Multi sensor mapping of rail networks

In the domain of rail vehicles a robust localization is a fundamental precondition for reasonable actions within operating systems. In addition to reliable sensor measurements an efficient and precise localization is highly dependent on accurate map information. In that context digital maps are often not available in the required quality. Key focus of this contribution is to substitute established manual map generation work flows through a fully automated mapping procedure. The mapping is realized in an off line estimation process, based on noisy position measurements from a satellite navigation system and local rail track features, that can be extracted from continuous eddy current sensor signals. Result of the mapping is a track specific topological map, enriched with geometrical information of turnout positions and track distances between them. The proposed method is validated on real data in a given railway scenario.