Reliability of in-vehicle warning system for railway level crossing - a user-oriented analysis

The paper will analyse the reliability of an in-vehicle warning system developed in Finland during years 2008-2010. The system is based on the positioning of trains using GPS, calculation of the states of level crossings on a server and in-vehicle equipment which retrieves information about the states of level crossings from the server. The in-vehicle system also detects the situations in which the equipped car approaches a level crossing. Information about the reliability of the system is very relevant for accurate estimation of the impacts of the system and for estimating potential for improvements to the system. The paper starts with a description of the system under analysis, continues by defining the concept of reliability and provides an estimate for the reliability of the system from user point of view. To achieve this objective, the paper will define the relevant concepts and describe a methodology for analysis of the reliability of the system. The main inputs to the analysis of reliability will be a short overview of existing concepts related to reliability of in-vehicle ITS systems and empirical data obtained in a field test currently running in Southern Finland.