Railway cognitive radio to enhance safety, security, and performance of positive train control.

Details

• Creators:
  Amanna, Ashwin
• Corporate Creators:
  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Artificial Intelligence Data Communications Decision Making Positive Train Control Radio Equipment Railroad Safety Train Operations Wireless Communication Systems
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT/FRA/ORD-13/09
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and Development
• NTL Classification:
  NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail Safety ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Rail Safety ; NTL-OPERATIONS AND TRAFFIC CONTROLS-Traffic Control Devices
• Abstract:
  Robust and interoperable wireless communications are vital to Positive Train Control (PTC). The railway industry has started adopting software-defined radios (SDRs) for packet-data transmission. SDR systems realize previously fixed components as reconfigurable software. This project developed a railway cognitive radio (Rail-CR) which implements Artificial Intelligence (AI) decisionmaking in concert with an SDR to adapt to changing wireless conditions and learn from past experience. Objectives of the project included developing a concept of operations for wireless link adaptation based on use-case scenarios for packet radio systems, designing and implementing a decisionmaking architecture on an SDR, designing strategies for radio environment observations, defining operational objectives and performance metrics, and designing and exercising a test plan to demonstrate performance under varying conditions. The decisionmaking architecture of the Rail-CR begins with observations of the wireless environment and performance metrics. The architecture enables adaptation to new situations and the capability to learn from past decisions. The Rail-CR was tested under a variety of interference conditions designed to simulate real-world experiences. Results show that a radio operating with no-cognition was unable to mitigate interference conditions causing either significantly high errors or a loss of connectivity. The Cognitive Engine (CE) successfully overcame the interference by changing configurable parameters.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:6f51ef78aea26f7b3e5fbccfc8af91ad9b2338ece9226413e4ef25e505e08e00
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/26257/dot_26257_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.75 MB ]