EP3225500A1 - Installation for traffic monitoring in a train network and associated radio encoder - Google Patents

Abstract

A traffic control system (42) includes an automatic train monitoring system and IXL interlocking systems (34) that control the interlocking state of a plurality of equipment at the track (20). ) to allow a movement of a first vehicle according to a first principle of the "canton to canton" type. To allow the movement of a second vehicle (46) according to a second principle of the residual distance type, the installation (42) comprises an interface system (52) comprising: a communication network (54), a radio encoder (56), and - base stations (58). The radio encoder (56) emulates an environment for controlling the movement of the second vehicle (46) according to the second principle, while said second vehicle is traveling on a railway infrastructure implementing a traffic control according to the first principle.

Description

The present invention relates to a plant for controlling the circulation of railway vehicles on a railway network.

Historically, the automatic control of the movement of trains is implemented by a control installation, called conventional in the following, allowing the movement of a train according to a principle of "canton to canton" type.

The figure 1 schematically represents such a conventional control installation 12 of train traffic on a rail network 10. This figure represents the interlocking system of routes without the speed control part. This last part is not described in this document.

The railway network 10 comprises tracks 16. The tracks 16 are divided into fixed sections, called blocks, such as the block 14.

The conventional installation 12 comprises an automatic train monitoring system, called ATS system, on the ground, centrally, a plurality of interlocking systems, so-called IXL systems, on the ground, distributed along the railway network, and equipment to the way.

A plurality of equipment at the track 20 are installed near the tracks 16.

Equipment at track 20 includes, for example, turnouts 22, lights 24, vehicle stopping devices 26, isolation devices 28 of the township power supply, and vehicle presence detectors 38 for determine the occupied or unoccupied status of that township. Other examples of equipment at the track could be given.

The equipment at the channel 20 is actuated by interlocking relays 30, able to change the state of engagement of a light 24.

Each IXL system is associated with a group of equipment at the channel 20, via at least one switching relay 30. For example, an IXL system 34 is located near the equipment at the channel 20 associated with the canton 14, and is connected to the latching relays 30 actuating these equipment to the channel 20 to control the engagement. The IXL system applies turn-on signals to relay 30.

The conventional control installation 12 includes an ATS system 32.

For the movement of the vehicle 18, the ATS system, which, on the one hand, has a general view of the rail network and is informed at every moment of the townships occupied by vehicles and which, on the other hand, knows the mission assigned to each vehicle, that is to say, the road that must follow each train, reserve the road and in particular the canton or towns that a train must follow.

The ATS system generates appropriate control signals to the IXL system associated with this road, that is to say, or these cantons. The ATS system also generates appropriate control signals to the autopilot system, not shown on the figure 1 .

The IXL system generates, according to the received latching signals, a plurality of latching signals to the relay 30.

Relay 30 generates, based on the received latching signals, actuation signals to place the different equipment to the track in a state adapted so that the vehicle considered can continue its route by borrowing this or these cantons.

At the approach of this canton, as the railway system does not have a speed control system, the driver of the vehicle relies on the signaling information provided by the equipment to the track, including traffic lights, for determine that he has the authorization of movement on this canton, the equipment of track being in a state of interlocking allowing him to continue his mission.

Such conventional control installations require a large number of track equipment, which must be deployed, certified and maintained throughout the operation of the network.

It is thus envisaged to implement an entirely different architecture based on a train control type automatic train control system based on communication, known by the acronym CBTC installation, for "Communication Based Train Control ", or CBTC installation in the following.

A CBTC installation includes an embedded part on trains and a part on the ground.

The embedded part, also known as the "Carborne Controller", is designated ATC system.

The ground part includes an ATS system, an IXL system and a ground system ATC.

In an on-board ATC system, computers are connected to an on-board radio communication unit, capable of putting a radio link with base stations, distributed along the tracks, to establish a connection with the ground ATC system.

The onboard ATC system determines, at all times, the operating parameters of the vehicle and communicates with the ATC ground system to allow the vehicle to safely perform the mission assigned to it.

The ATC system thus ensures, on the one hand, the coverage of the functional requirements of the vehicle, that is to say for example the stations to be served, and, on the other hand, the control of the vehicle at planned safety points along the track, that is, for example, to verify that the vehicle does not have a speed greater than a threshold speed associated with the safety point at the moment the vehicle crosses this security point.

The ATS system and the IXL system are generally centralized and implemented in an operational central office.

The ATC ground system includes, in particular, a zone controller ZC, an acronym for "Zone Controller" in English in charge of tracking the presence of vehicles on associated areas of the network.

In a CBTC installation, the circulation of the vehicle implements a second residual distance principle, subsequently designated by its English equivalent of "distance to go".

The "distance to go" principle consists of periodically updating an endpoint to which a vehicle can extend its movement authorization. This endpoint is determined by the ATC edge based on the information it receives from the ground, including ground ATC. From this endpoint, the onboard ATC calculates an optimized speed curve between its current position and the endpoint. The onboard ATC then automatically controls the movement of the vehicle by taking this optimized speed curve as a set point.

However, the migration from conventional installations to CBTC facilities is slow, in particular because the operators of the railway networks have functional installations, to which they are accustomed and which are certified by the competent national authorities.

On the other hand, rolling stock operators tend to choose CBTC vehicles, ie equipped with ATC on board systems, when renewing their fleet.

Consequently, latest-generation vehicles can not operate on a rail network with a conventional installation, since the ATC system on board these vehicles can not implement the "canton to canton" principle of disconnect it and let the driver regain control of the train and drive on sight.

There is therefore a need for a solution allowing a CBTC vehicle equipped with an ATC board system, operating on the principle of "distance to go", to travel on a railway network equipped with a conventional control installation. , while allowing vehicles without ATC board system to continue to be able to circulate safely on said network.

For this purpose, the subject of the invention is a traffic control installation on a railway network, the control installation comprising an automatic train supervision system, called ATS system, on the ground, centrally, and a plurality of systems. IXL systems, distributed IXL systems distributed along the rail network, the IXL systems managing the engagement state of a plurality of equipment to the track by applying electrical signals of boolean type to a corresponding relay of actuation said equipment to the track, so as to allow movement of a first vehicle according to a first principle of the "canton to canton" type.

• un réseau de communication,
• un encodeur radio prenant en entrée une pluralité de signaux parmi des signaux d'enclenchement et d'état d'enclenchement courant générés en sortie du système IXL associé et du relais correspondant, et générant un message propre à être transmis le long du réseau de communication, et
• un ensemble de stations de base, chaque station de base étant connectée au réseau de communication et étant propre à établir une liaison temporaire de radiocommunication avec le système ATC bord, et à transmettre au système ATC bord le message généré par l'encodeur radio,

l'encodeur radio permettant d'émuler un environnement permettant au système ATC bord du second véhicule de contrôler le mouvement du second véhicule selon le second principe, alors que ledit second véhicule circule sur une infrastructure ferroviaire mettant en oeuvre un contrôle de la circulation selon le premier principe.The control installation is such that, to allow the movement of a second vehicle according to a second principle of the residual distance type, said second vehicle being equipped with an onboard automatic train control system, said ATC system edge, the control installation comprises, associated with each IXL system, an interface system comprising:

• a communication network,
• a radio encoder inputting a plurality of signals among current latching and latching state signals generated at the output of the associated IXL system and the corresponding relay, and generating a message adapted to be transmitted along the communication network , and
• a set of base stations, each base station being connected to the communication network and being able to establish a temporary radiocommunication link with the on-board ATC system, and transmitting to the ATC system board the message generated by the radio encoder,

the radio encoder for emulating an environment allowing the ATC system on board the second vehicle to control the movement of the second vehicle according to the second principle, while said second vehicle is traveling on a railway infrastructure implementing a traffic control according to the first principle.

• le système d'interface comprend, en outre, des balises de positionnement installées le long des voies du réseau ferroviaire, chaque balise de positionnement étant propre à fournir un signal de positionnement au second véhicule lors du passage du second véhicule à proximité de ladite balise de positionnement, le système ATC embarqué estimant une position courante du second véhicule sur les voies à partir du dernier signal de positionnement reçu ;
• les voies sont divisées en cantons fixes, chaque canton étant caractérisé par une vitesse maximale autorisée, le premier principe consistant à autoriser le mouvement d'un véhicule à partir de l'état d'occupation des cantons et des vitesses maximales autorisées sur lesdits cantons ;
• le système ATC bord du second véhicule comprend une base de données contenant des règles de circulation propres au réseau ferroviaire et des informations spécifiques aux cantons ;
• le système ATC bord du second véhicule détermine une autorisation de mouvement à partir du message reçu de l'encodeur radio ;
• le système ATC bord est propre à calculer, à partir du message reçu de l'encodeur radio et par lecture dans la base de données, un point d'extrémité à partir duquel déterminer l'autorisation de mouvement ;
• le réseau de communication est un réseau de communication Ethernet ;
• les équipements à la voie sont choisis dans un groupe consistant en :
  • + des feux lumineux,
  • + des aiguillages,
  • + des capteurs de présence sur un tronçon de voie,
  • + des dispositifs d'isolement de portions de voies, et
  • + des dispositifs d'arrêt d'urgence des véhicules, et
• le message transmis par l'encodeur radio comprend au moins des données choisies dans un groupe consistant en :
  • + des états d'enclenchement des feux lumineux,
  • + des états d'enclenchement des aiguillages, et
  • + des états d'occupation de tronçons de voie.

According to other advantageous aspects of the invention, the installation comprises one or more of the following characteristics, taken in isolation or in any technically possible combination:

• the interface system further comprises positioning beacons installed along the tracks of the railway network, each positioning beacon being able to provide a positioning signal to the second vehicle when the second vehicle passes close to said beacon. positioning, the ATC system embedded vehicle estimating a current position of the second vehicle on the tracks from the last received positioning signal;
• the tracks are divided into fixed blocks, each block being characterized by a maximum authorized speed, the first principle of allowing the movement of a vehicle from the state of occupation of the cantons and the maximum speeds authorized on said cantons;
• the ATC system on board the second vehicle includes a database containing traffic rules specific to the railway network and information specific to the cantons;
• the second vehicle ATC system determines a movement authorization from the message received from the radio encoder;
• the ATC edge system is able to calculate, from the message received from the radio encoder and by reading from the database, an endpoint from which to determine the movement authorization;
• the communication network is an Ethernet communication network;
• the equipment at the track is chosen from a group consisting of:
  • + lights,
  • + referrals,
  • + presence sensors on a section of track,
  • + channel portion isolation devices, and
  • + emergency stop devices for vehicles, and
• the message transmitted by the radio encoder comprises at least data selected from a group consisting of:
  • + states of engagement of the lights,
  • + triggering states of the switches, and
  • + states of occupation of sections of track.

The invention also relates to a radio encoder for an installation as described above.

• la figure 1 est une vue schématique d'un réseau ferroviaire existant comprenant une installation de contrôle du trafic ferroviaire classique, et
• la figure 2 est une vue schématique d'un réseau ferroviaire comprenant un exemple possible de déploiement d'une installation de contrôle du trafic selon l'invention.

The invention will be better understood with the aid of the description which follows, given solely by way of nonlimiting example and with reference to the appended drawings in which:

• the figure 1 is a schematic view of an existing rail network including a conventional rail traffic control facility, and
• the figure 2 is a schematic view of a railway network comprising a possible example of deployment of a traffic control installation according to the invention.

The figure 2 schematically represents a facility 42 for controlling traffic on a railway network 40.

The rail network 40 of the figure 2 structure identical to that of the rail network 10 of the figure 1 . To facilitate understanding, elements similar to those described with reference to the figure 1 are not described again and the same references are used.

The control installation 42 incorporates the architecture of a conventional control installation such as the installation 12 of the figure 1 . In other words, the control installation 42 increases an existing conventional installation of additional functionalities allowing the circulation of CBTC trains.

The control installation 42 thus comprises an ATS system 32 on the ground, centrally, a plurality of IXL systems 34 distributed along the railway network 40, a plurality of relays 30 and equipment on the track 20.

The IXL systems 34 are adapted to manage the state of engagement of the equipment in the channel 20 by applying to the corresponding latching relays 30, interlocking signals, which are electrical signals of boolean type.

As a result, the rail network 40 of the figure 2 allows the circulation of vehicles 18 piloted according to the first principle, namely according to the principle of the canton to canton.

In addition, the installation 42 allows the circulation of a train CBTC 46, last generation, on the rail network 40 according to the principle "distance to go".

With respect to the rail network 10 of the figure 1 , the rail network 40 of the figure 2 comprises in addition to the different track equipment 20, positioning beacons 44 distributed along the tracks 16. Each positioning beacon 44 is associated with a unique identifier and is able to generate a positioning signal representative of its identifier. Positioning beacons 44 are, for example, RFID devices, of the English "radio frequency identification", adapted to emit a short-range signal under the effect of a current induced by a receiving antenna equipping the train.

CBTC train 46 includes an onboard ATC system 48.

The onboard ATC system 48 comprises at least one antenna 50, a memory, and computers, and is adapted for exchanging radio communication messages by means of the antenna 50.

The memory stores a set of software instructions, the computers being able to execute at least a part of the software instructions.

The memory also includes a database.

The database contains track-specific information 16, such as the position of the different slopes and their respective inclinations, the arrangement of the needles, and so on. This information recorded on board is also called "invariant" of the track.

In addition, the database contains, for each position tag 44, its position on the tracks 16.

The installation 42 comprises at least one interface system 52 capable of emulating an environment enabling the onboard ATC system 48 to control the movement of the train 46 according to the "distance to go" principle while it is traveling on a railway infrastructure. implementing traffic control according to the principle of "canton to canton".

Preferably, each interface system 52 is associated with an IXL system 34. In the example of the figure 2 each station 14 comprises an IXL system 34 associated with an interface system 52. Alternatively, only certain stations 14 comprise an interface system 52 associated with an IXL system 34. Alternatively, an interface system 52 is associated with the minus two IXL systems 34. Preferably, all the interface systems 52 are identical and, in the following, a single interface system 52 is described.

The interface system 52 includes a radio encoder 56, a communication network 54 and a set of base stations 58.

The communication network 54 is connected on the one hand to the radio encoder 56 and on the other hand to the set of base stations 58. It comprises, for example, a switch and optical links. The communication network 54 ensures the exchange of messages between the radio encoder 56 and the base stations 58, and vice versa, preferably by implementing an Ethernet communication protocol, preferably with a secure layer.

The radio encoder 56 is located near the IXL system 34 with which it is associated.

At the input, the radio encoder 56 is connected to the output of the IXL system 34 and the interlocking relays 30 of the equipment at the channel 20 controlled by this IXL system 34.

At the output, the radio encoder 56 is connected to the communication network 54.

The radio encoder 56 receives interlocking signals transmitted by the IXL system 34 to the relay 30 and the current interlock status signals of the channel equipment transmitted by the relay 30 (such as, for example, the interlocking states). lights 24, switches 22, and occupancy states of the township). These signals are for example in a boolean format.

• un premier signal S_i indiquant l'état d'un i-ème feu lumineux, valant 0 lorsque le feu lumineux est en état restrictif et 1 lorsque le feu lumineux est en état permissif ;
• un deuxième signal DPN_i indiquant l'état d'un i-ème aiguillage, valant 1 lorsque l'aiguille est en position droite ;
• un troisième signal DPR_i indiquant l'état d'un i-ème aiguillage, valant 1 lorsque l'aiguille est en position déviée, et
• un premier état C_i indiquant l'état d'occupation du i-ème canton, valant 0 lorsque le canton est occupé et 1 lorsque le canton est libre.

For example, the radio encoder 56 takes as input:

• a first signal S _i indicating the state of an i-th light light, equal to 0 when the light is in a restrictive state and 1 when the light is in a permissive state;
• a second DPN signal _i indicating the status of an i-th switch, equal to 1 when the needle is in the upright position;
• a third signal DPR _i indicating the state of an i-th switch, equal to 1 when the needle is in the deflected position, and
• a first state C _i indicating the occupancy status of the i-th block, equal to 0 when the block is occupied and 1 when the block is free.

The radio encoder 56 generates from this input information an output message in a suitable format and transmits it via the communication network 54 to the edge ATC 48 of the train 46.

The generated message is transmitted along the communication network 54.

The base stations 58 are distributed along the channels 16. Each base station 58 is connected to the network 54 and is able to establish a temporary radio link with the onboard ATC system 48 of the train 46.

In addition, each base station 58 is able to transmit to the onboard ATC system 48, along the temporary link, the message generated by the radio encoder 56.

The onboard ATC system 48 is able to estimate in real time the position of the vehicle 46 from the detection of the positioning signals emitted by the positioning beacons 44. By way of illustration, the vehicle 46 comprises a coupling device specific to detecting the presence of a position marker 44 and receiving the identifier of said beacon. Advantageously, the vehicle 46 comprises odometers positioned at the wheels of said vehicle 46 and capable of delivering slip information of said wheels. In this case, the onboard ATC system 48 is able to estimate the position of the vehicle from the last detection of a position marker 44, the instantaneous speed of the vehicle 46 and the information delivered by the odometers.

The onboard ATC system 48 implements a steering of the vehicle 46 according to the second principle, namely according to the "distance to go" principle, from the message (s) received from the encoder 56 and from the data contained in its database.

The information received from the ground being information relating to the cantons, the database of the onboard ATC system includes a description by cantons of the railway network 40.

The onboard ATC system 48 thus calculates an endpoint of a movement authorization from the information contained in the received message. This end point is actually the end of a block.

The onboard ATC system 48 calculates an optimized speed profile allowing the vehicle 46 to reach the target point. By this is meant, for example, a speed profile minimizing the energy requirements of the vehicle 46.

The ATC system then drives the vehicle according to the optimized speed profile. By "driving the vehicle", it is understood the generation of a set of commands transmitted to vehicle elements, such as a braking device or a motorization device.

The operation of the invention is now described.

It is conceivable that a vehicle suitable for running on a railway network equipped with a conventional control installation implementing the first principle from canton to canton, is also suitable for traveling on the railway network 40 of the figure 2 equipped with a control facility 42 which retains the first principle of "canton canton" as operating principle.

In what follows, it is considered the case of a vehicle 46 of last generation, that is to say equipped with an ATC system 48 communicating by radio and own to drive the vehicle 46 according to the principle of " distance to go ", traveling on a railway network 40 equipped by the control installation 42 according to the invention.

While traveling along the tracks 16, the vehicle 46 passes close to a position beacon 44. Under the effect of an induced current, the positioning beacon 44 generates an electromagnetic field representative of the identifier of said beacon 44 The vehicle coupling device 46 captures the electromagnetic field and allows the ATC edge to derive the instantaneous position of the train 46. Then, while traveling along the tracks 16 until a next beacon, the ATC system edge 48 estimates in real time the position of the train from odometric data.

The onboard ATC system 48 receives a message transmitted by the radio encoder 56, the message indicating, among other things, the state of occupation and engagement of the cantons of the network 40.

Then, the onboard ATC system 48 determines the end point of a movement authorization extending for example over five consecutive cantons.

The ATC system reads the channel-specific information associated with the next five cantons from the database and determines a speed curve.

The onboard ATC system 48 drives the train according to the optimized speed curve and its current position.

The present invention presents first of all the advantage of being able to be implemented within any rail network 10 equipped with a conventional control installation 12, such as that described with reference to FIG. figure 1 .

The implementation is, moreover, simple since it only requires the implementation of at least one radio encoder 56, a radiocommunication infrastructure and positioning beacons 44.

Once this interface system has been deployed, the installation makes it possible to control the traffic on the railway network as well as vehicles 18 compatible with a conventional control installation 12 operating on the principle of "township to township" as vehicles 46 of the last generation operating on the principle of "distance to go".

In addition, the invention constitutes a first step in a process of upgrading the railway network control facility 40 to deploy a complete CBTC installation as a replacement for a conventional installation.

In this process, a second upgrade step consists, for example, in replacing IXL systems distributed along the channels by a centralized IXL system connected to the channel equipment via a suitable long-range information network.

A third step then consists in deploying a ground ATC, namely in particular a zone controller ZC.

Thus, the interface system constitutes a component found in the various intermediate installations leading to a complete CBTC installation.

Claims (10)

Control installation (42) for traffic on a railway network (40), the control installation (42) comprising an automatic train supervision system, said ATS system (32), on the ground, centrally, and a plurality of interlocking systems, so-called IXL systems (34), distributed along the railway network (40), the IXL systems (34) managing the interlocking state of a plurality of equipment to the track (20) by applying electrical signals of Boolean type to a corresponding relay for actuating said equipment to the track (20), so as to allow a movement of a first vehicle (18) according to a first principle of the "canton to canton" type,
characterized in that , to allow the movement of a second vehicle according to a second principle of the residual distance type, said second vehicle (46) being equipped with an onboard automatic train control system, said edge ATC system (48), the control facility (42) includes, associated with each IXL system (34), an interface system (52) comprising: a communication network (54), a radio encoder (56) inputting a plurality of signals from current latching and latching state signals generated at the output of the associated IXL system (34) and the corresponding relay, and generating a message suitable for being transmitted along the communication network (54), and a set of base stations (58), each base station (58) being connected to the communication network (54) and being able to establish a temporary radiocommunication link with the edge ATC system (48), and to transmit to the ATC system edge (48) the message generated by the radio encoder (56), the radio encoder (56) being configured to emulate an environment enabling the ATC edge system (48) of the second vehicle to control the movement of the second vehicle (46) according to the second principle, while said second vehicle is traveling on a railway infrastructure implement a traffic control according to the first principle. A control system (42) according to claim 1, wherein the interface system (52) further comprises positioning beacons (44) installed along the tracks (16) of the rail network (40), each beacon locating device (44) being adapted to provide a positioning signal to the second vehicle (46) during the passage of the second vehicle (46) in the vicinity of said second vehicle positioning (44), the onboard ATC system (48) estimating a current position of the second vehicle (46) on the channels (16) from the last received positioning signal. Control installation (42) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tracks (16) are divided into fixed blocks, each block being characterized by a maximum permitted speed, the first principle of allowing the movement of a vehicle (18). ) from the state of occupation of the cantons and the maximum speeds authorized on the said cantons. A control system (42) according to claim 3, wherein the edge ATC system (48) of the second vehicle (46) comprises a database containing traffic rules specific to the railway network (40) and information specific to the cantons. A control apparatus (42) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the edge ATC system (48) of the second vehicle (46) determines movement authorization from the message received from the radio encoder (56). Control installation (42) according to claims 4 and 5, wherein the edge ATC system (48) is adapted to calculate, from the message received from the radio encoder (56) and by reading in the database, a endpoint from which to determine the movement authorization. Control installation (42) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the communication network (54) is an Ethernet communication network. A control facility (42) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the equipment at the channel (20) is selected from a group consisting of: - lights (24), - switches (22), sensors (38) for presence on a section of track, - channel portion isolation devices (28), and - emergency stop devices for vehicles (26). Control facility (42) according to claim 8, wherein the message transmitted by the radio encoder (56) comprises at least data selected from a group consisting of: - states of engagement of the lights, - triggering states of the switches, and - Occupancy states of track sections. Radio encoder (56) for an installation according to any of claims 1 to 9.

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