kumar and the cost will be decided after companies present their technical bids next week.

Three companies – two from Israel and one UK have shown interests in designing the equipment that can give loco pilot (drivers) vision to see images of objects on track ahead in a range of 1 kilometer on a display panel inside the locomotive.

“It is for the first time that infra red and laser technology is used by any railways in the world to prevent collision. None of the companies have this kind of technology avialable now but they have approached us that they can design it for us,” said sources in the railway ministry, adding the technology so far is only used in combat activities.

Locomotive drivers, while driving the trains, rely purely on visual clues and visual images besides signal to look out for obstruction on track ahead to prevent collision or mishap.The objective is to enable the locomotive driver to visualize and warn about such infringing objects from a reasonable far away distance so as to enable them to apply brakes sufficiently in advance to stop the train.

The technology will be able to do thermal imaging and give picture of obstruction like trees, boulders, humans, stranded vehicles, moving object like another train. As per the last NCRB data, nearly 27,000 people died in train accidents in 2014 with majority of deaths due to fall from trains/collision of trains with people on tracks.

“It is for the company to decide the technology they adopt that meets the end result of pre‐warning the locomotive driver well in advance and give an audio‐visual warning on an ergonomically placed console. The company will quote the price as there is no existing technology presently used anywhere in the world,” said sources.

The equipment will have all the necessary cameras, antennas, sensors for visualizing the track ahead in the direction of motion which shall be mounted on either ends of the locomotive. The display should not distract the driver with flashes, alarms during normal condition but warm them about images likely to pose danger in red colour.

Specifications and design of critical components shall also be approved by RDSO (Research Designs & Standards Organisation), railways research arm, before they are fitted.

Railways want that device must work in day as well as at night, all types of weathers types like dense fog conditions, with uniformly consistent results even in difficult terrain areas.

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Thursday, 17 March 2016

PRS 15:33

Railways, ISRO to sign MoU over Remote Sensing, GIS Technologies

Railways, ISRO to sign MoU over Remote Sensing, GIS Technologies

New Delhi: Aiming at effective use of space technology in remote sensing and graphic information system (GIS) based applications, Railways is set to join hands with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

An MoU will be signed between Railways and ISRO, under Department of Space, tomorrow for developing applications in the field of remote sensing and GIS.

The MoU will enable use of space technology tools in providing passenger information for all trains, indicating next station/stoppage, real-time train-tracking, survey of new rail route alignments particularly in hilly and difficult terrains.

It will also aid in conducting track vulnerability studies, mapping of assets, audio-visual warning to road users at unmanned level crossing gates and introduction of web-enabled rail user-centric services.

Currently, Railways is using space technology for providing connectivity to Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and unreserved ticketing system at remote and non-rail head locations.

Besides this, the technology is used for emergency communication using satellite phones from disaster sites, Global Positioning System ( GPS) for various applications like remote monitoring of locomotives, passenger information system in Mumbai suburban trains and synchronised clocks and WiFi facility in select Rajdhani Express trains.

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Thursday, 4 February 2016

Unmanned level crossing 14:16

ISRO conducts 1st satellite-based warning system trial for Railways

ISRO conducts 1st satellite-based warning system trial for Railways

The first trial run for developing a satellite-based system to warn train drivers of unmanned railway crossings was conducted by ISRO scientists in Ahmedabad recently. Scientists at the city-based Space Applications Centre (SAC) are now in the process of commercially developing this system that will be fitted on 50 different trains across the country as a second part of the demonstration project.

Of around 30,000 level crossings of the Railways, as many as 11,000 are unmanned. “An estimated 7,000 people die every year at these unmanned crossings in the country. We have successfully conducted the first test-drive in Ahmedabad for developing a satellite-controlled warning system for the Indian Railways that will alert the train driver well in advance about an approaching unmanned level crossing. Simultaneously, it will also alert the road-users about the approaching train,” Tapan Misra, director of ISRO’s Space Applications Centre, said..

The demonstration project was carried out by a team of ISRO scientists and Western Railway officials in the first week of January. Under this project, a transmitter connected to GSAT-6 (a communication satellite) was mounted at Vastrapur and Sarkhej level crossings. Thereafter, the team boarded a train — fitted with a hooter that was in turn connected with a similar transmitter and a receiver — running between Gandhigram and Moraiya, near Changodar. All the trial runs were conducted in Ahmedabad.

“About 500 m before the level crossings, this hooter went on, warning the train driver about the approaching level crossing. The hooter got louder as the level crossing neared, and finally fell silent after the train passed it by. Similarly, the hooter attached to the transmitter mounted on the railway crossings alerted the road users about the approaching train. We had also used global positioning system and Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) during this demonstration. After its success, we will soon implement the second phase,” Misra said.

In the next phase of the demonstration project, SAC has selected six private companies for commercially developing the satellite-based transmitting and receiving system. “One of the six models/designs developed by these companies will be selected and will be demonstrated on 50 different trains running across the country. This demonstration will be done for a month,” he said, adding that the system will be integrated with IRNSS

According to scientists at SAC, the project to build warning systems will be taken forward to cover the entire railway network at a later stage. A GIS (Geographical Information Systems) mapping will be done of the entire route and a GIS map will be created. “This will help Indian Railways track each train on its network and also get timely alerts about derailment and accidents,” Misra added.

Source:The Indian Express

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Thursday, 3 September 2015

Satellite support for safety 05:29

Indian Railways to utilize ISRO’s Geospatial, Satellite Technologies

Indian Railways to utilize ISRO’s Geospatial, Satellite Technologies

New Delhi: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today said for using geospatial technology and satellite technology for various operations of Railways, a Memorandum of Understanding will soon be signed between the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) (the IT arm of the Ministry) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Heavy Rail and Light Rail organisations around the world have pioneered the application of geospatial technology (Geographic Information Systems or GIS) to rail infrastructure and operations using Intergraph technology. Close integration of spatial information with operational systems, like SAP, Maximo and MIMS/Ellipse, has helped engineers and managers gain clearer insight into asset performance and improve the efficiency and safety of operations. Other key business functions include security and incident response, environmental management, noise mapping and control, property and land title management.

Launching three IT initiatives by organising video-conferencing between, Rail Bhawan and New Delhi Station, he said safety and security of passengers was of paramount importance of his ministry.

Railway Infrastructure Managers and Operators are huge property owners, managing very relevant areas of the territory related with railway infrastructures and facilities. Due to historical reasons – railway is a centenary industry – and further developments, within this valuable real estate assets, there are significant possessions in urban and suburban environments associated to lines, railway stations, logistic terminals and interfaces, yards, workshops, etc.

Each network, private or public, has its own context (world region, history, culture, values, leadership, …), but one thing is quite common among them regarding property and real estate control: information, when it exists, relies on old paper support deposited in “dark” basements of buildings or warehouses and it’s not an easy process to create knowledge from it under this conditions.

When we refer application to railway land assets or generally speaking about the territory, we basically must relate two main variables: property and ownership. Further on, within a railway organization control is quite an important issue to several activities that should be developed over a very same reality: the railway domain.

In the year 2013, the General Manager (IT & Communications) of Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) had done extensive study on the need for GIS in Railways and Interfacing the GIS with applications on Indian Railways. The same can be downloaded here: GIS Base Map SS Mathur

GIS and Railways

Investing in current and reliable geodata is rewarding. There are lots of examples where efficiency gain can be attained but also an increase in safety and avoidance of damage to the environment.

The public receive a better service, including the fast availability of substitute transport, shorter incident problem-solving times and prevention planning.

Quality geodata should be a precondition for management in the railway sector and ideally one shouldn’t set up a business case for the improvement of data quality. In different countries there’s attention for BIM and geoinformation in the whole lifecycle of the railway network: from feasibility study, design and construction to the maintenance and management phase that which presents a comprehensive list of railways activities where GIS support have a prominent role.

Railway managers, whether focused on passenger or freight delivery, can use the spatial and analytic components of GIS to efficiently manage assets, maximize throughput, and monitor safety. The ability to share maps and information online improves communication with your stakeholders, including customers (Esri, 2014), empowering entire railways infrastructure life-cycle management.

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Tuesday, 1 September 2015

Railway Minister 23:59

Railway Minister launches three important IT enabled Services developed by CRIS

Railway Minister launches three important IT enabled Services developed by CRIS

New Delhi: The Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu today launched the following IT initiatives developed by Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) (the IT arm of Ministry of Railways using remote control by organising Video-Conferencing between, Rail Bhawan and New Delhi Station.

1. Paperless Unreserved Ticketing through Mobile Phone between New Delhi – Palwal Section (NR)

2. Currency Coin cum Card operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines at New Delhi Railway Station

3. Mobile Application for Freight Operations (PARICHAALAN)

Chairman, Railway Board, A.K. Mital, Kundan Sinha, Member Traffic, Railway Board, Jamshed, Additional Member (IT), Mrs.Vandana Nanda, Managing Director, CRIS, Board Members and senior officials of Railway Board and CRIS were among those present on the occasion in the Rail Bhawan. At New Delhi Station end, Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) Ms. Meenakshi Lekhi, New Delhi constituency.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu said that he is happy to launch various new initiatives, especially IT related initiatives, which are directed towards improving passenger and customer services on Indian Railways. The IT applications which have been inaugurated today are an indication that Indian Railways is constantly moving towards e-Governance. As you are aware, in the recent past we have launched a number of such IT initiatives which were also part of my Budget announcements. Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India is also our guiding force in Indian Railways. The Minister said the IT initiatives being undertaken by Indian Railways are in line with the Digital India Programme. He said that the spirit of this programme is to work as broad umbrella for various initiatives undertaken to improve quality of life and create facilities for common people.

Suresh Prabhu said that in April & June we had launched Paperless Unreserved Ticketing System for Chennai and Mumbai suburban sections. Today this has been launched for New Delhi-Palwal section of Northern Railway. This system shall now be proliferated to other important suburban sections of Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway and South Central Railway shortly.

He said that Introduction of Coin-cum-Currency operated Ticketing Vending Machine is another step forward in ensuring that passengers get their tickets quickly under ‘Operation five minutes’ announced in Railway Budget. These ticket vending machines shall be installed at all the major stations in the country. 450 machines are being procured and installed by CRIS and shall be available at major stations during the next 3 months.

The Railway Minister said that the Freight Monitoring App named ‘Parichaalan’ is another development towards improving operating efficiency through improved Management Information System. This App shall greatly help the senior decision makers of Operating Department to plan freight operations on real time basis. After the initial experiment, this App shall be provided to other operating officers in the field.

Suresh Prabhu said that very soon Monthly Season Ticket (MST) can also be purchased through mobile by the passengers in Mumbai and Chennai suburban Railway network. The Railway Minister also said that even the platform ticket will soon be made available through the mobile phone.

The Minister further stated that in last few months we have also launched many other initiatives including Complaint Management System with mobile application to facilitate obtaining suggestions and complaints from passengers. Many improvements have been brought about in e-ticketing segment especially automatic refund during cancellation of trains, development of Hindi e-ticketing portal and integration of customer services on single portal. SMS Alert System to inform passengers about arrival and departure of trains, all India helpline and Mobile App for woman security have also been launched recently in Mumbai & Kolkata.

Suresh Prabhu said that it is also a matter of pride for us that all these applications are being developed by our own IT organization CRIS in consultation with nodal Directorates of Railway Board. This domain expertise and in-house specialization is unparalleled and these innovations are widely acclaimed to be the best in market.

The Railway Minister also announced that a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed shortly between Railways Department of CRIS and ISRO for using Geospatial Technology and satellite technology for various operations of Railways.

BRIEFS ABOUT VARIOUS IT INITIATIVES:

CASH/SMART CARD OPERATED TICKET VENDING MACHINE (CCOTVM)

Cash/Smart Card operated Ticket Vending machine (CCoTVM) is an unmanned self-operated kiosk which can be used by passengers themselves to buy unreserved tickets through Currency/Coins as well as smart cards. These kiosks have easy graphical interface for ticket transaction so that the user can operate these machines. The kiosk accepts currency/coin of all denominations of Rs 5 and above. The machine does not accept soiled/cut/ glued/taped/colored notes and accepts currency notes of Gandhi series. CCoTVMs will reduce queue length at existing ticket counters by providing an alternate unmanned ticketing solution and mode of payment. CCoTVMs have the following functionalities:-

1) Issue of non-concessional second class journey tickets for non-suburban section and second/first class journey/return tickets for suburban section.

2) Issue of Platform Tickets

3) Renewal of non-concessional season tickets.

4) Recharge of smart cards in denominations of Rs. 20/-, Rs. 50/-, Rs. 100/- and Rs. 500/-.

CCoTVM consists of:

1) Thin Client

2) Thermal Printer

3) Touch screen

4) RFID reader

5) Cash Validator with 15 notes escrow

6) Coin Validator with 10 coins escrow

7) The cash box has the capacity to hold 25,000 notes and 3,000 coins.

The basic difference between Automatic Ticket Vending Machine installed upto now and newly introduced CCoTVM is that ATVM can issue tickets through smart cards while CCoTVM can issue tickets using Cash (notes & coins) and smart cards. It can also be used for recharging these smart cards.

Security of CCoTVM:

The machine has two access doors, both at the front side of the machine and is equipped with mechanical & electronic locks. One door is used for maintenance activity by the service engineer. The second door is for accessing the cash box and is integrated with an alarm system. The alarm will go off whenever the door is opened by any unauthorized person. The machine has a cash box with electro mechanical lock at the bottom. Whenever the authorized supervisor wants to open the cash box to takeout shift cash, he/she will gain access to the machine by using a supervisory smart card. On keeping this smart card on the reader slot and pressing the Indian Railway logo on top right side of the screen, the supervisor’s menu will appear on the screen. After entering the password, machine will print the Daily Trains Cash -cum-Summary Book (DTC) for accountal of the collected cash.

PAPERLESS UNRESERVED TICKETING MOBILE APPLICATION

To move forward in line with Digital India, Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has developed a paperless Unreserved Ticketing feature in Mobile Application “utsonmobile” both for Android and Windows platforms. This will eliminate the need for printing of Unreserved Tickets on ATVMs at the stations. User can download ‘App’ from Google Play Store or Window Store.

The application was rolled out as a pilot project between Chennai Egmore & Tambaram suburban Section of Southern Railway on 22.04.2015 and Churchgate-Dahanu Road suburban section of Western Railway on 08.07.2015. The application has now been implemented on complete suburban area of Chennai & Mumbai Western Railway suburban section which covers 125 stations over 295 kms distance. Presently, about 1600 tickets are being booked daily by the passengers through this application.

The application is now being implemented on the New Delhi-Palwal section of Northern Railway covering 11 stations over 57 kms distance. For paperless ticketing, GPS co-ordinates of railway tracks on the New Delhi-Palwal section, plus 20 meters on either side of the tracks have been earmarked as Geo-Fencing area within which no ticket booking is allowed in order to ensure that passengers have ticket before commencing the journey.

The application provides necessary on-screen alerts to guide the passenger during the booking process. Payment for the ticket is done through the “Railway Wallet” feature in the “App”. After booking the ticket, the passenger will get the ticket confirmation screen which contains limited information of the ticket. The paperless journey ticket will be stored in the local mobile application database in the encrypted form which cannot be tampered with. Ticket booked in paperless mode cannot be cancelled in order to prevent claiming of refund after travel.

The ticket has distinct colour scheme everyday and it is embedded with Quick Response (QR) code. It cannot be forwarded to another mobile or edited or printed. The old invalid tickets will be removed from the mobile device through a sync feature in the ‘App’.

For the purpose of ticket checking, the application has various features such as colour scheme, show ticket features, secret code of the day, booking time of the ticket and scrolling of legend “IR UNRESERVED TICKETING”. In case of mobile in disconnected mode, it will be checked through QR Code.

PARICHAALAN, REAL TIME DECISION MAKING IN FREIGHT OPERATIONS

Freight operations on Indian Railways are monitored through various reports generated by FOIS. These MIS reports represent various facets of freight operations like rolling stock holding of wagons and locomotives, interchange of freight trains with neighbouring divisions/zones, loading details, current train running and terminal performance. These reports are tabular in design and are mostly static in nature.

‘Parichaalan’ is a mobile application conceptualized and developed by CRIS to make decision making on freight operations absolutely easy and user friendly. The application is a powerful tool as it not only represents data in a pictorial and graphical manner that is easily comprehensible but also makes the information dynamic and current in nature. Instead of focusing on post-mortems, Parichaalan moves operations management systems to a higher level of real time decision making.

‘Parichaalan’ overcomes all this by:

• Providing mapped movement of freight trains- the first time ever on IR.

• Providing powerful search tools-removing the need to sift through voluminous tabular data.

• Providing effective Decision Support System-focusing on the right parameters

• Use of powerful graphical interfaces-for easy comprehension of vital parameters of operations.

• Providing an effective planning tool-predictive in nature for planning of movement and loading.

• Providing a paperless tool- environment friendly leading to savings of a 1000 trees per annum.

• Allowing for mobility of officials- Live updates and decision sharing through the App.

• Allowing adequate time for officials- less stressful working environment.

• Allowing for instant information retrieval across multiple pages through hyperlinks.

• Cost saving in procurement of paper, printing and distribution

This App has the potential to earn carbon credits for IR and also can become a revenue generating tool by providing similar logistics solutions for IR customers like CIL, NTPC, SAIL, TISCO, FCI, Oil Co’s, Ports, etc

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Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Track Monitor 07:31

Indian Railways developed integrated System for maintaining land data and area usages

Indian Railways developed integrated System for maintaining land data and area usages

Creation of Land Bank in Indian Railways

A web based application called Land Management Module integrated with Track Management System (TMS) of Indian Railways has been developed for maintaining data i.e. details of acquisition/area/usages and land plans of Land Bank of Indian Railways.

A work costing Rs. 36.24 crore has been sanctioned for mapping of all fixed Railway assets on Geographical Information System (GIS) of Bhuvan Satellite Imagery of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) integrated with Track Management System (TMS) of Indian Railways. This system would provide the status of Railway land whether encroached or not and thus would be helpful in tackling the menace of encroachment.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Source: PIBNEWS.

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Wednesday, 24 June 2015

Satellite-Based Augmentation System 15:31

Ahmedabad will be one of the first airports in the country to get the Ground-Based Augmentation system (GBAS).

Ahmedabad will be one of the first airports in the country to get the Ground-Based Augmentation system (GBAS).

Isro's Gagan to help planes navigate skyscrapers

AHMEDABAD: Today the prior approval of Air ports Authority of India (AAI) is required for construction of any building more than seven storeys high within 20km of the airport. This restriction will soon be relaxed. Ahmedabad will be one of the first airports in the country to get the Ground-Based Augmentation system (GBAS).

This system helps aircraft take a 'curved approach' before landing and even take-off. The 'curved approach' helps aircraft avoid, with high accuracy, tall buildings in nearby areas. GBAS is currently being tested at Chennai by Honeywell and is likely to get DGCA clearance soon.

Once this system is installed, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) may give speedy clearances for almost 114 tall buildings scheduled to come up in GIFT city, the Central Business District (CBD) on Ashram road and Sabarmati riverfront.

A K Sharma, director of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Interna tional airport said currently the city airport has an Instrument Landing System (ILS) which pro vides straight signals to aircraft for landing and take-off. "Once the GBAS is installed, aircraft will be able to take a curved approach for landing and takeoff. The curved approach will help them avoid tall buildings in the area," he said.

'The Geo-Augmented Navigation System' (Gagan)-it uses geo-synchronous satellites to guide aircraft -is at the heart of the -is at the heart of the GBAS. (Gagan is aided by Isro's latest GPS).There are 18 reference stations in the country for Gagan situated at various airports including Ahmedabad. These stations pick up signals from the GPS satellites orbiting in space.

Measurements are immediately passed on to mission control centres which then work out the necessary position corrections. Messages with those corrections are sent via the uplink stations to Isro satellites with Gagan payload. The corrected signals are then beamed back to the Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) fitted in aircraft to ensure perfect landings. The accuracy of the system is almost 1.5 meters.

"Every 15 days, we send corrected data between surveyed coordinates and online coordinates received through Gagan satellite to the Indian Mission Control Centre (INMCC) in Bangalore. Airlines can use the corrected coordinates as per their needs," said A K Sharma, director of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.

The benefits of Gagan include improved efficiency, direct routes increased fuel savings, approach with vertical guidance at runways, significant cost savings due to withdrawal of ground aids and reduced workload of flight crew and Air Traffic Controllers.

Source :TOI.

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Thursday, 18 June 2015

WAAS 08:45

ISRO has said it will provide navigational support to the country’s Railways through ‘GAGAN’ (GPS-aided Geo-Augmented Navigation) system

ISRO has said it will provide navigational support to the country’s Railways through ‘GAGAN’ (GPS-aided Geo-Augmented Navigation) system

Bangalore (SBC): ISRO has said it will provide navigational support to the country’s Railways through ‘GAGAN’ (GPS-aided geo-augmented navigation) system.

“ISRO will provide satellite-generated information to the railways through space technology-based tools that will provide safety at unmanned level crossings,” ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar told reporters here yesterday in reply to a question on how will ISRO help the Railways in using the navigational support system.

“There are host of requirements for using GAGAN in railways. We are providing some solutions,” Kumar said.

GAGAN is an indigenous navigational guide system developed by ISRO on the lines of GPS system of the US. US based Raytheon is the System Integrator for GAGAN Project of ISRO. Airport Authority of India had already implemented GAGAN in India with the help of ISRO earlier in the year 2011.

Elaborating on it, Kumar said that at some places the railway tracks are under stress. If water accumulation happens, then based on digital elevation model data, other host of information which they generate, can be given.

“There is specific information provided for aligning the railway tracks, particularly in mountainous regions, and also identifying tracks which are most stable when you are going through tunnels. In all these things, space technology is useful,” he said.

“We are trying to provide space technology-based tools for enabling them to deal with unmanned level crossings,” he said.

GAGAN was jointly developed by the ISRO and Airports Authority of India (AAI) with a view to assist aircraft in accurate landing.

The GAGAN signal is being broadcast through two Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites – GSAT8 and GSAT10.

With the use of GAGAN software system, a train would know the location of any unmanned level crossing and soon a a warning signal can be given.

As soon as the warning signal will be given, the train’s hooter will automatically start when it comes near an unmanned crossing.

About ISRO’s GAGAN project:

The GPS aided geo augmented navigation or GPS and geo-augmented navigation system (GAGAN) is an implementation of a regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) by the Indian government. It is a system to improve the accuracy of a GNSS receiver by providing reference signals. The AAI’s efforts towards implementation of operational SBAS can be viewed as the first step towards introduction of modern communication, navigation, surveillance/Air Traffic Management system over Indian airspace.

The project has established 15 Indian Reference Stations, 3 Indian Navigation Land Uplink Stations, 3 Indian Mission Control Centers, and installation of all associated software and communication links.It will be able to help pilots to navigate in the Indian airspace by an accuracy of 3 m. This will be helpful for landing aircraft in tough weather and terrain like Mangalore and Leh airports.

The ₹7.74 billion (US$123 million) project is being implemented in three phases through 2008 by the Airport Authority of India with the help of the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) technology and space support.The goal is to provide navigation system for all phases of flight over the Indian airspace and in the adjoining area. It is applicable to safety-to-life operations, and meets the performance requirements of international civil aviation regulatory bodies.

The space component will become available after the GAGAN payload on the GSAT-8 communication satellite, which was launched recently, is switched on. This payload was also on the GSAT-4 satellite that was lost when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) failed during launch in April 2010. Final System Acceptance Test will be conducted during June 2012 followed by system certification during July 2013.

To begin implementing a satellite-based augmentation system over the Indian airspace, Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) codes for L1 frequency and L5 frequency were obtained from the United States Air Force and U.S Department of Defense on November 2001 and March 2005. The system will use eight reference stations located in Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore, Jammu and Port Blair, and a master control center at Bangalore. US defense contractor Raytheon has stated they will bid to build the system.

A national plan for satellite navigation including implementation of Technology Demonstration System (TDS) over the Indian air space as a proof of concept had been prepared jointly by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and ISRO. TDS was successfully completed during 2007 by installing eight Indian Reference Stations (INRESs) at eight Indian airports and linked to the Master Control Center (MCC) located near Bangalore. Preliminary System Acceptance Testing has been successfully completed in December 2010. The ground segment for GAGAN, which has been put up by the Raytheon, has 15 reference stations scattered across the country. Two mission control centres, along with associated uplink stations, have been set up at Kundalahalli in Bangalore. One more control centre and uplink station are to come up at Delhi. As a part of the programme, a network of 18 total electron content (TEC) monitoring stations were installed at various locations in India to study and analyse the behaviour of the ionosphere over the Indian region.

GAGAN’s TDS signal in space provides a three-metre accuracy as against the requirement of 7.6 metres. Flight inspection of GAGAN signal is being carried out at Kozhikode, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Bangalore airports and the results have been satisfactory so far.

GAGAN after its final operational phase completion, will be compatible with other SBAS systems such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS) and will provide seamless air navigation service across regional boundaries. While the ground segment consists of eight reference stations and a master control centre, which will have sub systems such as data communication network, SBAS correction and verification system, operations and maintenance system, performance monitoring display and payload simulator, Indian land uplinking stations will have dish antenna assembly. The space segment will consist of one geo-navigation transponder.

A flight-management system based on GAGAN will then be poised to save operators time and money by managing climb, descent and engine performance profiles. The FMS will improve the efficiency and flexibility by increasing the use of operator-preferred trajectories. It will improve airport and airspace access in all weather conditions, and the ability to meet the environmental and obstacle clearance constraints. It will also enhance reliability and reduce delays by defining more precise terminal area procedures that feature parallel routes and environmentally optimised airspace corridors.

GAGAN will increase safety by using a three-diemensional approach operation with course guidance to the runway, which will reduce the risk of controlled flight into terrain i.e., an accident whereby an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, inadvertently flies into terrain, an obstacle, or water.

GAGAN will also offer high position accuracies over a wide geographical area like the Indian airspace. These positions accuracies will be simultaneously available to 80 civilian and more than 200 non-civilian airports and airfields and will facilitate an increase in the number of airports to 500 as planned. These position accuracies can be further enhanced with ground based augmentation system.

The first GAGAN transmitter was integrated into the GSAT-4 geostationary satellite, and had a goal of being operational in 2008. Following a series of delays, GSAT-4 was launched on 15 April 2010, however it failed to reach orbit after the third stage of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.II that was carrying it malfunctioned.

In 2009, Raytheon had won an 82 million dollar contract. It was mainly dedicated to modernize Indian air navigation system. The vice president of Command & Control Systems, Raytheon Network Centric Systems, Andy Zogg commented:

“GAGAN will be the world’s most advanced air navigation system and further reinforces India’s leadership in the forefront of air navigation. GAGAN will greatly improve safety, reduce congestion and enhance communications to meet India’s growing air traffic management needs”

In 2012, the Defence Research and Development Organisation received a “miniaturised version” of the device with all the features from global positioning systems(GPS) and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). The module weighing just 17 gm, can be used in multiple platforms ranging from aircraft (e.g. winged or rotor-craft) to small boats, ships. Reportedly, it can also assist “survey applications”. It is a cost-efficient device and can be of “tremendous” civilian use. The navigation output is composed of GPS, GLONASS and GPS+GLONASS position, speed and time data. According to a statement released by the DRDO, G3oM is a state-of-the-art technology receiver, integrating Indian GAGAN as well as both global positioning system and GLONASS systems.

According to G. Satheesh Reddy, Associate Director of the Hyderabad based Research Centre Imarat (RCI) the product is bringing about a quantum leap in the area of GNSS technology and has paved the way for highly miniaturised GNSS systems for the future.”

On 30 December 2013, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India provisionally certified the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system to RNP0.1 (Required Navigation Performance, 0.1 Nautical Mile) service level. The certification enabled aircraft fitted with SBAS equipment to use GAGAN signal in space for navigation purposes.

Satellites

GSAT-8 is an Indian geostationary satellites, which was successfully launched using Ariane 5 on 21 May 2011 and is positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 55 degrees E longitude.

GSAT-10 is envisaged to augment the growing need of Ku and C-band transponders and carries 12 Ku Band, 12 C Band and 12 Extended C Band transponders and a GAGAN payload. The spacecraft employs the standard I-3K structure with power handling capability of around 6 kW with a lift off mass of 3400 kg. GSAT-10 was successfully launched by Ariane 5 on 29 September 2012.

GSAT-15 will carry 24 Ku band transponders with India coverage beam and a GAGAN payload. The satellite is planned to be launched during 2014-15 by Ariane 5. The platform system is based on I-3K satellite.

Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System

The Indian government has stated that it intends to use the experience of creating the GAGAN system to enable the creation of an autonomous regional navigation system called the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).

IRNSS-1 Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS)-1, the first of the seven satellites of the IRNSS constellation, carries a Navigation payload and a C-band ranging transponder. The spacecraft employs an optimized I-1K structure with a power handling capability of around 1660W and a lift off mass of 1425 kg, and is designed for a nominal mission life of 10 years. The first satellite of IRNSS constellation was launched onboard PSLV (C22) on 1 July 2013 while the full constellation is planned to be realized during 2014 time frame.

Applications

Karnataka Forest Department has used GAGAN to build a new, accurate and publicly available satellite based database of its forestlands. This is a followup to the Supreme Court directive to States to update and put up their respective forest maps. The geospatial database of forestlands pilot has used data from the Cartosat-2 satellite. The maps are meant to rid authorities of ambiguities related to forest boundaries and give clarity to forest administrators, revenue officials as also the public, according to R.K. Srivastava, Chief Conservator of Forests (Headquarters).

AppiyaViswa 0

Friday, 29 May 2015

Shatabdi trains 11:18

Indian Railways to launch Paperless Ticketing system on Rajdhani, Shatabdi trains in collaboration with ISRO

Railways, ISRO to join hands in this initiative on a large scale basis. This system is available through a mobile application developed by the CRIS (Centre for Railway Information Systems). The reason for choosing Rajdhani, Shatabdi trains first for paperless ticketing system is that near 99.9% passengers of premier trains are likely to have mobile phones, says the Railways – hence an initiative; says Railway Board

New Delhi: Stepping up efforts to reduce usage of paper, Railways have decided to introduce paperless mobile ticketing system in premium trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi services. In its effort to become paperless, the Indian Railways is in talks with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to have a GPS linked mobile ticketing system.

“Currently, the paperless ticketing system is operational in unreserved ticketing for commuters in Egmore and Tambram suburban section in Chennai on a pilot basis. Our aim is to extend the paperless ticketing system in both reserved and unreserved segment in phases. While the system is at present operational in a suburban section in Chennai, we will cover all suburban services soon and then it will be extended to reserved segment also,” said Member (Traffic)/Railway Board Mr.Ajay Shukla in New Delhi on Thursday. The Railways are going to introduce a mobile app that will indicate the locations at which a passenger starts his journey and completes it. The new IT Application will allow passengers to book and receive ticket on mobile phones.

He said passengers of the premier trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi will be the first to have this paperless mobile ticketing facility. This system is available through a mobile application developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) – an Indian Railways’ software wing. “The GPS linked system require mapping of the area and ISRO is doing that. We are in advanced stages of discussions with ISRO to develop such Mobile App,” Member (Traffc), Railway Board Ajay Shukla. Though mapping is available on Google, the Railways is opting for ISRO for the security reasons, said a railway official.

The reason for choosing Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains first for paperless ticketing system is that all most 99.9% of passengers of premier trains are likely to have mobile phones, he said. Shukla said, however, before introducing the system in the reserved ticketing segment, refund rules will be rationalised so that passenger will not have any problem in getting their money back if a ticket is being cancelled.

Railways consume about 600 tonnes paper for printing tickets and reservation charts in a year. The national transporter expect to earn carbon credit, if printing of tickets is eliminated completely.

Railways is also planning to launch multi-lingual portals for reservation of tickets. “Currently, it is in English and Hindi and we want the portals to be in all regional languages,” he said. In order to accommodate more passengers, Shukla said the number of coaches of certain popular trains will be increased to 24.

AppiyaViswa 0

Sunday, 1 March 2015

Unmanned level crossing 19:18