JP7850042B2 - Train control system and train control method - Google Patents

Description

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a train control system and a train control method.

Traditionally, train control systems are known for being installed in railway vehicles to control them. Since the in-train network used for this train control is equivalent to a LAN, connected devices need to have unique IP addresses. Furthermore, DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is a protocol that automatically assigns IP addresses to network devices. With DHCP, in response to a request from a DHCP client, a DHCP server selects and assigns an arbitrary IP address from its managed address range.

However, many vehicle components are installed in each car with the same configuration. Therefore, if the system is configured to assign arbitrary IP addresses via DHCP, even if information indicating the type of equipment is included in the transmitted data, it becomes impossible to determine from the packet information which device the transmitted data originates from (front/rear, car number, etc.).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-75204

The problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide a train control system and a train control method that can more efficiently control equipment corresponding to its mounting position.

The train control system according to this embodiment comprises a vehicle central control device, equipment, and a repeater. The vehicle central control device outputs a control signal associated with an IP address. The equipment is driven according to the control signal. The repeater is connectable to the equipment and assigns an IP address containing information related to the car number to the connected equipment. The equipment has a recognition unit and an equipment control unit. The recognition unit recognizes the car number based on predetermined information contained in the IP address. The equipment control unit uses the car number recognized by the recognition unit to select and filter information and executes driving according to the control signal.

A diagram showing an example configuration of a train control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. A block diagram showing an example configuration of the vehicle's central control system. A table showing an example of a management table stored in the memory unit. A block diagram showing an example of a switch configuration. A table showing an example of a port management table stored in the memory unit. A block diagram showing an example of a communication block configuration. A time chart showing an example of vehicle number recognition in this embodiment.

Hereinafter, a train control system and a train control method according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the embodiments shown below are examples of embodiments of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. Furthermore, in the drawings referenced in these embodiments, the same or similar reference numerals are used for identical parts or parts having similar functions, and repeated descriptions may be omitted. Also, the dimensional ratios in the drawings may differ from the actual ratios for illustrative purposes, and some components may be omitted from the drawings.
(One embodiment)

Figure 1 shows an example of the configuration of a train control system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The train control system 1 is a system that controls, monitors, and inspects all equipment within a train set via transmission. It comprises a Train Control and Monitoring System (TCMS) 10, a relay (switch) installed in each car, and a plurality of branch line devices 20. The Train Control and Monitoring System 10 and the branch line devices 20 in each car are connected, for example, via Ethernet (registered trademark) using wired LANs 15 and 25. The detailed configuration of the Train Control and Monitoring System 10 will be described later.

The branch line equipment 20 operates according to control commands from the vehicle's central control unit 10. The branch line equipment 20 includes, for example, a repeater 30 and a drive system 40, a brake system 42, and an air conditioning system 44, all connected to the repeater 30 via a wired LAN 25. The repeater 30 has a DHCP function and assigns IP addresses that allow for the identification of vehicle numbers to each of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44. The detailed configuration of the repeater 30 will be described later.

Each of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 is a DHCP client. The drive system 40 is, for example, a motor, which provides driving force to the drive wheels according to the control signal of the vehicle central control device 10. The brake system 42 is a wheel braking device, which brakes the wheels according to the control signal of the vehicle central control device 10. The air conditioning system 44 is, for example, an air conditioner, which adjusts the temperature and humidity inside the vehicle according to the control signal of the vehicle central control device 10. Each of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 has a communication block 50. The communication block 50 processes the assignment of allocated IP addresses, vehicle number recognition, and vehicle control communication. The detailed configuration of the communication block 50 will be described later. The branch line equipment 20 according to this embodiment is shown as the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44, but is not limited to these. For example, it may be a door control device, destination indicator, and master controller. Also, the combination and number of devices of the branch line equipment 20 may differ.

Here, an example of the configuration of the vehicle central control device 10 will be described based on Figure 2. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the vehicle central control device 10. As shown in Figure 2, the vehicle central control device 10 includes a communication unit 100, a storage unit 102, and a vehicle control unit 104.

The communication unit 100 communicates with multiple branch line devices 20 via wired LANs 15 and 25. The communication unit 100, for example, has an Ethernet controller and communicates with the multiple branch line devices 20 (devices 40, 42, and 44) via Ethernet communication.

Figure 3 shows an example of a management table stored in the memory unit 102. The memory unit 102 stores the IP addresses of each piece of equipment for each train car. The IP addresses are generated according to predetermined rules shared by each device in the train control system 1. For example, the third octet of the IP address is defined as the car number, and the fourth octet as the equipment type. More specifically, "10.1.3.5" would be processed as the drive system equipment for car 3, and "10.1.4.22" would be processed as the air conditioning equipment for car 4. In this embodiment, the IP addresses of each piece of equipment for each train car stored in the memory unit 102, and the IP addresses assigned to equipment 40, 42, and 44 of the branch line equipment 20 described later, are described as fixed values, but are not limited to this.

The vehicle control unit 104, for example, when simultaneously outputting control commands to the equipment 40 of all vehicles, sets a multicast address such as "239.255.1.5" as the destination IP address in the IP header, and sets data indicating the control content, which is assigned to the data position for each vehicle's equipment 40, in the data section of the Ethernet packet. Note that the second to fourth octets of the multicast address may be set to any numbers, and are not limited to these.

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of the repeater 30. The repeater 30 is, for example, a managed switch, specifically a DHCP-enabled switch capable of controlling itself. This repeater 30 also has multiple ports. As shown in Figure 4, the repeater 30 includes a communication unit 300, a storage unit 302, and a DHCP control unit 304. Devices 40, 42, and 44 connected to the repeater 30 begin communication the moment they detect link establishment. Therefore, the repeater 30 operates so that all settings are finalized at startup based on the configuration information stored in the storage unit 302.

The communication unit 300 communicates with the vehicle's central control unit 10 via the wired LAN 15 and with devices 40, 42, and 44 via the wired LAN 25. The communication unit 300, for example, has an Ethernet controller and relays communication between the vehicle's central control unit 10 and the devices via Ethernet communication.

Figure 5 shows an example of a port management table stored in the memory unit 302. The memory unit 302 stores the IP addresses of each device that assigns IP addresses via DHCP as configuration information, categorized by port number. For example, in car 1, port A of the repeater 30 is associated with IP address "10.1.1.5", port B with IP address "10.1.1.6", and port C with IP address "10.1.1.22". Similarly, in car 3, port A of the repeater 30 is associated with IP address "10.1.3.5", port B with IP address "10.1.3.6", and port C with IP address "10.1.3.22". In other words, the port management table is the IP address definition for each connected port in the repeater 30 of each car.

Furthermore, since the IP addresses within the train control system 1 must be unique, the IP addresses assigned by the repeater 30 to each device 40, 42, and 44 must all be different for each train car. In other words, the port management table stored in the memory unit 302 will be different for each repeater 30.

The DHCP control unit 304 functions as, for example, a DHCP server. In response to IP address acquisition requests sent from devices 40, 42, and 44, the DHCP control unit 304 refers to the port management table stored in the storage unit 302 to determine and assign IP addresses to devices 40, 42, and 44. For example, the DHCP control unit 304 fixedly responds with the IP address "10.1.1.5" as a DHCP offer to a DHCP discoverer from a device connected to port A. Similarly, it responds with the IP address "10.1.1.6" to a DHCP discoverer from a device connected to port B, and with the IP address "10.1.1.22" to a DHCP discoverer from a device connected to port C.

In this way, the DHCP control unit 304 always assigns and confirms a fixed IP address corresponding to each port A to C to the devices connected to ports A to C. In other words, simply connecting to a predetermined port on the repeater 30 completes the configuration as the intended device. For example, if device 40 connected to port A fails and another replacement device 40 is connected to port A, it will always be assigned the IP address "10.1.1.5". Therefore, the vehicle's central control unit 10 can always perform the same control on device 40 connected to port A without managing the MAC address of the device connected to port A. Thus, when connecting each device 40, 42, and 44 to the network, workers only need to connect the devices to the designated ports, eliminating the need for prior configuration changes. This reduces the workload for workers and prevents configuration errors. Conversely, with this method, for example, regardless of what device is connected to port A, the IP address assigned to that port will be assigned, so care must be taken when connecting. Since the vehicle's wiring is basically predetermined, problems should not occur.

Figure 6 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of the communication block 50. As shown in Figure 6, the communication block 50 is, for example, a block having DHCP client functionality, and includes a communication unit 400, a storage unit 402, a request unit 404, and a recognition unit 406.

The communication unit 400 communicates with the vehicle's central control unit 10 and the repeater 30 via wired LAN 15 and wired LAN 25. The communication unit 400, for example, has an Ethernet driver and communicates with the vehicle's central control unit 10 and the repeater 30 via Ethernet.

The storage unit 402 stores, for example, the IP address determined by DHCP. The request unit 404 executes DHCP processing to obtain the IP address.

The recognition unit 406 enables the recognition of the installation location, such as the vehicle number, based on the IP address issued from the repeater 30. For example, the recognition unit 406 may determine the vehicle number by assigning the third octet of the IP address to the vehicle number, and then determine the vehicle number from the IP address. The equipment control unit 408 uses the vehicle number determined by the recognition unit 406 to perform operations corresponding to the vehicle number.

This allows the equipment control unit 408 to use the car number obtained by the recognition unit 406 to extract the portion corresponding to its own car from the data indicating the control content set for each car in the Ethernet packet. Specifically, this is effective when the vehicle central control device 10 uses multicast to set and transmit information for all cars in the control signal at once. The receiving equipment will extract only the data corresponding to its own car, ignoring information for other cars. In particular, for the transmission of control system devices such as the drive system 40 and brake system 42, the transmission interval is set to several tens of milliseconds, so the processing load can be reduced as the number of cars in a train set increases. This invention is most effective when utilizing such multicast transmission processing. Therefore, it is possible not only to reduce the processing load of the vehicle central control device 10 but also to reduce the network load.

Figure 7 is a time chart showing an example of vehicle number recognition in this embodiment. Here, we will explain the case where the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 of vehicle number 1 have a defined data location for storing the control signal, including a composite command, within their respective data structures.

First, the IP addresses for each port are set in the memory unit 302 of the repeater 30 (step S100). Next, the request units 404 of the communication blocks 50 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 sequentially request IP addresses using the DHCP discoverer (steps S102a, S102b, S102c).

Next, the DHCP control unit 304 of the repeater 30, in response to the DHCP discoverer's request for an IP address, sends a fixed IP address assignment proposal (DHCP Offer) according to the port to which each of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 is connected (steps S103a, S103b, S103c).

Next, when the request units 404 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 receive a DHCP Offer in sequence, they request to use their respective fixed IP addresses (DHCP Request) (steps S104a, S104b, S104c).

Next, the DHCP control unit 304 of the repeater 30 approves (DHCP Ack) the use of fixed IP addresses for each request unit 404 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 in response to each DHCP Request (steps S105a, S105b, S105c).

Next, the request units 404 of the communication blocks 50 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 set the approved (DHCP Ack) fixed IP address in the storage unit 402 (steps S106a, S106b, S105c).

Next, the recognition units 406 of the communication blocks 50 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 recognize their own vehicle number based on, for example, the third octet of the configured IP address (steps S107a, S107b, S107c).

Next, the vehicle's central control unit 10 sets, for example, the destination IP address in the IP header to "239.255.1.5" and sends an Ethernet packet containing all vehicle information in a predetermined position in the data section to the drive system unit 40 via multicast communication over the wired LANs 15 and 25 (step S108). Similarly, the brake unit 42 and the air conditioning unit 44 define different multicast addresses and perform multicast communication to consolidate all vehicle information.

Next, the equipment control units 408 of the communication blocks 50 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 of car 1 read the control signals directed to themselves from a predetermined position in the data section of the received Ethernet packet using the car number obtained by the recognition unit 406 (steps S109a, S109b, S109c). This allows the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 of car 1 to extract only the control signals configured for their own car, even if the Ethernet packet was multicast transmitted to all cars at once.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the relay 30 issues IP addresses containing information related to the mounting position to the connected drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44. This enables the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 to perform equipment control using the mounting position recognized by the recognition unit 406 based on the IP address. As a result, by using the IP address information issued from the connected relay 30, control tailored to each train car can be operated with a single program.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these embodiments are presented as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their variations are included within the scope and spirit of the invention, as well as within the scope of the invention and its equivalents as described in the claims.

10: Vehicle central control unit, 30: Repeater, 40: Drive system unit, 42: Brake unit, 44: Air conditioning unit, 406: Recognition unit, 408: Equipment control unit.

Claims (6)

A vehicle central control unit that outputs control signals associated with an IP address,
A device that is driven according to the aforementioned control signal,
A relay device to which the aforementioned device can be connected, which assigns an IP address containing information related to the vehicle number to the connected device,
Equipped with,
The aforementioned repeater is,
Multiple connection ports,
It has a storage unit that stores multiple different IP addresses corresponding to each of the multiple connection ports,
The relay device assigns to the device connected to any of the plurality of connection ports a unique IP address associated with the connected connection port and having information related to the vehicle number,
The aforementioned device is
A recognition unit that recognizes the vehicle number based on the vehicle number information contained in the IP address,
A train control system comprising: an equipment control unit that selects and discards information using the car number recognized by the recognition unit and executes the drive according to the control signal. The train control system according to claim 1, wherein the equipment control unit uses the car number obtained by the recognition unit to drive according to the data corresponding to its own car from the data indicating the control content set for each car in the control signal . The aforementioned repeater has a DHCP function,
The train control system according to claim 1 , which assigns the IP address in response to a DHCP request from the aforementioned device. Multiple different devices are connected to each of the aforementioned multiple connection ports.
The train control system according to claim 3 , wherein the repeater assigns each of the IP addresses associated with the connected connection port from among the plurality of different IP addresses. The train control system according to claim 4 , wherein the control signal is transmitted via multicast. There are multiple such relays, each installed in a different car of the train.
The train control system according to claim 5 , wherein each of the plurality of relays issues an IP address containing information about the vehicle number that identifies the vehicle at which it is mounted to a device connected to each of the plurality of relays .