Keywords: railway safety, wireless communication, anti-collision devices.

In spite of many years of developing security procedures in railways, the human factor still plays a significant role in the control of the railway system as a whole [1]. In some cases, the existing safety systems are incapable of preventing accidents. Therefore, crashes and accidents on the railway still take place all over the world. Too often, lethal outcomes are caused all over the world by the collision of trains, and collisions between railway and road transport: the main reason for such collisions is the driver's inattention when passing a red signal; or when interlocking, blocking and signalling systems fail to prevent the collision [2]. The purpose of this research is to propose a solution for railway safety improvement tasks using embedded anti-collision devices and wireless technology to prevent crashes, and to reduce the human factor.

Some solutions for safety and control systems are known: such as the "train emergency braking device" [3]; the "controlling device of railway track sections" [4]; and the "trains braking way control device" [5]. The main disadvantage of these solutions is that there is no interaction between the movable objects of the railway and the road transport. Therefore, improved devices have been developed and proposed is this paper for the train anti-collision task solution.

In this paper authors present the algorithms of the interaction between the existing wired signalization and braking systems of the locomotives, and the additional embedded devices of the rolling stock. The overall structure of the existing rail transport has been analysed: a mathematical model of the railway transport system, as well as the interaction of additional elements within the existing system, has been developed; and the main target function, to achieve maximum performance of the system, has been defined. Three algorithms have been developed: an algorithm for emergency braking using satellite navigation; an algorithm for the train anti-collision embedded devices; and an algorithm for the train and road vehicle anti-collision embedded devices.

Proposed embedded devices and algorithms have been patented [6,7], and the prototype of the embedded anti-collision device had been tested on a non-busy section of the railway in real service conditions. During the test, the device gave a warning about the necessity to start braking. According to the developed algorithms, the device will turn the braking on automatically if the driver does not react to the stop signal. It was concluded that the results of all the tests were successful. Intelligent embedded devices may be used to prevent collisions and this kind of controller can be integrated with railway infrastructure.

1

Y. Hasegawa, H. Tsunashima, Y. Marumo, T. Kojima, "Detection of unusual braking behavior of train driver", In Proceedings of 21st International Symposium on Dynamics of Vehicles on Roads and Tracks (IAVSD'09), 166, 2009.

2

A. Levchenkov, M. Gorobetz, L. Ribickis, P. Balckars, "Generating of Multi-Criteria Alternatives for Decision-Making in Electric Light Rail Control", In China-USA Business review, 49-55, December 2009.

3

Patent Nr. LV13978, "Train emergency braking device", 2009.

4

Patent Nr. LV14156, "Trains sections' controlling device", 2010.

5

Patent Nr. LV14184, "Trains braking way control device", 2010.

6

Patent Nr. LV14384, "Train anti-collision device using satellite navigation", 2011.

7

Patent Nr. LV14405, PCT/EP2011/067474, "Device for safe passing of motor vehicle over level crossings using satellite navigation systems", 2011.

purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20)

go to the previous paper
go to the next paper
return to the table of contents
return to the book description
purchase this book (price £110 +P&P)