Author(s)

G Cau & E Mingozzi

Abstract

In this paper are described the techniques and the exploitation results of a new system, which the Italian Railways install in their vehicles and in many ground location of the network, finalised to extend and to increment the survey of operational conditions and driving events on board of their trains. The Driver Information System (DIS), this is the name of the system, collects in real time, transmits to ground and elaborates all data corresponding to the status of the train and to the actions performed on the driver's desk. This allows a higher potentiality, in comparison to similar systems currently available, for quality, nature and amount of acquired information and it opens the way to substitute the traditional and limited paper recording with an electronic storage according to the most re- cent technologies. The architecture of the DIS, intrinsically distributed, is constituted by the on-board system, which automatically transmits data to ground, and by the radio base station infrastructure present on the whole Italian country, responsible to implement a sophisticated database suitable to analyse and to classify the journeys according different criteria. Data are stored on board too, both in a "black box" capable to support strong accelerations and very high temperatures and in the Communication Computer, which transfers data to ground, piloting a spread spectrum radio based on IEEE 802.1 1 standard. In essential characteristic of DIS, in which a very high number of computer exists, is the acceptance of legal validity of the treated information, for whose achievement the Directives issued by the Italian Authority for Computer Technology and Applications have been implemented. At the moment (JAN 2002) 18 ground data collecting locations and 100 locomotives have been equipped, with the program to complete the first 500 vehicles by June 2002; afterwards the scheduling forecast the application of the DIS on some 100 vehicles/month on the remaining part of the fleet of TRENITALIA.

Keywords