Vecow - Future Rail | Issue 87

Smart Data Collection and Signal Control in Railway

With many years of experience and expertise in railway applications, the Vecow team is developing robust and reliable industrial-grade embedded computing systems designed for railways. Vecow has developed a purpose-built platform for the India market

Indian: among the world’s largest rail network

India's railway network is recognized as one of the largest railway systems in the world. Its has a total route length network of about 1,23,236 kms, with 13,452 passenger trains and 9,141 freight train.

In the next five years, the Indian railway market will be the third largest, accounting for 10 percent of the global market. Indian Railways, which is one of the country’s biggest employers, can generate one million jobs, according to Mr. Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Railways and Coal. Indian Railways is targeting to increase its freight traffic to 3.3 billion tonnes by 2030 from 1.1 billion tonnes in 2017.

Indian Railways has implemented RFID technology on its tracks to capture the location of its train cars, with a total of 24,000 cars and some cargo cars marked. The solution adopts the GS1 standard, configures readers, control center servers, and fixed software running on portable devices

Railway IoT data collection and signaling control

The management department can view the latest maintenance location and maintenance history of each car through the reader. This not only helps to ensure the normal operation of the carriage but also can be maintained and monitored according to the usage, conditions, and maintenance schedule.

Each RFID tag can store maintenance data. Labels are attached to both sides of each car and the bottom railing. The fixed reader is installed on the side of the track, and the training tag will be located one meter away from the equipment. Each antenna is mounted on a pole on either side of the track, several feet high. The reader captures the tag ID of each carriage, uses its built-in computer to manage the read data, and sends it to the IR central control center server via GSM or DMA cellular connection. The staff uses a portable reader to read and write data and connect via Bluetooth.

As the carriage enters the reading range of the reader, the unique ID number encoded on each tag will be captured, and then sent to the host server through a variety of connection technologies, and then the data is sent to the personal mobile device application. The staff will be alerted when the train is approaching to the station. When the train leaves the station, the reader will collect the vehicle ID to update the software.

The RFID system will enable the Indian Railways to have a so-called "Rolling Stock Master Data System", which can manage the condition, position, and movement trajectory of each carriage throughout its life. This is important for railway services because it ensures timely and safe transportation.

Features of Data Collection and Signal Control System

High-performance computing capability for real-time data processing, analytics, and monitoring
Robust and compact design for easy installation
Flexible expansion
Non-stop high-speed data transfer
Anti-shock and anti-vibration

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