eBR Project

eBR Project, TECHNOLOGY OF DIGITAL TELEPHONE

The eBR project is based on the creation of an electronic book of blockade that allows the issuance, receipt and order entry, through digital telephonemes transmitted by authorized persons in activities involved in the various activities of railway operation.

The goal of eBR project is to automate the verbal communications between the different agents, which, at present, must be reflected, manually, in books for its archive and later consultation, in case of being necessary. The exchange of this information is achieved with the called ‘telephonemes’ (term extensively extended in the railway environment).

Also this project aims to extend the services (including courier service, speech recognition, etc.), to improve all the issue and reception processes, and to extend its use to all the services of the railway operation.

This initiative, also, tries to avoid the problems derived from the verbal communication and from the manual process of recording of the telephonemes that are susceptible of errors and manipulation.

eBR Project would be applied to the Railway Network of General Interest of Adif and would propitiate the joint participation in the property and exploitation of the results of this initiative as key element in the activities of railway operation.

The Ministry of Science and Innovation, inside the National Plan of Scientific Investigation, development and Technological Innovation 2008-2011, has granted funds to Logistica y Telecommunicaciones, SL (LogyTel) for the achievement of the project “Development of the technology of digital telephoneme for the safety processes in the railroad circulation. Project EBR.” Records IPT-2011-1059-370000.

The several years duration project, 2011-2013, is being carried out in collaboration with the Electronics Department of the University of Alcala and with The Administrator of Railway Infrastructures (ADIF), Logytel acting as coordinating entity. The project is co-funded by the European Fund of Regional development (FEDER) and is being implemented in the regions of Madrid and Andalusia (Technological Park of Malaga). The entire financiable budget amounts to 798.076 euros and the entire help granted to the three entities has been 515.947,85 euros, as loan, and 205.346,4 euros in form of subsidy, corresponding to LogyTel the ammount of the loan in its entirety.

DESCRIPTION

Why the need for a electronic book railway (eBR)?

Because currently part of the exchange of information for the coordination of actions related to safety in rail traffic is voice communications between different agents, information should also be recorded in manuscript form in various specific books for archiving and future reference in the if necessary. This register is legally valid, and therefore, of vital importance in the global rail system based on this kind of exchange of notifications.

All this combined with the demands of modern rail systems, that require a large and varied include number of phone calls, in conjunction with the increasing number of circulations and the diversity of work that must be developed by agents, degenerate in overflow current management capacity, slowing down and decreasing operational reliability.

In the current operating both verbal communication, such as the registration process telephone calls manuscript are susceptible to errors and / or manipulation.

Why Digital telephoneme is the kernel of eBR system?

Because the telephoneme is a communication and / or notification radius of a text with a prescribed format which registration has the same validity as a written document to be security-related operations. Are placed and received personally by the staff responsible. Conform to the formulas set out in the General Traffic Regulation and must be recorded in the book or books for that purpose, noting the number of order received or issued, time, text and signature.

How is carried out?

Using a graphical environment that helps the operator in the taking of control decisions circulations under Phone Lock, and assisting in the dispatch, registration, and transmission of telephoneme digitally, performing radio respecting formulas established in the General Traffic Regulation (RGC).

eBR: MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, CENTRALIZED CONTROL AND REGISTRATION OF TELEPHONEME

ARCHITECTURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF FUNCTIONS

Smart Core EBR System. Main features:

• Management and treatment of digital telephoneme exchanged by different agents as provided by the General Traffic Regulation (RGC).
• Reliable and accurate identification of agents, eliminating the possibility of fraudulent use of the system, and adapting the configuration of workstations agents to their needs and permissions (CTC, PLO, infrastructure, rail, etc.).
• Register of digital telephoneme in different hardware legally valid (legal registration) format digital voice and text.
• Establishing security mechanisms (encryption, key management, etc..) That implement a secure link between agents.
• Consultation with external systems (Operational Plan, SITRA, meshes and EBS (Enterprise Service Bus) to obtain information relating to traffic, user profiles, permissions, etc..

Equipment associated with agents

Terminals (fixed PC or mobile TABLETS) through which the platform enables operators EBR system tasks forwarding and receiving of text notifications in the form of Digital telephoneme.

Communications channel

Corporate VPN network dedicated exclusively to this system, and no possible connection of foreign elements, and a wireless communications infrastructure, which allows agents with wireless mobile terminals communicate with other agents, when they are not physically connected by cable VPN network backbone.

APPLICATIONS IN QUASI-REAL TIME

Simulation Environment

Environment for operator training with the same appearance as the application of operation, in which, the acquisition of records exchange of Digital telephoneme provenance from a centralized database replica. Are different sceneries available (presets, an instant photo of Exploitation, etc.) that simulate the behavior of GBTD, and movement of trains.

Reconstruction Environment

This environment reproduced, thanks to the events recorded with the mark date and time sequences showing rail traffic in deferred time and sequentially in a video graphics system, the digital telephoneme exchanged between Traffic Dispatchers of PLOs and / or CTC, the established routes or cancelled, controls dispatch by the operators, etc…

The data processing is not security, but is reliable and commonly used for the analysis of incidents in the Exploitation. This application is eminently graphic.

Remote Monitoring

It enables operators and users with authorization control have a remote monitoring environment of GBTD. This application aims to have, in any PC located at the CTC or any other place, the monitoring of the application as if they were a virtual TEG.

Juridical Recording Unit (JRU)

Each of the Local Office (PLOs) and Center for Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) has a Juridical Recording Unit. The Juridical Recording Unit (JRU) has the ability to store both the state changes of GBTD variables, breakdowns and failures that are produced and detected in it, such as digital telephoneme exchanged between agents, either made from PLOs or CTC.

The main objective of Juridical Recording Unit is to permit, in the event of an incident, the reconstruction of the system state at the time that the incident occurred, so that the JRU performs the following functions:

• Prevent accidental or intentional deletion of stored data.
• Allow users to properly handle the recovery of such data locally or remotely.
• Be protected against vandalism and fire.

REAL-TIME APPLICATIONS

Operating Environment

Through the platform can be controlled EBR rail traffic and other activities related to traffic safety through the exchange of digital telephonemes between operators. It also has a number of additional services that assist the operator in this process, including: Consultation documentation, circulation, synoptic, etc.

The EBR system is equipped, both in terms of the equipment and software to its hardware equipment, to perform the following basic functions:

• Automation of the expedition, receiving and recording digital telephonemes.
• Legal Register Central and Local digital telephonemes.
• Continuous printing of digital telephonemes through continuous paper printers support system for contingencies.
• Historical Inquiry digital telephonemes.
• User ID by Card identification.
• Consultation of ADIF External Systems for collecting information to assist operators in planning, management, real-time monitoring and control of the movement of trains (ESB, SITRA, tights, etc.)
• Database (DB) and Central Local digital telephonemes.
• EBR System access via cable and wireless.

MAIN BENEFITS

• Extension of the operational current optimizing the time spent managing information and / or notifications between agents.
• Generic modular architecture capable of growing up to do the overall management of all telephoneme associated with each of the disciplines within the rail sector (traffic, work, electrification, etc.).
• Reducing the effect of possible human error.
• Elimination of the possibility of intentional manipulation error or records associated with telephoneme.
• Unification of the storage system or registry.
• Registration in various physical media, unalterable and legal validity of all digital telephoneme issued and received by the circulation agents in accordance with the General Traffic Regulation (RGC).
• Computerization of the process of inspection of records, simplifying the process and reducing the cost and time involved in doing so.
• Decreased time collection records in accident investigation process conducted by rail railway operator, Infrastructure Manager or agencies such as the CIAF (Commission of Railway Accidents Investigation) for debugging responsibilities in case of accidents.
• Optimization of the work to be performed by the agents, focusing their attention only on the true meaning of the operation, eliminating the possibility of errors and failures registration or garbled text sequence.