EP3778345A1 - Method for operating a vehicle and rail operation device - Google Patents

Abstract

In one embodiment, the method for operating a vehicle (1), in particular a train, is set up and comprises the steps: - providing the vehicle (1), - providing a route control center (2) for influencing the vehicle (1), - at times regular Sending status information (3) about a status of the vehicle (1) from the vehicle (1) to the route center (2), and sending a pause command (4) from the route center (2) to the vehicle (1) or vice versa, so that a communication channel (5) between the vehicle (1) and the route control center (2) is temporarily not used, the route control center (2) being set up to use the communication channel (5) to the Vehicle (1) after a predetermined waiting time (W) without a transmission of status information (3) to close.

Description

The application relates to a method for operating a vehicle. In addition, the registration concerns a railway operating device.

The pamphlet WO 2014/114485 A2 is directed to a method and a device for train control.

One problem to be solved is to specify a method with which a route that includes a communication channel can be operated efficiently. Another object to be solved is to specify a railway operating device for such a method.

These objects are achieved, inter alia, by a method and by a railway operating device with the features of the independent claims. Preferred further developments are the subject of the remaining claims.

• Bereitstellen des Fahrzeugs,
• Bereitstellen einer Streckenzentrale zur Beeinflussung des Fahrzeugs, wobei die Streckenzentrale bevorzugt eine ETCS-Streckenzentrale ist,
• zeitweise regelmäßiges Senden von Statusinformationen über einen Status des Fahrzeugs vom Fahrzeug an die Streckenzentrale, und
• Senden eines Pausekommandos von der Streckenzentrale an das Fahrzeug oder umgekehrt, sodass von einer Nutzung eines Kommunikationskanals zwischen dem Fahrzeug und der Streckenzentrale vorübergehend abgesehen wird.

In one embodiment, the method is set up for operating a vehicle, in particular a train, and comprises the steps:

• Provision of the vehicle,
• Provision of a route control center for influencing the vehicle, the route control center being preferably an ETCS route control center,
• periodically regular sending of status information about a status of the vehicle from the vehicle to the route control center, and
• Sending a pause command from the route control center to the vehicle or vice versa, so that a communication channel between the vehicle and the route control center is temporarily not used.

The route control center is set up to close the communication channel to the vehicle after a predetermined waiting time if no status information is transmitted during the waiting time and if a pause command has not been sent beforehand.

On railway lines that are operated with the European Train Control System (ETCS), communication between the train and the line control takes place in accordance with the UNISIG system specifications, in particular in accordance with UNISIG: System Requirements Specification, SUBSET-026. UNISIG stands for UNion Industry of SIGnalling, which is a working group of the railway industry association UNIFE.

According to UNISIG, a session is to be regarded as ended after a 5-minute radio interruption. A session is a coherent time range during which the vehicle can be influenced and monitored by the route control center. At the end of the session, all information known about the vehicle in the route control center is deleted, including the train data and the last known position of the train. When a session has to be ended and rebuilt, the route control center must first receive the train data again and locate the vehicle on the route. Localization can take several minutes, depending on the route topology.

For longer, scheduled stays, for example in a train station, the session must therefore be kept open so that the vehicle does not have to be relocated after the stay. To keep the session open, permanent radio communication between the vehicle and the line control center is required. As a result, capacities of a radio network, via which communication between the vehicle and the line control takes place, are occupied without any operational benefit.

In the method described here, the freely usable package 44, as specified in accordance with UNISIG, is used to between negotiate with the vehicle and the route control center that the session should be maintained for longer than 5 minutes despite the radio interruption.

For this purpose, the line control center at the vehicle can command the disconnection of the radio link by means of the packet 44, but the session should continue and the packet 42 is thus replaced in accordance with UNISIG if this has been commanded from an operator station, for example. Alternatively, before the radio connection is cleared down, the vehicle can also use a packet 44 to indicate that it would like to continue the session after the radio connection has been re-established.

As soon as the vehicle re-establishes the radio link and is certain that neither position nor train data have changed, it sends a packet 44 to the route control center to enable the session to continue. The route control center can then immediately issue a driving license (English Movement Authority or MA for short). There is no time for exchanging train data or for re-localization. If the vehicle is not sure about its position change or change of train data, the normal session setup is started instead, which leads to the deletion of the data still stored in the route control center.

With the use of the "General Purpose" package 44 specified in UNISIG as described here, an optimization of the behavior in the case of interrupted sessions and thus a reduction in the set-up times when setting up the session is achieved. The method can be used in particular when the line control center and the vehicle support the corresponding telegrams in packet 44. Existing UNISIG procedures, and thus interoperability, are not affected.

Thus, with the method described here, it is possible, for example, if a longer stop of an ETCS-guided vehicle is planned, to interrupt the radio connection during this time and use it for other purposes. This allows the capacity of the radio link to be increased, for example in nodes. As soon as the vehicle is to continue its journey, the old session can be continued directly with the issue of the driver's license, without the need for initial measures in the route control center, for example to locate or register the vehicle, which would delay the issue of the driver's license.

According to at least one embodiment, the method is used to operate many vehicles at the same time, in particular many trains that are located on one or more railway lines.

According to at least one embodiment of the method or one of its embodiments described above, the status information is regularly sent from the vehicle to the route control center as long as no pause command is sent. It is possible for the route control center to regularly send status reports to the vehicle. The status feedback and the status information can be sent alternately. A regular time interval between the sending of two successive status information items is, for example, at least 3 s and / or at most 30 s.

According to at least one embodiment of the method or one of its embodiments described above, the status information includes one or more of the following information: train number, train position, train speed, probable braking distance, acceleration.

According to at least one embodiment of the method or one of its embodiments described above, the pause command is sent from the route control center to the vehicle. It is possible that the vehicle still confirms receipt of the pause command, but otherwise then no longer uses the communication channel, for example until it receives a communication command that cancels the pause command.

According to at least one embodiment of the method or one of its embodiments described above, the pause command is sent from the vehicle to the route control center. It is possible that the line control center confirms the receipt of the pause command, but otherwise the communication channel to the vehicle until a communication command is received that cancels the pause command and / or no longer uses the communication channel for a certain period of time.

The communication command can be a driver's license, or MA for short, or contain a driver's license. The pause command can in particular be a request from the vehicle to maintain the session longer than the waiting time even without communication.

According to at least one embodiment of the method or one of its embodiments described above, the previously issued pause command results in the vehicle remaining registered in the route control center even beyond the waiting time. The waiting time after which the vehicle is deleted from the route control center without communication is, for example, 5 minutes. or block in the route control center. The waiting time is, for example, at least ten times or fifty times an average time span between the sending of two successive status information items.

According to at least one embodiment of the method or one of its embodiments described above, the communication channel is a radio connection, in particular a connection according to the Global System for Mobile Communications - Rail standard, GSM-R for short, which is a digital mobile radio system based on the GSM mobile radio standard , but has been expanded for use on the railroad. also Communication can take place using the protocols CS (Circuit Switching, also called CSD for Circuit Switched Data) or PS (Packet Switching, also called General Packet Radio Service, or GPRS for short). As an alternative or in combination, the communication channel can be based on the UMTS (3G), LTE (3.9G), LTEA (4G) and / or 5G standards.

According to at least one embodiment of the method or one of its embodiments described above, the pause command is issued by the route control center if it is foreseeable that the vehicle will still be idle for a period of at least 25% or 50% of the waiting time as planned or unscheduled. In particular, the pause command is sent in a train station and / or at a traffic junction in order to reduce the utilization of the communication channel.

According to at least one embodiment of the method or one of its embodiments described above, the pause command is sent before the vehicle enters an area without the availability of the communication channel. The area where the communication channel is not available is, for example, a dead zone that is caused by the failure of a radio station. The radio gap is preferably known to the line control center before the pause command is sent. In this case in particular, the pause command can include a command according to which the vehicle has to report again after a certain period of time and / or when it reaches a certain position.

In addition, a railway operating device for a method as described above is specified. Features of the railway operating device are therefore also disclosed for the method and vice versa.

In at least one embodiment, the railway operating device is set up to send and / or receive the break command. For this purpose, the railway operating device comprises one or more communication devices for the communication channel. The at least one communication device is, for example, a radio device. The railway operating device is preferably the vehicle or the line control center, but it can also be a line element such as a signal box, a level crossing or a line signaling system.

Figur 1

ein schematisches Diagramm eines zeitlichen Ablaufs eines hier beschriebenen Verfahrens zeigt, die

Figuren 2 und 3

schematische Darstellungen von Bahnanlagen zeigen, die mit hier beschriebenen Verfahren betrieben werden, und

Figur 4

ein schematisches Diagramm eines zeitlichen Ablaufs einer Abwandlung eines Verfahrens zeigt.

The above-mentioned properties, features and advantages of the invention and the manner in which these are achieved are explained in more detail by the following description of the exemplary embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the corresponding figures, wherein

Figure 1

shows a schematic diagram of a time sequence of a method described here;

Figures 2 and 3

show schematic representations of railway systems that are operated with the methods described here, and

Figure 4

shows a schematic diagram of a time sequence of a modification of a method.

In Figure 1 a sequence of an exemplary embodiment of a method for influencing a vehicle 1 with a route control center 2 is described schematically. Communication between the vehicle 1 and the route control center 2 by means of a communication channel 5 is illustrated as a function of the time T. The vehicle 1 is preferably a train and the route control center 2 is preferably an ETCS route control center. The communication channel 5 is preferably a radio link.

In regular operation, the vehicle 1 sends status information 3 to the route control center 2 at regular time intervals. The route control center 2 preferably also sends status feedback 31 back to the vehicle 1 regularly.

If it is foreseeable that the vehicle 1 will stand still for a longer period of time or that it will remain in a dead zone for a longer period, the route control center 2 sends a pause command 4 to the vehicle 1. Optionally, the vehicle 1 sends back a pause confirmation 42. After receiving the pause command 4 or optionally after sending the pause confirmation 42, the vehicle 1 no longer uses the communication channel 5. The pause command 4 is particularly preferably transmitted in a telegram which, according to package 44 of the UNISIG system specifications, is ETCS-compliant. This preferably also applies to all other exemplary embodiments.

This suspension of the use of the communication channel 5 either lasts for a certain period of time or until the vehicle 1 has reached a certain position or until the route control center 2 sends a communication command 41 to resume communication.

Deviating from the representation in Figure 1 the pause command 4 and the optional communication command 41 can also originate from vehicle 1 and not from route control center 2.

It is possible for the line control center 2 to monitor a period of time ΔT which, for example, elapses between two successive status information items 3 and which represents a utilization of the communication channel 5. If the time interval ΔT exceeds a limit value, the route control center 2 commands that the communication channel 5 is temporarily not used by the vehicle 1, which is located, for example, in a train station. This enables the utilization of a radio cell in which the vehicle 1 is located to be reduced.

If a predetermined waiting time W of, for example, 5 minutes is exceeded without sending the pause command 4, all data for train 1 would be deleted in the route control center 2, corresponding to the termination of a session. This can be prevented by the pause command 4 and train 1 can resume communication without potentially time-consuming re-initialization of a session. The communication is resumed, in particular, by granting a driving license with the communication command 41.

In Figure 2 it is shown that the railway operations facility operated with the method comprises a train station 7. Several of the vehicles 1, which are preferably all trains, are located on a railway line 6 in the train station 7. The vehicles 1 are connected for data purposes by means of the communication channel 5 via a radio station 80 with the line control center 2. The vehicles 1 each include a communication device 50, for example a radio system with an antenna.

If at least one of the vehicles 1 in the train station 7 is stationary for a longer period, the route control center 2 can command that this vehicle 1 does not use the communication channel 5 temporarily, at least as long as the vehicle 1 in question is stationary. This is in Figure 2 symbolized by the fact that the radio link in question is provided with an X. As a result, the radio station 80 and the line control center 2 can be relieved and, especially at peak times, a total of more trains 1 can be serviced with the same infrastructure.

In Figure 3 it is illustrated that a train 1 is traveling on the railway line 6. The railway line 6 is covered by radio cells 81 which are set up by the radio stations 80. In Figure 3 one of the radio stations 80 is defective, so that a radio hole 8 results.

The train 1 with the direction of travel, symbolized by an arrow, towards the radio hole thus soon enters the radio hole 8 known to the route control center 2. In order to prevent a malfunction in this way, the line control center 2 can inform the train 1 via the communication channel 5 that the communication channel 5 will temporarily not be available. This applies in particular if it is foreseeable that the train 1, for example a slow-moving freight train, will be in the dead zone for longer than the specified waiting time. The session relating to train 1 can then be maintained beyond the specified waiting time due to the pause command in route control center 2 and the train information can remain stored. This means that the session can be prevented from automatically ending after the specified waiting time if there is no communication between the line control center 2 and the train 1.

In Figure 4 a modification of a method is shown in which no pause command is sent. While a first communication channel 5a is being used, the train 1 no longer sends any status information 3 from a certain point in time, for example due to a known radio gap. The line control center 2 waits for the waiting time W to see whether status information 3 is still coming from train 1. If not, the communication channel 5a is closed and the session with train 1 is ended. If train 1 reports again later, the second communication channel 5b is opened and a new session is initialized.

Although the invention has been illustrated and described in detail on the basis of exemplary embodiments, the invention is not restricted to the disclosed exemplary embodiments and the specific combinations of features explained therein. Further variations of the invention can be obtained by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the claimed invention.

List of reference symbols

1

vehicle

2

Route control center

3

Status information

31

Status feedback

4th

Pause command

41

Communication command

42

Pause confirmation

5, 5a, 5b

Communication channel

50

Communication facility

6

Railway line

7th

railway station

8th

Dead zone

80

Radio station

81

Radio cell

ΔT

Period of time

T

time

W.

waiting period

Claims (9)

Method for operating a vehicle (1) with the steps: - Provision of the vehicle (1), - Provision of a route control center (2) for influencing the vehicle (1), - Periodically regular sending of status information (3) about a status of the vehicle (1) from the vehicle (1) to the route control center (2), and - Sending a break command (4) from the route control center (2) to the vehicle (1) or vice versa, so that the use of a communication channel (5) between the vehicle (1) and the route control center (2) is temporarily dispensed with, the route control center (2) is set up to close the communication channel (5) to the vehicle (1) after a predetermined waiting time (W) without transmitting status information (3) if no pause command (4) was previously sent. Method according to the preceding claim,
in which the route control center (2), if no pause command (4) has previously been sent, after the predetermined waiting time (W) without a transmission of status information (3) deletes the status information (3) previously received, so that the vehicle (1) from the Route control center (2) is carried out, with the previously issued pause command (4) causing the vehicle (1) to remain registered in the route control center (2) even after the waiting time (W). Method according to one of the preceding claims,
in which - the vehicle (1) is a train, - the line control center (2) is an ETCS line control center and monitors a railway line (6), - the communication channel (5) is a radio link, and - Data is exchanged via the communication channel (5) in accordance with the UNISIG system specifications. Method according to the immediately preceding claim, in which the pause command (4) is transmitted in packet 44 of the UNISIG system specifications. Method according to one of the preceding claims,
in which the pause command (4) is issued by the route control center (2) when the vehicle (1) is scheduled to stand still for a period of at least 25% of the waiting time (W). Method according to one of the preceding claims,
in which the pause command (4) is sent in a train station (7) in order to reduce the load on the communication channel (5). Method according to one of the preceding claims,
in which the pause command (4) is sent before the vehicle (1) enters an area without the availability of the communication channel (5). Method according to the immediately preceding claim,
in which the area without the availability of the communication channel (5) is a radio hole (8) caused by the failure of a radio station (80). Railway operating device (1, 2) which is set up for a method according to one of the preceding claims,
wherein the railway operating device (1, 2) comprises at least one communication device (50) for the communication channel (5).

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