Intelligent transport systems development

From the standpoint of conceptual technical solutions being developed at JSC «Russian Railways», an intelligent train is a train with an integrated system of auto guidance and self – diagnosis, the creation of which is inextricably linked: with the development of automated control centers and the expansion of the functions of dispatch centralization, especially for high-speed and high-speed traffic lines; the introduction of computer control systems at stations in conjunction with a digital radio channel; the introduction of interval train control systems using satellite navigation and digital radio channel; implementation of complex diagnostic devices at the borders of routes; ensuring compliance of control systems and security systems with international standards.

An intelligent locomotive is a locomotive whose hardware and software must ensure: interoperability due to the compatibility of commands transmitted from the control center, from another locomotive or control car via a radio communication system; obtaining information about the introduction or cancellation of speed limits, the correct position of switches along the route, the freedom of the way, the freedom of crossings; the possibility of transmitting to technical services in real time information about the actual condition of the locomotive equipment and train cars during its movement on the basis of data from remote monitoring and on-board diagnostics with the preservation of all parameters in standard memory blocks.

An intelligent station is a station whose control and safety systems meet the requirements of international standards. The hardware and software of the control systems of the intelligent station must ensure: traffic safety during shunting work at the station; labor safety of station employees; high-speed mode of shunting work; maneuvering movements.

An intelligent train station is a train station, the combination of hardware and software management tools of which allows maximizing the efficiency of the building and the adjacent infrastructure, while all technical, technological and organizational processes take place with minimal human participation. The creation of intelligent train stations is aimed at ensuring comprehensive security, achieving maximum resource-saving effect, improving the environmental situation on the territory of the building and around it, providing maximum comfort for passengers, including those with disabilities. The complex of automated intelligent station systems should include the following functional components:

? automated life support process control systems (air conditioning, ventilation, heating, electricity, water supply and sewerage), combining management and dispatching of engineering equipment;

? integrated security system that provides information collection and processing in the station situation center, video surveillance, engineering and technical protection of the station complex, fire extinguishing, environmental monitoring and solving a number of other tasks;

? communication and telecommunications system, which includes all types of communication, including broadband access \Wi-Fi and \WiMAX, with the provision of information services for station staff and passengers;

? a system for monitoring the condition of buildings and structures.

An important practical step towards the creation of ITS in JSC «Russian Railways» was the introduction of an intelligent train traffic control system on the high-speed route St. Petersburg – Moscow. In this system, for the first time in practice, such intelligent subsystems as «Auto Dispatcher» and «AutoDriver» were implemented, in which analytical information processing (situational and diagnostic) procedures are implemented, linked to modeling and forecasting the development of events.

A distinctive feature of this system is its structuring into the following systemically linked key blocks:

? a train traffic control unit that performs the functions of an «Auto dispatcher» and «Automachinist» using satellite navigation technologies and digital communication systems;

? a traffic safety unit with the expansion of the functions of the CLUB-U integrated locomotive safety system, which includes GLONASS/GPS satellite receivers, as well as electronic maps of the stages and track development of stations, formed on the basis of a single coordinate database. The hardware and software of the unit provide guaranteed delivery of warnings on board the locomotive and the possibility of forced stopping of the train by the train dispatcher in emergency situations;

? infrastructure condition monitoring and rolling stock diagnostics unit;

? backbone and technological communication networks and data transmission systems;

? situational management center with analytical and control systems.

The decision-making scheme in this system is based on an object-oriented model (the operational state of the direction), the construction of an up-to-date train schedule based on the analysis of the regulatory schedule and planned restrictions, taking into account the work carried out by infrastructure facilities of JSC «Russian Railways», monitoring the actual execution of the schedule at the moment, taking into account satellite positioning data. Train driving with the help of the system under consideration is based on a set of hardware and software and functional applications of intelligent car driving, using data on the actual train position, data from the automatic route preparation system, forecast graphs, information from the GID «URAL» system, data on speed limits on sections. The considered components of the intelligent dispatching control system were successfully tested in the organization of high-speed train traffic «Sapsan».

The developed hardware and software tools and technical solutions in the field of creating intelligent railway transport make it possible to organize centralized automated control of train traffic on the railways of JSC «Russian Railways» at a qualitatively new level with the provision of functional, informational, environmental and fire safety. The scientific and technical potential accumulated in this field will contribute to the creation of a new generation of locomotive safety devices, the practical use of GLONASS/SRB satellite navigation technologies and a digital radio channel for complex multi-level traffic safety systems. The development of ITS will make it possible in the near future to ensure the quality of transport services and the safety of transportation on the railways of Russia and in general in the «1520 railway track» at the level of the best world standards.

2.2 Current issues of ITS development

Intelligent transport systems (ITS) are the result of the system integration of modern navigation, information and communication technologies, automation, transport infrastructure, user facilities, focused on ensuring the safety and efficiency of the transport process, logistics, and improving comfort for drivers and passengers.

Many countries already have experience in creating intelligent transport systems. Thus, since the early 1980s, the United States, European countries and the Asia-Pacific region have been implementing programs focused on information technology for high-speed highways. Currently, the global ITS market continues to develop dynamically.

The creation of a unified information infrastructure of the transport complex is especially important for the Russian Federation, located in nine time zones and actively using all types of transport.

Already today, GLONASS satellite navigation technologies are used in almost all areas of human activity. These are law enforcement, security and search systems, coordinate and time support, monitoring of complex engineering structures, dangerous goods and various types of transport, people and animals, geodesy and cartography, agriculture, construction, synchronization of telecommunications and energy networks, hydrometeorology, etc.

Developing the concept of ITS of Russia, it is necessary to take into account the possibilities and prospects of modernization of the domestic global navigation satellite system GLONASS. Satellite navigation is the technological basis of intelligent transport systems. This is a unique Russian satellite navigation system in terms of coverage and significance.

Due to the peculiarities of the ballistic construction of orbital groupings, the GLONASS system surpasses GPS in high latitudes in terms of availability and is somewhat inferior in the equatorial zone. Currently, a new generation Glonass-K satellite with additional navigation signals at the L3 frequency and code separation is undergoing flight tests as part of the GLONASS orbital constellation, which will improve the accuracy of navigation definitions by using more broadband signals in the frequency ranges allocated for the GLONASS system. At the same time, within the framework of international cooperation, code separation can ensure the compatibility and complementarity of existing and emerging global and regional satellite navigation systems.

To improve the quality of navigation services provided to consumers, a set of functional additions to the GLONASS system is designed, which is an element of the general system. It provides consumers with information about the integrity of the navigation field, updated ephemeris-time information, corrective information for navigation measurements, as well as information about the quality of the functioning of GLONASS and GPS.

Complexes of functional additions by the size of the territory of action can be classified into local (150 km), regional (1000 km), wide-band (up to 5000 km).

An example of a wide-band system of functional additions is the system of differential correction and monitoring of radio navigation fields (SDCM). The Russian SDCM is a functional addition to the GLONASS and GPS satellite navigation systems, which improves their characteristics for solving tasks requiring high accuracy and reliability.

The SDCM includes a measurement collection complex, including measurement collection stations on the territory of the Russian Federation and abroad, a SDCM center and a complex for delivering information to consumers.

The primary measurement information is sent to the SDCM center, where it is processed in order to clarify ephemeris-time information, determine the integrity parameters of the navigation-time field and form a message for the consumer.

SDCM messages will be delivered to consumers via satellite and terrestrial data transmission channels. The basis of the orbital grouping (OG) SDKM will be the spacecraft of the multifunctional space relay system «Luch» in geostationary orbit.

The SDCM orbital grouping will ensure guaranteed delivery of corrective information to consumers almost throughout the Earth, with the exception of the polar regions and the North American continent.

Simultaneously with the creation of space channels for the delivery of SDCM information, a website providing operational and a posteriori data for monitoring the state of GLONASS and GPS navigation and time fields was put into trial operation. The SDCM information transmission system is being tested over ground communication channels. This will allow you to work out, check and confirm the characteristics of the information generated by the SDCM, without waiting for the launch of the Luch spacecraft.

The commissioning of the SDCM significantly increases the accuracy of navigation definitions. So, if the accuracy of determining the coordinates by the consumer in units of meters is provided in offline mode, then when using information about the SDCM, the accuracy reaches a centimeter level.

In addition, the SDKM will allow solving the tasks of monitoring road transport, drivers’ compliance with traffic rules, boarding and disembarking passengers of a public transport port in designated places. With the help of SDCM, the tasks of monitoring the location of railway trains on adjacent tracks, optimizing the management of shunting locomotives in the areas of marshalling yards and railway junctions will also be solved at a new qualitative level.

For water transport, the SDCM will simplify the solution of the tasks of pilotage of ships, accurate and prompt installation of signs of the navigable situation. With the help of SDCM, the tasks of automating the landing of air transport will be solved. SDCM information will also be in demand for monitoring the processing of the roadway, accurate and operational linking of construction sites in absolute coordinate systems, monitoring and control of the condition of complex engineering structures.

The combine use of information systems and navigation technologies will make it possible to effectively solve the tasks of monitoring facilities and resources to improve the quality of life of the population, ensure high rates of economic growth and competitiveness of the national economy, create potential for future development, increase the level of defense capability and security of the state.

One of the most popular areas of satellite positioning is the monitoring of mobile objects, such as vehicles, people with physical and age disabilities, children.

Being important elements of ITS, vehicle monitoring systems can improve the quality of public transport services, the safety of passenger and cargo transportation, the efficiency of transport management, control fuel consumption, technical parameters of special equipment, cargo safety, etc. Practice shows that the use of such systems at the enterprise increases the efficiency of using vehicles by 10—40%.

According to statistics, more than 1 million people per year die as a result of road accidents in the world. In this regard, JSC «Russian Space Systems» submitted to the Commission for Modernization and Technological Development of the Economy under the President of the Russian Federation the project Emergency Response System in case of accidents «ERA-GLONASS», aimed at reducing the severity of the consequences of road accidents. A similar system is already being developed and implemented in the European Union. Thanks to the equipment of the vehicle with automated navigation terminals of domestic production, transmitting emergency response services information about the accident, including the coordinates of the vehicle, the time interval between the incident and the provision of assistance to victims is reduced.

Systems where the objects of monitoring are technical means should also include monitoring systems for small aircraft. Their use will make it possible to obtain a significant economic effect, but most importantly, it will contribute to saving human lives and radically reducing financial costs in the aftermath of plane crashes.

To determine the displacements of structural elements, high-precision monitoring of the displacements of engineering structures (HMDES) using GLONASS signals is used. The HMDES program allows you to determine offsets with millimeter accuracy. Based on the data obtained, an analysis is carried out and, if necessary, a decision is made on emergency measures to prevent an emergency situation or evacuation of the population. In addition, the system of high-precision monitoring of displacements of engineering structures can be used to monitor displacements of the Earth’s crust and tectonic processes.

There are many examples of using satellite navigation technologies to improve the efficiency of almost all modes of transport, each of which develops its own corporate information systems aimed at solving internal problems. Unfortunately, the lack of unification during their creation and implementation made these systems autonomous, excluding intersystem interaction and centralized management.

In our opinion, the most expedient way to solve the unification problem is to develop a system of standards that, on the one hand, would allow each application to have its own optimal solutions and communication channels, and on the other – unified network protocols. This would make it possible to serve various modes of transport and ensure efficient intermodal transportation within a single information infrastructure.

In addition, today there is a need to create a unified transport system of a new generation. Regional navigation and information systems (RNIS) based on GLONASS technologies should be used as its basis. For the first time the concept of RNIS was introduced by JSC «Russian Space Systems» in 2003 when creating a Regional navigation and Information System of the Yaroslavl region.

The priority areas of the ITS concept in Russia include:

? consolidation of resources, technologies and qualified personnel in the field of navigation and transport telematics;

? introduction of ITS in large cities, development of the federal road network and construction of toll roads with mandatory deployment of modern ITS components;

? formation of international transport corridors harmonized with European ITS standards.

Integration into international intelligent transport systems will allow creating a unified, highly needed harmonized global ITS for consumers, which will increase the competitiveness and economic efficiency of the Russian transport sector, the safety of freight and passenger transportation.

2.3 Development of intelligent train operation management technologies