Spanish railway infrastructure company Adif is working with Orange and NTT Data to help passengers find their way round stations.

The proof of concept for smart navigation will be based on the 5G+ network and artificial intelligence (AI). The tool should improve the traveller’s experience, facilitating intelligent mobility in railway stations.

The network will provide information on train departure and arrival times, occupancy levels of station services, waiting times for services such as baggage control, opening and closing times of establishments, incidents, and so on. Likewise, it offers the possibility of providing functionalities for all types of users, including Adif staff, related to the management of businesses, best location of information panels, optimisation of maintenance activities and control of people in unauthorised areas.

The application lets users plan routes, measure the real-time occupancy of a station and its spaces, and generate estimates of the time to go to the platform, with enough time in advance to enjoy the leisure and entertainment offerings of the station. Thus, having information on the flow of station spaces, it is possible to avoid those with high occupancy and recalculate the route time. 

This makes it possible to guide the traveller in the station in real time, taking into account its accessibility characteristics, to access the train and the station services. Likewise, it promotes interaction with the traveller, who can add stops to their route, which will be recalculated in real time, providing new times to access the train. If the stop is not possible because the train departure time is very close, the traveller receives an alert notice.

In this phase of the project, a selected group will have these functionalities available through a mobile app, always offering the best route and travel time to their destination, be it the platform or any other point of interest at the station: lockers, self-sales machines, customer service centres, commercial premises, security elements such as fire extinguishers, defibrillators and so on.

To develop the project, NTT Data (www.nttdata.com) is using various technologies, managed by a cloud computing platform. Twelve high-resolution cameras will be been installed in the main concourse, platforms, underpass and upper walkway, capable of counting the number of people in each focused area in real time. The information they provide will be analysed by AI techniques.

For precise indoor positioning, digital twins have been developed, complemented by a processing engine powered by data obtained from a network of devices made up of more than one hundred radio frequency beacons based on Bluetooth technology that, aided by inertial mobile and geomagnetism sensors, achieve the precise location.

Orange (www.orange.es) is providing a private communications network over its 5G+ network, allowing images to be transmitted in real time to the edge server of a data receiving centre, located in an Orange network core, thus ensuring correct flow. The 5G+ network meets the need for flexible, scalable, reliable and secure connectivity for real-time uses, such as the one in this test. The low latency, guaranteed bandwidth and high-speed data transmission capacity of the 5G+ network allow the implementation of demanding services and use cases, not possible until now.

This proof of concept is part of the strategy to transform Adif’s railway stations into multimodal mobility nodes connecting with other modes of transport; sustainable using clean transportation, energy efficiency, and natural and recyclable materials; and intelligent, taking advantage of the digital revolution.

Initiatives of this type promote the transformation of stations into personal assistants capable of advising, recommending or guiding citizens, personalising their experience during their stay. In addition to providing added value to the traveller, the smart station can contribute to the exchange of information with a smart city platform, improving its integration into urban life.

Adif’s (www.adif.es) projects in this area are grouped in its Digital Transformation Plan for Stations, an action to convert each of them into an intelligent node within smart cities, connected with external services to explore managing station services more efficiently. It offers value-added services to travellers and citizens, promoting that their stations are present virtually or real in each phase of their trip.