RICCARDO LICCIARDELLO

MOST Spoke 4 tests towards their conclusion
(update 22/09/2025)
SAPIENZA's Railway Engineering Research Group is working within the National Centre on Sustainable Mobility (MOST) on "Innovations in on-board and wayside condition monitoring systems to support railway business". We are leading the "innovation in freight transport" work package, as well as the on-board monitoring task. 
Test activity has taken place in:

• Matera, on RFI's Track Recording Vehicle "Caronte", thanks to partner MERMEC FERROSUD, to further develop concepts proposed by SAPIENZA and the other partners (POLIMI, UNIFI, UNINA, CNR) aiming towards the improvement of Condition-Based Maintenance of trains and track by using advanced sensor technology coupled with cutting-edge model-based and Machine Learning techniques for signal analysis; in the test runs different novel optical and inertial sensor setups were tested demonstrating, in particular, the high quality/price ratio of today's Computer Vision devices and their effectiveness when coupled to cutting-edge Machine Learning techniques;

• Maddaloni - Marcianise intermodal freight yard, along Mercitalia Shunting&Terminal's private sidings, to further develop a concept proposed by SAPIENZA for the innovative use of the Weighing-In-Motion technology previously developed in-house; this research aims towards the improvement of Condition-Based Maintenance and safety of the freight wagons managed by Mercitalia Intermodal; the remote monitoring system based on rail strain is up and running, and several tests have been performed with devices such as our thermal camera and LiDARs, demonstrating their potential in rail business as a part of digital wagon inspection support systems. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Argomenti disponibili per Tesi di Laurea Magistrale.
Topics for Master's Thesis.
(update 22/09/2025)
 
Railway on-board Condition-Monitoring Systems: multi-body simulation to assess innovative methods
The objective of the work is to generate quantitative assessment data for the systems currently under experimental development in DICEA for the MOST national centre. The work consists of generating computer models of railway vehicles incorporating "virtual" Condition-Monitoring Systems, running the vehicle models over selected tracks, validating against experimental results, and comparing the performance of different innovative monitoring strategies.
 
Processing and assessment of rail freight wagon condition-monitoring data
The objective of the work is to generate assessments of the condition-monitoring data acquired with the systems cdeveloped in DICEA for the MOST national centre. The work consists of analysing the signals (e.g. wheel loads, rail temperatures, thermal fields and geometry of passing wagons), relating them to the actual operating conditions, and using them as a basis to train supervised and unsupervised learning models with the main objective of developing reliable anomaly detection techniques.

Driverless metro: concept design and technical specification
The objective of the work is to formulate the technical specifications of the rolling stock for a driverless metro system, considering all its interfaces with the other railway subsystems (signalling, track, telecommunications, stations etc.). The work will start with the analysis of high-level employer requirements (capacity, maximum speed etc.) as well as of the “proven-design” railway products capable of meeting the requirements in conjunction with the relevant standards. The product specifications will then be tailored to the specific client needs thus defining the final concept.

Rail vehicle market innovations: standardisation barriers and opportunities
The objectives of the work are: to identify, list and describe recent and upcoming innovations on the rail vehicle market (e.g., hydrogen and hybrid traction drives, solar power, active suspensions, etc.); to short-list the technologies of major interest; to critique the costs/benefits as stated by the manufacturers with a quali-quantitative analysis; to identify within the standardisation&regulatory framework (TSI Loc&Pas, EN standards) the critical aspects affecting the introduction of the short-listed technologies; to formulate proposals on the application of the standards and/or on required changes.