A.S.I. - Agenzia Spaziale Italiana - The road to Space goes through Italy.

The Project for a Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods, is aimed - in cooperation with corresponding Authorities - at promoting experimental satellite navigation applications and services to the transport of dangerous goods also including intermodal transport and management of transport emergencies.
A substantial part of transports across Europe involves the transportation of dangerous substances. The control of this type of transport is a top priority also in consideration of the associated risks involved by any accident occurring to people, road conditions and the environment also as a result of any international terrrorist attacks.

Satellite navigation, and the Galileo system, provide great opportunities for the development of applications aimed at improving safety standards in the transport of this type of commodities and at obtaining financial benefits deriving from streamlined transport cycles and at taking quicker measures in case of abnormal situations and accidents.
In this framework, through the Preliminary Project just terminated, the following possible applications have been analyzed:

1. Planning, Estimation, Prevention and Management of transports
2. Support of management of Emergencies.

In order to obtain an efficient control of the transport of dangerous goods, a number of prerequisites are to be met as follow:

• Control of vehicle positioning (also along tunnels)
• Real time remote monitoring of dangerous commodity critical parameters
• Automatic alarms in case of change of the route
• Continuous data link between vehicles and control stations
• Voice communication between vehicles and Service centres
• Coverage of the Service in the area concerned (local, regional...)
• Interface with Public Authorities (Emergency Planning Department, Police Forces, Firefighters, Hospitals)
• Automatic Identification of any Operators.

The experimental Project has been started in the second half of 2000 on the basis of results of preliminary projects which have sorted out the most adequate technological products in terms of prevention of accidents and of “security”. It focuses on the transportation of dangerous goods along roads and inland waters, also tackling with the intermodal connections with railways stations and ports.

The Project includes:

• Transport planning
• Monitoring
• Remote control of the vehicle conditions and their loads
• Detection of driving behaviour (in order to signal to the driver and to the traffic control station any inadequate driving behaviour due to negligence, carelessness, tiredness or incapacity) and adoption of relative corrective measures
• Control of the speed of the vehicles to be adjusted in compliance with road network structures, traffic and weather conditions and spacing between incompatible transports.

The project also includes a detailed definition of applications and technological products and the setting of operational validation agreed upon with relative institutions and users.