Safe Wireless Communication Solution for Driver Machine Interface for Train Control Systems

This paper presents a design for safe wireless communication solution to be used for data transmission to and from a driver machine interface that is a part of a train control system. Introduction of a wireless interface can significantly simplify the maintenance operations of a DMI since no physical detaching and cabling of the component is required. However, since wireless support is becoming a part of the DMI, it shall exhibits the same safety characteristics as DMI. It implies challenges in the design of the wireless communication protocol stack and requires a special-purpose Safety Layer. The paper presents a proposed network architecture, together with the description of the protocols, where the special attention is on wireless security, session control and fault management.