Project description and its impacts ​​

Railway infrastructure maintenance has traditionally relied on a preventive approach, based on scheduled inspections and predefined intervention plans. Although widely adopted, this strategy does not effectively enable the early detection and anticipation of failure mechanisms. The FUTURO project introduces a novel concept based on predictive maintenance, aimed at identifying critical conditions and potential faults prior to their occurrence through the analysis of real-time data acquired along the railway line.​

​To this end, the project foresees the development of two types of autonomous diagnostic modules, equipped with fiber optic sensors, characterized by energy autonomy, low power consumption, and high integrability, without interfering with railway operations. These modules enable continuous monitoring of structural conditions and transmit the acquired data to a Control Room. In the Control Room, advanced algorithms and artificial intelligence techniques are employed to process data, integrating historical datasets with real-time measurements. This approach supports maintenance decision-making processes by providing objective evidence and predictive insights.​

​FUTURO aims to enhance the efficiency of railway maintenance, while improving the safety and reliability of the overall railway infrastructure.​

Contributions

The FUTURO project, initiative carried out with the support of FESR Programme, Fondo Europeo di Sviluppo Regionale di Regione Lombardia, is carried out by a partnership composed of GCF, Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), Optical Sensing Technologies (OST), BLUELECTRONIC, LAMIFLEX, and SYSUP. GCF coordinates the project and contributes to the development of the IT infrastructure, as well as to the integration and on-field experimental activities.​

Project activities are structured into complementary domains, developed in a synergistic manner among the partners. In particular, POLIMI and LAMIFLEX are responsible for the development and validation of composite fiber optic-based sensors for railway infrastructure monitoring. OST and BLUELECTRONIC focus on the interrogation unit, data acquisition systems, and energy solutions. GCF and SYSUP are involved in the development of the IT infrastructure, data processing, and system security and validation aspects.​

Finally, GCF and POLIMI are responsible for the integration of the developed modules and their experimental validation in real railway environments.​

DAER​ Main Contributions​

• Development of innovative composite sensors based on fiber optic technology​
• Contribution to the development of predictive diagnostic algorithms​
• Testing and validation in both simulated and real environments

Financing body
Bando Regione Lombardia «Collabora & Innova»​

SDG's covered:
#9 – Industry, innovation and infrastructure
#17 – Partnerships for the Goals