An intelligent collision avoidance system for metro railway vehicles based on the synthesis of multiple acoustic methods

Abstract

As one of the most energy-efficient mass transit systems, metro railway has increasingly make use of modern wireless communication technologies to improve the efficiency and safety. In this chapter, we discuss some acoustic distance measurement and proximity detection methods, which may be integrated into an intelligent onboard proximity warning and collision avoidance system in order to increase the metro operation efficiency by safely improving the headways when the automatic train control (ATC) system is switched into a degraded mode. Those acoustic methods are based on the reception, processing, and identification of acoustic signals that are either excited by the moving vehicles or artificially generated by loudspeakers. Example system is introduced and partially validated by online tests. It is shown that the acoustic methods, when implemented independent of the railway signal and communication systems, have potential to improve the transit efficiency and safety without any wayside equipment.