Transportation is a key infrastructure that not only improves people's everyday lives, but also enables economic growth, job creation and overall affluence.
For this reason, the Shift2Rail European rail initiative has started the Safe4Rail project(*), using and working with software standards to provide significant and fast progress in safety and security. In addition, the aim is to integrate new functions and technologies. The project is led by a European consortium of industrial partners and research institutions and is financed with EU funds (*).
ETAS as project partner
"As a project partner, we are contributing with our software expertise, AUTOSAR Adaptive competence and safety consulting" , says Dr. Oliver Kust, the Safe4Rail Project Manager at ETAS.
Until June 2021, ETAS successfully participated in the predecessor project Safe4Rail-2, supporting the development of a common platform for E/E architectures and wireless traffic networking. One specific area of improvement was the Train Control and Monitoring System (TCMS), known as the train`s on-board brain and back-bone.
These results are now being used in the follow-up project Safe4Rail-3 to deliver next-generation network devices. Together with the collaboration project CONNECTA-3, Safe4Rail-3 will apply technologies to relevant laboratory scenarios and real train units.
Benefits
- Implemented up to SIL4 functions in TCMS
- Increased availability of trains related to the functioning of train control and monitoring
- Reduces costs and effort in project engineering, integration, and approval
- Increased capacity of lines
In the future, ETAS will perform safety and security studies of the Function Distribution Framework (FDF) to analyze impacts on application level and to support the specification of methods for safe integration and validation of applications on top of FDF and SIL4 hardware.
(*) This project has received funding from the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 101015405. The JU receives support from the European Union‘s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Shift2Rail JU members other than the Union.