Experimental Analysis ofaTime-Triggered Network Designed forTrain Communications

2giuseppe.bujagunipd.it, 3diegopradalghotmail.it Abstract -Time-triggered protocols arerecognized tohaveahigh degree ofdependability. Thepurpose ofthis paperistoanalyze byexperiments their application tothenetworking ofthedevices installed aboardtrain. Thepaperstarts byreviewing thecurrent standard forthetraincommunications. Thentheoperating principles ofthetime-triggered protocols areillustrated, a possible arrangement foratime-triggered network tobeapplied toatrain ispresented, andtheTTP/Cprotocol isintroduced. Afterwards thetechnical dataofacommercial TTP/Cboardare illustrated andaprototypal network issetupwiththese boards to control anemulated train function. Atlast, experimental results showing thecommunication characteristics oftheprototypal network arereported. Nowadays communication networks areusedfordata exchange amongactuation, sensing andcontrol devices ina widerangeof applications. At thebeginning the communication networks wereusedmostly inprocess and manufacturing industries; thentheyhaveexpanded intoa variety ofapplications, including roadvehicles andtrains. Theinstallation ofacommunication network inthetrains hasbeenpressed bytheincreasing number ofdevices installed inthemodemrailway vehicles, andtheneedofenforcing their integration. Indeed, theanalog connections previously inuse werenomoreable tosupport thedata exchange required byan effective handling (control andsupervision) ofthedevices. Themigration tothecommunication networks hashadthe merits ofreducing thecable wiring andofpermitting the implementation ofadvanced train functions. European trains adopt acommunication network based on