Towards safety and efficiency by assessment of positioning approaches for Enhanced navigation in road tunnels

• Published in: Tunnelling and underground space technology 2025-01, Vol.155, p.106228, Article 106228
• Main Authors: Broz, Jiri, Tichy, Tomas, Vlkovsky, Martin, Polach, Miroslav
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: BLE; C-ITS; CCTV; Evaluation; GNSS; Lidar; Localization; Positioning; Tunnel; UWB; WiFi
• ISSN: 0886-7798
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tust.2024.106228

•Methodology for assessment considers technical feasibility and economic aspects.•Presented methodology is useful for policy makers and infrastructure directors.•The BLE based approach offers the highest utility for smart applications in tunnel.•Verification test was conducted during the tunnel closure and in real operation.•Solution enables smart applications in road tunnels towards safety and efficiency. The main objective of this article is to provide an evaluation of appropriate technologies for positioning in road tunnels. In tunnels, there are even more strict requirements for operation and safety compared to regular road infrastructure. The operation, traffic efficiency, and safety could be increased by using technological equipment, intelligent transport systems, smart traffic solutions, navigations, etc. However, these require location information to run smoothly with their proper functionality. Positioning is based mainly on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) approach and is very common because of its availability. However, in tunnels, the GNSS signals are shielded by the tunnel structure, and thus the GNSS approach is inappropriate. The article points out that the alternative way of localization could have a profound impact and could be considered by policy makers, tunnel infrastructure directors, safety regulators, etc. In the article, the evaluation of alternative positioning approaches in the GNSS denied environment is presented. The evaluation was carried out using a comprehensive analysis with multi-criterial decisions based on the combination of the Saaty and Metfessel methods. According to the stated criteria, the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) based approach received the best overall evaluation score, and is 1.62 times more appropriate compared to other on average. The selection of BLE is caused mainly by its relatively low investment and operational costs, together with low requirements on its applicability in tunnels without any intervention or modification of existing or already deployed systems. The BLE based positioning is also available for a wide range of users. Therefore, the BLE based solution is proposed and presented by practical examples of experimental measurements in the Blanka tunnel.