Grand Paris Express - Worker Safety & Location Services
Context & challenges
As part of the Grand Paris Express program, teams operate across four new metro lines under construction. These large-scale transport infrastructures include complex and safety-critical environments, such as underground stations, tunnels and restricted technical areas, where traditional positioning technologies are unavailable.
In these constrained environments, the main challenges are to ensure reliable worker localization, reinforce worker safety, and support effective alert management. Limited visibility, confined spaces and the presence of isolated workers require a solution capable of delivering continuous, accurate location data and rapid response capabilities.
Project scope
The project covers underground transport infrastructures and includes:
Four new metro lines under construction
Field teams equipped with professional mobile devices
Coverage of stations, tunnels and technical areas
Operations in underground and restricted environments requiring high reliability and resilience
This scope ensures consistent visibility and safety coverage across all critical areas of the metro network.
Solution deployed
Pole Star delivers a multi-technology worker location service integrated directly into the professional mobile devices used by field teams. The solution provides continuous localization across underground environments, ensuring visibility throughout stations, tunnels and technical zones without reliance on GNSS.
By leveraging a mobile-based deployment model, the solution adapts easily to evolving construction phases and operational constraints, while maintaining reliable performance in harsh underground conditions.
Pole Star architecture & solutions
The solution relies on a robust and flexible location architecture combining :
NAO® Mobile SDK for smartphone-based worker localization
NAO® BlueSpot V4 Rugged, designed for underground and industrial environments
Multi-technology positioning, combining LTE and BLE signals
This architecture ensures reliable and scalable location services across complex metro infrastructures.
Operational benefits
The deployment delivers clear safety and operational benefits:
Improved protection of field teams working in underground and confined environments
Real-time visibility across stations, tunnels and critical technical zones
Reduced reaction time in case of incident through geolocated alerts
Enhanced coordination with emergency services
A solution adapted to large-scale and evolving transport infrastructure projects
Partners
