Transportation

Enabling real-time visibility, safety and operational efficiency across transport infrastructures

Transport infrastructures operate at very large scale and under strict operational and safety constraints. Within airport terminals, across airside operational areas connecting terminals to aircraft, throughout metro networks, railway stations, and within tunnels and underground infrastructures, operators must manage high passenger volumes, mobile assets, field teams and critical safety processes across complex indoor and underground environments.

Pole Star provides real-time indoor location solutions tailored to the transport sector, enabling accurate visibility of people, assets and workflows while leveraging existing network infrastructure and meeting high reliability requirements across all these transport environments.

AIRPORTS — Indoor location for asset & workforce operations

Airport operational context

Airport terminals and airside operational areas are highly dynamic environments where thousands of assets, vehicles and staff move continuously between terminals, baggage sorting areas and aircraft. In this context, maintaining operational continuity requires precise, real-time visibility across both indoor and outdoor airport zones. This lack of visibility often results in fragmented workflows and reactive decision-making.

Key challenges addressed include:

uneven asset distribution across terminals
limited real-time oversight of airside operations
difficulty correlating indoor and outdoor activities

Baggage cart tracking and agent & baggage tractor tracking

Baggage cart tracking

Pole Star enables airports to monitor thousands of baggage carts in real time across storage areas, drop-off zones, check-in halls and passenger terminals. By combining real-time location, automatic zone-based counting and intelligent alerts, airport teams gain clear visibility on cart availability, detect shortages or surpluses and analyze usage patterns, while relying on existing network infrastructure.

Agent & bagage tractor tracking

Pole Star also supports real-time tracking of ground handling staff and electric baggage tractors operating between baggage sorting facilities and aircraft. Using smartphone-based location across indoor and outdoor areas, the solution enables better coordination of missions, management of congestion points and full traceability of operations, supported by operational monitoring and reporting tools.

→ Discover our Airport Use Cases

Trains & Metro — worker safety, wayfinding and underground location services

Metro and underground operational context

Metro networks and underground transport infrastructures operate in constrained environments where safety and location reliability are critical. Large-scale projects such as new metro lines involve stations, tunnels and technical areas, often inaccessible to traditional positioning systems. In these environments, operators must ensure reliable worker localization, continuous safety monitoring and effective alert management.

Key challenges include:

underground and confined environments
limited visibility on personnel movements
safety-critical operations

Worker safety, alert management and passenger wayfinding across metro stations, tunnels and railway stations

Worker safety across metro stations, tunnels and technical areas

Pole Star enables reliable worker location services across metro stations, tunnels and technical zones, including areas where GNSS is unavailable. Location services are delivered directly on professional mobile devices, ensuring continuity of tracking throughout underground environments. This allows operators to maintain real-time visibility of personnel across the entire metro infrastructure.

Supported environments : stations / tunnels / technical and restricted areas

Alert management and lone worker protection

Beyond location, Pole Star provides alert management capabilities designed for constrained underground environments. The solution supports immobility detection and lone worker protection, enabling rapid identification of abnormal situations.
Alerts can be managed centrally and escalated when required.

Safety capabilities include : immobility detection / lone worker protection / interfaces with emergency services

Passenger wayfinding and security in railway stations

In large railway stations, Pole Star supports both passenger orientation and security operations. Indoor location enables precise, multi-level wayfinding for travelers, while simultaneously allowing the localization of security staff within station environments.
This dual approach improves passenger experience while reinforcing operational safety.

Key functionalities include : indoor wayfinding within stations / real-time location of security personnel / support for incident management

Location infrastructure and Pole Star solutions

Pole Star’s rail and metro solutions rely on a robust indoor and underground location infrastructure designed for constrained environments. Location services are delivered through the NAO® Mobile SDK, integrated directly into professional and passenger mobile applications, ensuring consistent tracking across stations, tunnels and technical areas. Precision is reinforced through the deployment of NAO® BlueSpot V4 Rugged beacons, specifically designed for harsh and underground environments, while multi-technology positioning including LTE signal usage—ensures continuity of location where traditional technologies are limited. This modular architecture enables reliable worker location, alert management and wayfinding services across complex rail and metro infrastructures.