JP2011061268A - Method and system for controlling communication - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a monitoring method for occurrence of a failure related to a communication device and its surroundings.
In a wireless communication system comprising a ground device and an on-vehicle device, the ground device is composed of two control devices having a same configuration, 100-1 and 100-2, and wireless devices 200-1 and 200-2. The control system and the radio device are set as the main system, and the other control device and the radio system are set as the slave system. The control devices of both systems generate transmission data including communication data addressed to the on-board device 20 and monitoring data addressed to the slave radio, but transmission data is transmitted only from the main system. . Of the transmission data transmitted from the main system, communication data is received by the on-board device 20, and monitoring data is received by the slave radio device and input to the control devices of both systems. Then, the control devices of both systems determine the coincidence between the monitoring data generated in the own device and the monitoring data input from the slave radio device, and estimate the failure location in the ground device 30.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication control method for a communication control system including two communication control devices that execute the same processing and two communication devices that communicate with a predetermined communication partner device.

  Conventionally, a technology for duplicating a system in order to improve the operation rate and reliability is widely known. As a system in which both the main system and the subordinate system execute the same processing by duplicating the entire system configuration, The system is known.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an example of a dual system of a communication control system, and an active base station (main system) including an IDU (Indoor Unit) and an ODU (Outdoor Unit) having a wireless device, Similarly, a standby base station (secondary system) composed of IDU and ODU is described. Like this patent document 1, the communication control system of the conventional dual system is a control apparatus (IDU of patent document 1) which processes the data etc. which concern on communication, and the communication apparatus (ODU of patent document 1) which actually communicates. In general, a single system is configured with two systems of a master system and a slave system.

JP 2007-201971 A

  However, in the conventional communication control system that configures the system including the communication device, even if only the communication device fails, the system including the communication device is disconnected and the operation is continued only in the other system. I'm taking it. In this case, if it is possible to operate by disconnecting only the failed communication device, the operation rate and reliability can be further improved.

  Therefore, a method of incorporating a function for confirming whether the communication device is operating normally can be considered, but it is not sufficient as a countermeasure. Even if the communicator itself is normal, there may be a failure in the communication path between the communicator and the control device. Because it will end up.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a new method capable of monitoring the occurrence of a failure related to a communication device and its surroundings.

The first aspect of the present invention is:
Communication between two communication control devices (for example, control devices 100-1 and 100-2 in FIG. 2) that execute the same processing and a predetermined communication partner device (for example, on-board device 20 in FIG. 2) A communication control system (for example, the ground device 30 in FIG. 2) including two communication devices (for example, the radio devices 200-1 and 200-2 in the figure),
A transmission data generation step (for example, step T7 in FIG. 7) in which each of the two communication control devices generates transmission data;
A transmission step in which one communication control device (for example, main control device 100 in FIG. 3) causes one communication device (for example, main radio device 200 in FIG. 3) to transmit transmission data generated by itself (for example, For example, step T9) in FIG.
A receiving step (for example, step T13 in FIG. 7) in which the other communication device (for example, the slave radio device 200 in FIG. 3) receives transmission data transmitted from the one communication device;
The other communication control device (for example, the slave control device 100 in FIG. 3) 1) determination of whether or not the transmission data is received by the other communication device, and 2) reception by the other communication device. The other determination step (for example, step T15 in FIG. 7) for determining at least one of the determination of coincidence / non-coincidence between the transmitted data and the transmission data generated by itself,
A monitoring step (for example, step T19 in FIG. 7) for monitoring occurrence of an abnormality in the communication control system using the determination result in the other determination step;
Is a communication control method.

As another form,
Communication between two communication control devices (for example, control devices 100-1 and 100-2 in FIG. 2) that execute the same processing and a predetermined communication partner device (for example, on-board device 20 in FIG. 2) And a communication control system (for example, the ground device 30 in FIG. 2) including two communication devices (for example, wireless devices 200-1 and 200-2 in FIG. 2) that can communicate with each other,
Each of the two communication control devices is
Transmission data generation means (for example, the processing unit 110 in FIG. 4) for generating transmission data;
Transmission control means (for example, the processing unit 110 in FIG. 4) that causes one communication device (for example, the main radio 200 in FIG. 3) to transmit the transmission data generated by itself;
1) Determination of presence / absence of reception of transmission data from the one communication device by the other communication device (for example, the slave radio device 200 in FIG. 3), and 2) Transmission received by the other communication device Monitoring means (for example, the processing unit 110 in FIG. 4) that monitors the occurrence of an abnormality in the communication control system by determining at least one of matching / mismatching between data and transmission data generated by itself. When,
It is good also as comprising a communication control system provided with.

  According to the first form and the like, each of the two communication control devices generates transmission data, but only one communication control device causes one communication device to transmit transmission data. The other communication device receives transmission data sent from one communication device, and the other communication control device determines whether or not the data is received. If it is not received, it can be assumed that a failure has occurred somewhere in the path from one communication control device to one communication device to the other communication device to the other communication control device. It is possible to monitor the occurrence of failures related to the machine and its surroundings.

  The other communication control device determines whether the transmission data received by the other communication device matches the transmission data generated by the other communication control device. If the transmission data generated between the two communication control devices is guaranteed to be the same, the transmission data received by the other communication device and the transmission data generated by the other communication control device Can be estimated that a failure has occurred somewhere in the path from one communication control device to one communication device to the other communication device to the other communication control device. In addition, it is possible to monitor the occurrence of failures related to the communication device and its surroundings.

A second mode is a communication control method according to the first mode,
The one communication control apparatus determines that a) the presence or absence of reception of the transmission data by the other communication device, and b) determination of coincidence / non-coincidence between the received transmission data and the transmission data generated by itself. It further includes a self-determination step (for example, step T15 in FIG. 7) for determining at least one of them,
The monitoring step is a step of monitoring occurrence of an abnormality in the communication control system using determination results of the self-determination step and the other determination step.
A communication control method may be configured.

  According to the second embodiment, the other communication device receives the transmission data sent from one communication device, and the presence or absence of the reception is determined by each of the one communication control device and the other communication control device. Will be. Therefore, for example, when one communication control device determines that there is reception but the other communication control device determines that there is no reception, a failure occurs in the signal path between the other communication device and the other communication control device. Therefore, it is possible to narrow down the failure location as compared with the first embodiment.

  In addition, each of the one communication control device and the other communication control device determines whether or not the transmission data received by the other communication device matches the transmission data generated by the other communication control device. Will be. Therefore, for example, when it is determined that one communication control device matches and the other communication control device does not match, a failure occurs in the signal path between the other communication device and the other communication control device. Therefore, it is possible to narrow down the failure location as compared with the first embodiment.

In this case, as a more specific third form,
The two communication control devices are connected to the two communication devices by lines, respectively.
The transmission data generation step is a step of generating, as the transmission data, communication data to be transmitted to the communication counterpart device and monitoring data to be transmitted to the other communication device,
The reception step is a step in which the other communication device receives the monitoring data among transmission data transmitted from the one communication device;
The other communication device further includes a reception data output step of outputting the monitoring data to each of the two communication control devices in response to reception of the monitoring data,
The self-determination step and the other determination step are steps for performing the determination using the monitoring data output in the reception data output step.
A communication control method may be configured.

Furthermore, as the fourth form,
The monitoring step includes a failure range estimation step of estimating a failure range of the two communication devices and the line based on determination results of the self determination step and the other determination step.
A communication control method may be configured.

A fifth mode is a communication control method according to any one of the second to fourth modes,
The transmission step, the reception step, the other determination step, the self-determination step are performed for each combination by changing the combination of one / other of the two communication control devices and one / other of the two communication devices. The communication control method may further include a combination change control step for executing the monitoring step.

  According to the fifth embodiment, the combination of one / the other of the two communication control devices and one / the other of the two communication devices is changed, and the transmission step, the reception step, and the other determination are performed for each combination. Step, self-determination step and monitoring step are executed. Therefore, by using the determination results of the self-determination step and the other determination step executed in each combination, it is possible to more reliably estimate the occurrence of a failure or the location where the failure has occurred.

1 is a configuration diagram of a wireless communication system. The block diagram of a ground apparatus. The data flow figure at the time of transmission from a ground device to an on-board device. The function block diagram of a control apparatus. The data structural example of a failure location estimation table. The flowchart of a communication control process. The flowchart of the transmission / reception process performed during a communication control process.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following, a case where the present invention is applied to a ground device that performs wireless communication with an on-train device of a train will be described. However, embodiments to which the present invention can be applied are not limited thereto.

[System configuration]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a wireless communication system 1 in the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication system 1 includes an on-board device 20 mounted on a train 10 traveling on a track, and a plurality of ground devices 30 installed along the track. Predetermined short-range wireless communication is possible between the device 20 and each ground device 30.

  The on-board device 20 performs operation control of the own train by performing wireless communication with the ground device 30 located in the communication area. Specifically, for example, braking control (brake control) is performed according to the speed check pattern received from the ground device 30. In addition, the number of rotations of the speed generator attached to the axle is counted, and the current traveling position is calculated from the counted value, or the current position is obtained by having a GPS, and further received from the ground device 30. The calculated traveling position is corrected based on the ground device ID.

  The ground device 30 performs traveling control of a train on which the on-board device 20 is mounted by performing predetermined wireless communication with the on-board device 20 located in the communication range. Specifically, for example, the ID of the own device is transmitted to the on-board device 20, or a speed check pattern corresponding to the traveling position and traveling speed of the train received from the on-board device 20 is transmitted to the on-board device 20. .

[Configuration of ground equipment]
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the ground device 30. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the ground device 30 includes a master system and a slave device each including two control devices 100 (100-1, 100-2) and two radio devices 200 (200-1, 200-2) having the same configuration. It has a double system configuration.

  The two control devices 100-1 and 100-2 are wired with a communication cable or the like, and data communication is possible between them.

  Further, the control devices 100-1 and 100-2 and the radio devices 200-1 and 200-2 are both wiredly connected by a communication cable or the like, and each line is connected to up / down 2 It has a line configuration. That is, the control devices 100-1 and 100-2 can wirelessly communicate with the on-board device 20 using any of the wireless devices 200-1 and 200-2.

  Here, the communication lines between the radio 200-1 and the control devices 100-1 and 100-2 are referred to as “lines A1 and A2,” respectively, and these lines A1 and A2 are collectively referred to as “line A”. Also, the communication lines between the radio 200-2 and the control devices 100-1 and 100-2 are referred to as “lines B1 and B2,” respectively, and these lines B1 and B2 are collectively referred to as “line B”.

  The ground device 30 includes a control system 100 and a radio device 200 as a main system among the two control devices 100-1 and 100-2 and the radio devices 200-1 and 200-2. A set of the control device 100 and the wireless device 200 is a slave system. Only the main system transmits data to the on-board device 20, and the slave system is a hot standby system that does not transmit data. Note that the combination of the control device 100 and the radio device 200 that are the master and slave switches at an arbitrary timing.

  The radios 200-1 and 200-2 are connected to leaky coaxial cables (LCX cables) 210-1 and 210-2 laid along the track, respectively, and the on-board device is connected via the LCX cable 210. Wireless communication with 20 is performed. That is, radio apparatus 200 packetizes transmission data input from control device 100, outputs the packet to LCX cable 210, transmits the data, and outputs data received by LCX cable 210 to control device 100. Further, the LCX cables 210-1, 210-2 are laid close to each other, and data communication is possible between the LCX cables 210-1, 210-2.

[When sending]
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a data flow when data is transmitted from the ground device 30 to the on-board device 20. As shown in FIG. 3, data transmission from the ground device 30 to the on-board device 20 is performed by the main system. That is, transmission data is output from the main control apparatus 100 to the main radio 200. The transmission data includes “communication data” directed to the on-board device 20 and “monitoring data” for monitoring communication abnormality of the wireless communication system 1.

  The transmission data input to the main radio 200 is packetized and output to the LCX cable 210. At this time, the communication data included in the transmission data is destined for the on-board device 20, and the monitoring data is destined for the subordinate radio 200. The monitoring data (packets) output to the LCX cable 210 is radiated into the space as radio waves and received by the on-board device 20. On the other hand, the monitoring frame (packet) is received by the slave radio 200 via the LCX cable 210 of the slave radio 200. Then, it is input from the slave radio device 200 to each of the master and slave control devices 100.

[Configuration of control device]
The control devices 100-1 and 100-2 both perform the same configuration and the same process. As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 100-1, the communication control unit 120, and the storage unit 130 are provided as functional units. Have.

  The processing unit 110 is realized by an arithmetic device such as a CPU, for example, and performs overall control of the control device 100 based on a program and data stored in the storage unit 130, data received via the communication control unit 120, and the like.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, the process part 110 performs the communication control process which controls communication with the onboard apparatus 20 according to the communication control program 131. FIG. In this communication control process, data communication with the on-board device 20 is performed while switching the combination of the control device 100 and the radio device 200 as the main system and the sub system. The switching between the main system and the slave system is performed, for example, every time data is transmitted / received to / from the on-board device 20.

  Specifically, when transmitting data to the on-board device 20, the processing unit 110 firstly transmits communication data to the on-board device 20 and monitoring data to the slave radio device 200. The transmission data including is generated. Next, when the own apparatus is the main system, the generated transmission data is output to the main radio apparatus 200 and transmitted from the radio apparatus 200. On the other hand, when the own device is a slave, transmission data is not transmitted. Then, response data transmitted from the on-board device 20 in response to the transmission data is acquired from the main radio 200 and monitoring data input from the sub radio 200 is acquired.

  Subsequently, the processing unit 110 estimates a failure location in the ground device 30 based on the monitoring data input from the slave radio device 200. Specifically, it is determined whether or not monitoring data is input from the slave radio device 200. When the monitoring data is input, the monitoring data generated in the own apparatus when the input monitoring data and transmission data are generated The match is determined. Subsequently, the control device 100 is notified of the monitoring data match determination result. Then, based on the monitoring data matching determination result in the own device and the monitoring data matching determination result in the other control device, the failure location is estimated with reference to the failure location estimation table 132, Furthermore, a coping process corresponding to the estimated failure location is performed.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the failure location estimation table 132. As shown in FIG. 5, the failure location estimation table 132 is a failure estimated for each combination of the success / failure 132a of communication with the on-board device 20 and the coincidence determination result 132b of the monitoring data in the master system and the slave system. The location 132c and the failure handling 132d corresponding to the estimated failure location are stored in association with each other.

  Communication success / failure 132a with the on-board device 20 is determined based on whether or not response data is received. In the communication success / failure 132a, “◯” indicates communication success (with response data), and “×” indicates communication failure (without response data). In addition, “◯” in the match determination result 132b indicates that the monitoring data is input and matches, and “x” indicates that the monitoring data is not input or does not match.

  In the estimated failure location 132c, the “secondary line” is a line connected to the secondary radio 200. For example, when the secondary is the radio 200-2, the line B is the secondary line. It becomes. Similarly, the “main line” is a line connected to the main radio 200. For example, when the main is the radio 200-1, the line A is the main line. The “subordinate part of the slave line” is a line between the slave radio device and the slave control device 100. For example, the slave is “control device 100-2 and radio device 200-2”. In the case of this combination, the line B2 becomes “the slave part of the slave line”. The same applies to “the main part of the subordinate line” and “the main part / subordinate part of the main line”.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the communication control unit 120 outputs transmission data to the designated wireless device 200 according to the control of the processing unit 110.

  The storage unit 130 is realized by a storage device such as a ROM, a RAM, and a hard disk, and stores a system program for the processing unit 110 to control the control device 100 in an integrated manner, a program and data for realizing various functions, and the like. At the same time, it is used as a work area for the processing unit 110, and temporarily stores calculation results obtained by the processing unit 110 executing various programs, data received from the communication control unit 120, and the like. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 130 stores a communication control program 131 and a failure location estimation table 132.

[Process flow]
FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of communication control processing executed by the processing unit 110. According to FIG. 6, the processing unit 110 first determines a combination of the control device 100 and the radio device 200 as the main system as an initial setting (step S1). Subsequently, a transmission / reception process is executed to perform one-time data transmission / reception with the on-board device 20 (step S3).

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of transmission / reception processing. In FIG. 7, the left side is a process in the main system, and the right side is a process in the sub system. First, in both the main system and the slave system, the processing unit 110 performs predetermined processing such as a response process for a request from the on-board device 20 or a central management center (not shown) or a request process for the on-board device 20. Request / response processing is performed (step T1).

  Next, the processing result is notified to the other control device 100 (step T3), and the coincidence is confirmed (step T5). After confirming that the processing results match, transmission data including communication data for the on-board device 20 and monitoring data based on the processing results is generated (step T7).

  Subsequently, only the processing unit 110 in the main system performs transmission control in which the generated transmission data is input to the main radio apparatus 200 and transmitted from the radio apparatus 200 (step T9). At this time, it is assumed that the communication data is the on-board device 20 and the monitoring data is the slave radio device 200 as the destination. Subsequently, in both the primary system and the secondary system, response data from the on-board device 20 input from the primary radio device 200 is acquired (step T11). Also, the monitoring data input from the secondary radio device 200 is acquired (step T13).

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the monitoring data generated in the own device at the time of transmission data generation matches the received monitoring data (step T15), and the matching determination result is notified to the other control device ( Step T17). Then, failure estimation in the ground device 30 is performed based on the monitoring data match determination result in the own device and the notified monitoring data match determination result in the other device. Further, according to the estimated failure location, after that, a failure countermeasure such as fixing the main system / secondary system (no switching) is performed (step T19). When the above processing is performed, the processing unit 110 ends the transmission / reception processing.

  When the transmission / reception process is completed, the processing unit 110 returns to FIG. 6, and the processing unit 110 determines whether or not the master / slave system is fixed based on the result of the transmission / reception process, and if it is not fixed (step S5: NO) ) Switching between the master system and the slave system that changes one or both of the control device 100 and the radio device 200 that are the master system (step S7). Thereafter, the process returns to step S3, and the transmission / reception process is similarly performed.

[Action / Effect]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the wireless communication system 1 including the ground device 30 and the on-vehicle device 20, the ground device 30 includes two control devices 100-1 and 100-2 having the same configuration, and a wireless device. Machine 200-1, 200-2, and a dual system configuration in which one set of the control device 100 and the radio device 200 is a main system and the other set of the control device 100 and the radio device 200 is a subordinate system. ing.

  The control devices 100 of both systems generate transmission data including communication data addressed to the on-board device 20 and monitoring data addressed to the slave radio 200, but transmission data is transmitted only from the main system. Is done. Of the transmission data transmitted from the main system, communication data is received by the onboard device 20, and monitoring data is received by the slave radio device 200 and input to the control devices 100 of both systems. Then, the control devices 100 of both systems determine whether the monitoring data generated in the own device matches the monitoring data input from the slave radio device 200, and the ground device 30 is based on the determination result. Estimate the failure location at.

[Modification]
It should be noted that embodiments to which the present invention can be applied are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the communication control system of the present invention is applied to the ground device 30 has been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to the on-vehicle device 20. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to ground devices and on-vehicle devices, and can be similarly applied to any dual system having a communication function. In this case, the communication line between the communication control system and the communication partner apparatus is not limited to wireless communication but may be wired communication.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wireless communication system 10 Train, 20 On-board apparatus 30 Ground apparatus 100 Control apparatus 110 Processing part, 120 Communication control part 130 Storage part 131 Communication control program, 132 Fault location estimation table 200 Radio | wireless machine, 210 LCX cable A1, A2, B1 , B2 line

Claims (6)

A communication control method of a communication control system comprising two communication control devices that execute the same processing and two communication devices that communicate with a predetermined communication partner device,
A transmission data generation step in which each of the two communication control devices generates transmission data;
One communication control device causes one communication device to transmit the transmission data generated by itself,
A receiving step in which the other communication device receives transmission data transmitted from the one communication device; and
The other communication control device 1) determines whether or not the transmission data is received by the other communication device, and 2) matches the transmission data received by the other communication device with the transmission data generated by itself. / The other determination step for determining at least one of the determinations of mismatch,
A monitoring step of monitoring the occurrence of an abnormality in the communication control system using the determination result in the other determination step;
Including a communication control method. The one communication control apparatus determines that a) the presence or absence of reception of the transmission data by the other communication device, and b) determination of coincidence / non-coincidence between the received transmission data and the transmission data generated by itself. A self-determination step for determining at least one of them,
The monitoring step is a step of monitoring occurrence of an abnormality in the communication control system using determination results of the self-determination step and the other determination step.
The communication control method according to claim 1. The two communication control devices are connected to the two communication devices by lines, respectively.
The transmission data generation step is a step of generating, as the transmission data, communication data to be transmitted to the communication counterpart device and monitoring data to be transmitted to the other communication device,
The reception step is a step in which the other communication device receives the monitoring data among transmission data transmitted from the one communication device;
The other communication device further includes a reception data output step of outputting the monitoring data to each of the two communication control devices in response to reception of the monitoring data,
The self-determination step and the other determination step are steps for performing the determination using the monitoring data output in the reception data output step.
The communication control method according to claim 2. The monitoring step includes a failure range estimation step of estimating a failure range of the two communication devices and the line based on determination results of the self determination step and the other determination step.
The communication control method according to claim 3.   The transmission step, the reception step, the other determination step, the self-determination step are performed for each combination by changing the combination of one / other of the two communication control devices and one / other of the two communication devices. The communication control method according to claim 2, further comprising a combination change control step for executing the monitoring step. A communication control system including two communication control devices that execute the same process and two communication devices that perform communication between a predetermined communication partner device and can communicate with each other,
Each of the two communication control devices is
Transmission data generating means for generating transmission data;
A transmission control means for causing one communication device to transmit transmission data generated by itself;
1) Determination of the presence or absence of reception of transmission data from the one communication device by the other communication device, and 2) Matching between transmission data received by the other communication device and transmission data generated by itself Monitoring means for performing determination of at least one of determination of mismatch and monitoring occurrence of abnormality in the communication control system;
Communication control system equipped with.

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