SAT.engine: Automated planning and validation tools for modern train control systems

Abstract

During the worldwide introduction of modern train control system projects, such as the ETCS (European Train Control System), it turned out that the actual engineering processes cannot fulfil the increasing requirements of the new technology. In comparison to conventional train control systems, the amount, as well as the required quality, of planning data is substantially higher. Hence, the effort in all life cycle phases increases significantly. Due to the lack of tools, too many tasks are done in a manual way, which is inherently inefficient and errorprone. Therefore, the Chair of Transportation Systems Engineering at Dresden University of Technology launched the development of the SAT.engine toolbox in cooperation with ISV mbH Berlin eight years ago. SAT.engine stands for "satellite engineering" and provides an efficient method for a satellite based track survey and further processing tools, e.g. for capturing relevant track elements, generating topological plans, producing video simulations for training purposes or the verification and validation tasks of planning data. Besides the SAT.engine, engineering tools and experience, especially the recently developed tools for the automatic validation and verification of trackside data (e.g. ETCS telegrams), will be presented. © 2010 WIT Press.