RU2381125C1 - Railway traffic control system - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: railway transport.

SUBSTANCE: proposed system comprises light signals each made up of LED sets. Note that every light signal incorporates microprocessor-based light signal control unit. LED sets are connected to power supply via switching unit. LED set control inputs are connected to microprocessor unit outputs. Microprocessor first port is connected, via coupling unit, with switching unit. Every locomotive comprises onboard computer with its memory containing data on railway terminal and station limits electronic card. Onboard computer is connected with display, locomotive power plant, locomotive automatic signaling system with self-locking device, train radio communication system and onboard satellite navigation system receiver. Every locomotive and signal light comprises transceiver units with their inputs connected with onboard computer and microprocessor second port. Microprocessor third port is connected to extra set of IR-range LED set. Every locomotive is furnished with IR-range photo receiver with its output connected with onboard computer.

EFFECT: higher data validity.

2 dwg

Description

The invention relates to the field of railway automation and telemechanics and can be used in automatic control systems for the movement of trains on stages and stations.

A known system of automatic control of train traffic on stages and stations (A. Leonov "Maintenance of automatic locomotive signaling". M.: Transport, 1982, p. 256).

A disadvantage of the known system is that when driving along non-encoded paths, the driver’s cab does not receive information about the correspondence of the route along which the train should follow the traffic lights to the indications of which the driver is guided. In case of poor visibility of traffic lights and route signs, as well as due to fatigue, errors occur in which the drivers are guided by traffic lights and route signs of other routes and begin or continue to move the train along the wrong route, or at the wrong speed. This leads to emergency braking of the train and other dangerous situations.

A known system for automatic control of train traffic, in which the coding of tracks is used both on all train and on all shunting routes, due to the equipment of track and locomotive devices with additional equipment based on rail communication lines (RU 2277051 C1 B61L 15/20 from 10.01.06 )

A disadvantage of the known system is the complexity of the equipment, which increases the cost of the system and complicates the forced equipment of railway transport with this equipment.

As a prototype, a rolling stock collision avoidance system was adopted, comprising N navigation satellites, a control and correction station consisting of a series-connected receiving antenna, a satellite signal receiver and a computing unit, the first output of which is connected to a correction signal transmitter connected to a transmitting antenna, K mobile objects, each of which has a first receiving antenna connected to the first input of the on-board receiver of satellite signals, and watts A receiving antenna connected to a correction signal receiver, the output of which is connected to the second input of the on-board satellite signal receiver, the control and correction station is equipped with a server, in the memory of which information about the movement of trains and the electronic map of the railway station with control points indicating the boundaries of the protective zones is recorded , and a radio modem with an antenna, while the first and second server inputs are connected respectively to the second output of the computing unit and the output of the radio modem, at each an onboard computer has been installed in a movable object, the memory of which contains information about the electronic map of the railway station with control points indicating the boundaries of the protective zones, an actuator and a display connected to the outputs of the onboard computer, the onboard radio modem with an antenna, traction current meter, directional sensor, sensor automatic couplings, brake cylinder pressure sensor, brake line pressure sensor, path and speed sensor, locomotive end crane sensor, keyboard, with on-board outputs a radio modem, an on-board satellite signal receiver, a traction current meter, a direction sensor, an automatic coupler sensor, a brake cylinder pressure sensor, a brake line pressure sensor, a path and speed sensor, a locomotive end crane sensor and a keyboard are connected respectively to the first, second, third, the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth inputs of the on-board computer (RU 2288856, B61L 23/34, 04/20/06).

This system is linked to existing standard track devices for signaling, centralization and blocking through a continuous ALS system, therefore it has the same drawback, i.e. when driving along uncoded paths, drivers can also mistakenly be guided by traffic lights and route signs of other routes.

Recently, traffic lights have been intensively converted with signal lights based on power semiconductor light-emitting diodes, which have an order of magnitude longer service life than conventional traffic lights. In particular, a traffic light is known in which signal lights are formed by groups of power LEDs with the same ranges of the lengths of the emitted electromagnetic waves of visible light for each group, and comprising a microprocessor control unit for traffic lights. Groups of power LEDs are connected by their control inputs to the outputs of the microprocessor control unit for signal lights, and are connected to the power supply unit through a switching unit formed by the contacts of the signal relays of the traffic light control circuit. The first port of the microprocessor control unit for signal lights through the first interface unit is connected to the switching unit (CN 2863585 Y B61L 5/18, 01/31/07).

The problem to which this invention is directed is to increase traffic safety when a train moves along uncoded paths or failures in ALSN devices.

The technical result of the proposed technical solution is to increase the reliability of the information when the train moves along uncoded paths or when the ALSN devices fail.

The technical result is achieved in that in a train control system containing traffic lights on the way, each of which has signal lights formed by groups of power LEDs with the same length ranges of the emitted electromagnetic waves of visible light for each group, and a microprocessor control unit for signal lights, power LEDs are connected to the power supply through the switching unit, formed by the contacts of the signal relays of the traffic light control circuit, and the control inputs of the group with The left LEDs are connected to the outputs of the microprocessor control unit for signal lights, the first port of which is connected to the switching unit through the interface unit, on each of the locomotives involved in the control system there is an on-board computer, in the memory of which information is stored on the electronic map of railway stations and stages which the given locomotive is accessing, while the on-board computer is connected to the display, the locomotive power unit, the automatic locomotive signaling device with a hitch, from the side According to the invention, on each of the locomotives and traffic lights, transceiver units of a low-power radio communication channel are connected on each of the locomotives and traffic lights, connected by their inputs to the onboard computer and to the second port of the microprocessor control unit for signal lights, the third port of which is connected to an additional group of power LEDs in the infrared range of the lengths of the emitted electromagnetic waves, and on each of the locomotives A photodetector of an infrared range of electromagnetic wavelengths is connected, with an output connected to an onboard computer.

The drawing shows a block diagram of the proposed train control system.

The train traffic control system contains traffic lights in the path, each of which has signal lights formed by groups 1 of power LEDs, with the same, for each group, length ranges of the emitted electromagnetic waves of visible light, and a microprocessor unit 2 for controlling traffic lights. The mentioned groups 1 of power LEDs are directly connected by their control inputs to the outputs of the microprocessor unit 2 for controlling traffic lights, and are connected to the unit 3 of power through a unit 4 of switching formed by the contacts of typical signal relays of the traffic light control circuit. The first port 5 of the microprocessor block 2 control the traffic lights through the block 6 interface is connected to the block 4 switching. On each of the locomotives involved in the control system, an onboard computer 7 is installed, in the memory of which information is stored on the electronic map of the railway stations and the hauls on which this locomotive is accessed. The on-board computer 7 is connected to the display 8, the locomotive power unit 9, the automatic locomotive alarm device 10 with a hitchhook, with the on-board unit 11 of the train radio communication system and with the on-board receiver 12 of the satellite navigation system. The on-board unit 11 of the train radio communication system is connected to its antenna unit 13, and the on-board receiver 12 of the satellite navigation system is connected to its antenna unit 14. On each of the mentioned locomotives and traffic lights, the transceiver units 15 and 16 of the low-power radio communication channel of the general industrial frequency range (ISM band) are respectively installed. ) connected with their outputs to the corresponding low-power antennas 17 and 18, and the inputs, respectively, with the on-board computer 7 and with the second port 19 of the traffic light control microprocessor unit 2 with lights. The third port 20 of the microprocessor unit 2 control the traffic lights is connected to an additional group of 21 power LEDs of the infrared range of the length of the emitted electromagnetic waves, and on each of the mentioned locomotives there is a photodetector 22, the corresponding infrared range of the length of the electromagnetic waves, connected to the on-board computer 7 by the output.

The train traffic control system operates as follows.

When the train moves along the coded paths, the driver is guided by the indications of the locomotive traffic light of the automatic locomotive alarm device 10 with a hitch. At the same time, the on-board computer 7 generates control commands for the locomotive’s power plant 9 for working dialing and reducing the speed of the train, and the hitchhook of the device 10 provides emergency braking of the train when it exceeds the speed acceptable under safety conditions. The driver receives information about the route from the dispatcher through the on-board unit 11 of the train radio communication system, and then this information is entered into the on-board computer 7.

When driving along uncoded paths, the indications of outdoor traffic lights do not enter the driver’s cab, and the driver should perceive them by direct observation. On the display 8, the onboard computer 7 displays various technological information for the driver. In particular, this may be information about the location of the train on the map of the railway section.

At each of the traffic lights equipped with signal sets based on power semiconductor LEDs, the microprocessor unit 2 controls the traffic lights. The control is based on the information arriving at the first port 5 through the interface unit 6 from the switching unit 4, which transmits information about the state of the signal relays of the traffic light control circuit.

The microprocessor unit 2 controls the traffic lights controls the intensity of the radiation by groups 1 of the power LEDs by pulse-width modulation of the current flowing through the LEDs. Due to the inertia inherent in the human organs of vision, the train driver perceives the average value of the intensity of the radiation flux coming from the traffic light. Pulse-width modulation of the current is used to stabilize the visibility conditions of the signal readings, in particular, depending on the time of day, as well as other influencing factors. At the same time, the modulation of the intensity of the radiation flux from an additional group of 21 power LEDs of the infrared range of the emitted electromagnetic waves, which is invisible to the driver, is used in the system to transmit additional information to the locomotive. The main technical solution uses the infrared range due to better propagation in the environment. The visible range is considered as an option for the purpose of redundancy, cheapening, etc. In this case, the photodetector 22 of the infrared optical range on the locomotive should be replaced (or supplemented) by the photodetector of the visible optical range.

The transmission of the infrared optical signal is also controlled by the microprocessor unit 2 for controlling traffic lights on a command that it receives from the transceiver unit 16 of a low-power radio communication channel. The transceiver 16 is connected via a low-power radio channel with the transceiver 15 of the approaching locomotive.

Industry-programmable low-power radio transceiver modules (e.g. Texas Instruments modules based on CC1010 chips) for the general industrial frequency range 330-340 MHz, 430-434 MHz (ISM band) provide stable communication at distances up to 0.5 kilometers. Such modules consume a current of 30-40 mA from a 3-volt DC source, have their own microprocessor and a serial communication interface.

A full system check is as follows.

Locomotive devices of a train traveling along a given route initiate the establishment of radio communications with a traffic light in front. For this, the onboard locomotive computer 7 determines by the current coordinate of the locomotive when the distance to the next traffic light along the specified route allows the establishment of reliable radio communication over a low-power radio channel.

To determine the current coordinate of the locomotive, the on-board computer 7 periodically receives data from the on-board receiver 12 of the satellite navigation system. The on-board computer 7 compares this data with the coordinate of the next traffic light of a given route, read from the electronic map of railway stations and lines, which is stored in its memory. An electronic map of railway stations and railway lines is created common for all locomotives circulating in a given railway section by processing the data recorded on the registrar of a model locomotive equipped with devices of satellite navigation positioning systems, for example, GPS / GLONASS. When the locomotive approaches the traffic light of the established route for a given distance, the on-board computer 7 includes a low-power channel transceiver unit 15 for establishing two-way communication with a low-power channel transceiver block 16 of the said traffic light.

Together with the electronic card, the memory of the on-board computer 7 stores the unique addresses of their transceivers 16 associated with the coordinates of traffic lights. The communication protocol for a low-power channel ensures communication only if the radio channel is free and the address of the received or transmitted packet matches the address of the transceiver. This ensures an unambiguous identification of the fact that the response signal received from a traffic light on a locomotive, both through a low-power radio channel and simultaneously through an optical channel, belongs to the next traffic light of the correct locomotive route.

The reliability of this is ensured by the following conditions:

- only one block 16 of the transceiver of a low-power radio channel, belonging to the next traffic light of the correct route, receives a locomotive request because the request packet contains a unique address for this transceiver;

- the request packet delivers to the traffic light transceiver unit 16 a unique address of the airborne transceiver unit 15 and verification information for the response transmission via the optical communication channel;

- block 15 of the transceiver of a low-power traffic light channel in the response packet sends information about the coordinate and name of the traffic light, as well as the current signal reading. Since the packet contains the unique address of the transceiver unit 16 of the low-power radio channel of a particular locomotive, only this locomotive records the arrival of this information. Only one traffic light corresponding to the aforementioned transceiver 16 of a low-power radio channel sends with it a simultaneously modulated information optical signal with the specified verification information;

- when this traffic light is in direct visibility of the photodetector 22 of the approaching locomotive, and the optical code signal exceeds the threshold sensitivity of the photodetector 22, the information of the optical channel is fixed on the locomotive;

- the information is communicated to the driver after checking the conformity of the information received on the low-power radio channel and the verification information received on the optical channel;

- information about the strength of the optical infrared signal received from the traffic light is periodically updated and displayed on the display 8 of the onboard computer 7, so that when the distance to the correct traffic light is reduced, the driver sees on the display that the optical communication is gradually amplifying. This additionally helps in a situation where, within the line of sight, along with the correct traffic light, which is connected via the optical channel, extraneous traffic lights are visible with the same signal readings and at a similar distance. In the immediate vicinity of the right traffic light there is a region of sharp loss of optical communication, which should be ignored by using the appropriate algorithm in the on-board computer program 7;

- when the train moves on the wrong signal, the optical connection with the correct traffic light will gradually decrease.

A low-power radio channel has a transmission speed of 5 kilobytes per second, and the transition time from the standby state to reception or transmission is 2 milliseconds. This allows you to establish a connection in less than 0.1 seconds and transfer the package with all the basic and service information. During this time, only simple verification information of a much smaller volume and at a lower speed is transmitted through the optical channel due to the need to manipulate powerful switching electronic elements.

In accordance with the information received via the low-power radio channel and the verification information received via the optical channel, the on-board computer 7 displays the received information on the display 8 and generates a confirmation sound signal that the locomotive follows the correct route and to the correct traffic light.

The more powerful the optical signal and the better the conditions for its propagation, the earlier the driver can receive confirmation. If, for a given distance to the traffic light, confirmation is not received, the on-board computer 7 generates an audible alarm signal that the locomotive is following the wrong route.

Compared with known devices, the driver receives information about following the wrong route in advance. Therefore, the application of the invention allows to reduce the likelihood of errors in which drivers are guided by traffic lights and route signs of other routes and begin or continue to move the train along the wrong route, or at the wrong speed. Thus, the invention allows to increase safety when trains are moving along unencrypted tracks or in case of failures in ALSN devices.

Claims (1)

A train control system containing traffic lights in the path, each of which has signal lights formed by groups of power LEDs with the same length ranges of the emitted electromagnetic waves of visible light for each group, and a microprocessor control unit for signal lights, the groups of power LEDs being connected to the power supply via a switching unit formed by the contacts of the signal relays of the traffic light control circuit, and the control inputs of the power LED group are connected to the mic outputs the signaling lights control processor unit, the first port of which is connected to the switching unit via the interface unit, on-board computers are installed on each of the locomotives involved in the control system, in the memory of which information is stored on the electronic map of railway stations and stages that this locomotive is accessing, wherein the onboard computer is connected to the display, the locomotive power unit, the automatic locomotive signaling device with a hitch, with the onboard unit of the train radio communication system and with a satellite navigation system receiver, characterized in that on each of the locomotives and traffic lights there are transceiver units of a low-power radio channel connected to their inputs, respectively, with an on-board computer and with the second port of the microprocessor control unit for signal lights, the third port of which is connected to an additional group of power LEDs of the infrared range of the lengths of the emitted electromagnetic waves, moreover, an infrared range photodetector is installed on each locomotive lengths of electromagnetic waves, connected to an onboard computer with an output.

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