Author(s)

Mai Ibrahim, Ramez M. Daoud, Hassanein H. Amer

Electronics Engineering Department, American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt.
Electronics Engineering Department, American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt.

In this paper, a new reliable hierarchical model is suggested for a two-wagon train Networked Control System. Each wagon has a Controller that carries the control load and an Entertainment server that handles the entertainment. A supervisory controller runs on top of the two controllers and the two entertainment servers. Contrary to a similar model in the literature, the Supervisory node replaces a Controller as soon as it fails (Active Supervisor). All system states are analyzed and simulated using OPNET. It is shown that, for all states, this architecture has zero control packets dropped and the end-to-end delay is below the maximum target delay. A comparison between this Active model and the other model in the literature is presented. It is found that the entertainment in this new architecture is kept available for the passengers in more of the system states when compared to the architecture previously presented in the literature.

Ethernet; Train; Networked Control Systems; Active Supervisor; Hierarchical Architecture

Ibrahim, M. , Daoud, R. and Amer, H. (2013) Reliable Train Network with Active Supervisor. Journal of Transportation Technologies, 3, 214-219. doi: 10.4236/jtts.2013.33022.