
We are glad to announce that the introductory video for the RADIUS project has
been publicly released.

The video is a 3-minute animated cartoon that describes the high-level messages
of the project using non-technical language. It provides a very fast and
excellent introduction to the project and its objectives and is suitable for all
audiences.

It will be prominently displayed on the project website and promoted in our
social channels.

## Introductory video preview

You can see the introductory video below:

<VideoPlayer src="radius-intro" />



RADIUS has established an Advisory Board that will advise the project to ensure
its results address the real needs of the railway community. The AB is invited
to share the lesson learned within the project, to provide recommendations and
best practices, and feedback on the outcomes of the project. The AB will meet at
least once per year, preferably in person.

The following organisations have accepted to be part of the Advisory Board:

- **FGC**: Infrastructure Manager & Operator
- **UIC**: Railway Association
- **EUROCONTROL**: International Aviation Organisation
- **MBDA**: Private company
- **RFI**: R&D Department
- **University of Naples Federico II**: Academia
- **Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna**: Academia
- **DB Netz**: Infrastructure Manager
- **ADIF**: Infrastructure Manager

The first meeting of the RADIUS Advisory Board took place remotely on **July 5,
2021**. The main objectives of the meeting were to introduce the project to the
members, receive feedback from the Advisory Board on matters related to the
relevance of the project objectives and its business model, discuss safety and
security issues and potential constraints that might affect the development of
the proposed RADIUS solution.



import Testimonial from 'components/Testimonial';

On January 14, 2021 took place the Kick-Off Meeting that marks the official
start of the “Railway digitalisation using drones” or RADIUS Project, a 36-month
Innovation Action that aims to develop and test the use of Unmanned Aerial
Systems (UAS) to monitor and maintain railway signalling assets. The project has
been awarded a grant under the ‘EGNSS applications fostering digitisation’ call
(DT-SPACE-EGNSS-2-2019-2020), whose specific challenge is to promote the
adoption of EGNSS and Galileo in mass markets, ensuring that users take
advantage of the features and benefits provided by these European programmes.

The main objectives of RADIUS are to design the unmanned system that will be
used, select the categories of assets to be monitored and the maintenance
actions to be performed, integrate the RADIUS system into the current
maintenance operations, taking advantage of the processing power of the existing
Intelligent Asset Management Systems, interface with the Traffic Management
System to reduce the impact of the system in the railway operations. The project
includes a planned demonstration of the developed prototype in a railway
relevant environment, thus achieving a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6,
after completing an aviation risk assessment and a regulatory compliance
analysis.

<Testimonial
  picture="/img/posts/ValentinaGalli.jpg"
  author="Valentina Galli"
  position="RADIUS Project Coordinator"
>
  <p>
    The RADIUS Project represents a very exciting challenge, as its aim is to
    ensure the best monitoring and maintenance actions using drone-based
    inspections that are integrated with IAMS and interface with TMS to
    guarantee the safety and quality standards that are expected on the railway
    system.
  </p>
  <p>
    The melting of different know-how and the collaboration among different
    actors, such as Infrastructure Managers, Railway Technology suppliers,
    Drones, AI experts and Technology integrators will be the key of success due
    to the combination of different interests and professional backgrounds
    resulting in the capability to innovate the daily railway management
    activities and improve workers and passengers quality life.
  </p>
</Testimonial>

The project is coordinated by Hitachi Rail STS S.p.A. and includes in its
consortium companies and organisations with proven expertise in the railway and
unmanned aviation field such as Evoleo Technologies Lda, Zenabyte S.r.L., Aeorum
España, S.L., EuroUSC España, S.L., EuroUSC Italia, S.p.A. and Infrastructuras
de Portugal, S.A.

The outcome of the project will not only address the current challenges posed to
railway infrastructure companies to adequately maintain their assets but will
also pave the way for new applications of UAS in automated inspection and
maintenance operations in other fields. If you are interested in the results of
RADIUS, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube or subscribe to our
newsletter to receive updates on the development of the project.


RADIUS News

The RADIUS introductory video has been released

First meeting of the RADIUS advisory board

RADIUS Kick-off meeting