Abstract
Communication-based train control (CBTC) has been the prevailing technology of the urban transit signaling system. However, CBTC also faces a few issues to extend and maintain because of its complicated structure. This paper presents a novel urban transit signaling system architecture, software-defined train control (SDTC), which is based on cloud and high-speed wireless communication technology. The core functions of the proposed SDTC, including the onboard controller, are implemented in the cloud platform, with only sensors and input–output (IO) units remaining on the trackside and the train. Because of the scalable framework, the system function can be expanded according to the user’s demand, making signaling as a service possible. With warm standby server redundancy, SDTC has better reliability. Compared with the traditional CBTC architecture, the mean time between failures is improved by 39% by calculating typical project parameters by the Markov model based on some assumptions.
Highlights
Communication-based train control (CBTC) has been the prevailing train control system in urban rail transit
This paper presents a novel urban transit signaling system architecture, software-defined train control (SDTC), which is based on cloud and high-speed wireless communication technology
The conventional CBTC mainly consists of the zone controller (ZC), the computer interlock (CI), the automatic train supervision (ATS) on the track side, and the vehicle onboard controller (VOBC) on the train
Summary
Communication-based train control (CBTC) has been the prevailing train control system in urban rail transit. Wang et al introduced a new sense-based semipermanent scheduling method for resource allocation to improve the transmission delay of the T2T system, and the method evaluated the quality of service and how to defend against Sybil attacks [9,10,11] Another idea for optimizing CBTC architectures is to virtualize the trackside controllers currently placed at each equipment station and deploy them in the cloud center. The Swiss Railways’ SmartRail 4.0 project proposes that the European Train Control System (ETCS) interlocking system will be implemented in the cloud and has commissioned ESG Rail to analyze the requirements and the potential routes for the SIL4 data center [13] Both train-centric and cloud architecture trends are evolving towards simplifying the CBTC architecture and reducing the system complexity.
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