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Main Authors: Dieckow, Niklas, Ostaszewski, Katharina, Heinisch, Philip, Struckmann, Henriette, Ranocha, Hendrik
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.19327
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author Dieckow, Niklas
Ostaszewski, Katharina
Heinisch, Philip
Struckmann, Henriette
Ranocha, Hendrik
author_facet Dieckow, Niklas
Ostaszewski, Katharina
Heinisch, Philip
Struckmann, Henriette
Ranocha, Hendrik
contents This work presents two complementary real-time rail vehicle localization methods based on magnetic field measurements and a pre-recorded magnetic map. The first uses a particle filter reweighted via magnetic similarity, employing a heavy-tailed non-Gaussian kernel for enhanced stability. The second is a stateless sequence alignment technique that transforms real-time magnetic signals into the spatial domain and matches them to the map using a similarity measure. Experiments with operational train data show that the particle filter achieves track-selective, sub-5-meter accuracy over 21.6 km, though its performance degrades at low speeds and during cold starts. Accuracy tests were constrained by the GNSS-based reference system. In contrast, the alignment-based method excels in cold-start scenarios, localizing within 30 m in 92 % of tests (100 % using top-3 matches). A hybrid approach combines both methods$\unicode{x2014}$alignment-based initialization followed by particle filter tracking. Runtime analysis confirms real-time capability on consumer-grade hardware. The system delivers accurate, robust localization suitable for safety-critical rail applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_19327
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Real-time rail vehicle localisation using spatially resolved magnetic field measurements
Dieckow, Niklas
Ostaszewski, Katharina
Heinisch, Philip
Struckmann, Henriette
Ranocha, Hendrik
Signal Processing
Systems and Control
This work presents two complementary real-time rail vehicle localization methods based on magnetic field measurements and a pre-recorded magnetic map. The first uses a particle filter reweighted via magnetic similarity, employing a heavy-tailed non-Gaussian kernel for enhanced stability. The second is a stateless sequence alignment technique that transforms real-time magnetic signals into the spatial domain and matches them to the map using a similarity measure. Experiments with operational train data show that the particle filter achieves track-selective, sub-5-meter accuracy over 21.6 km, though its performance degrades at low speeds and during cold starts. Accuracy tests were constrained by the GNSS-based reference system. In contrast, the alignment-based method excels in cold-start scenarios, localizing within 30 m in 92 % of tests (100 % using top-3 matches). A hybrid approach combines both methods$\unicode{x2014}$alignment-based initialization followed by particle filter tracking. Runtime analysis confirms real-time capability on consumer-grade hardware. The system delivers accurate, robust localization suitable for safety-critical rail applications.
title Real-time rail vehicle localisation using spatially resolved magnetic field measurements
topic Signal Processing
Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.19327