Studies On Automatic Train Operation (ATO) In Inter-city Rail Transport Systems

With the economy globalization in China, the high speed inter-city rail transport (ICRT) systems have entered the period of rapid development. Either running speed or line density has been approaching to world-wide leading position. Based on the complexity in speed and uncertainty of the ICRT system, obviously the manual operation mode could not meet the practical demand in safety and operations. It is vitally critical to develop an advanced automatic train operation (ATO) system for ICRT system. In general, an ATO is a highly intelligent control and monitoring system which integrates computer, communication and control technologies. As a result, an intelligent ATO system may provide high efficiency, safety and security under an uncertain environment..Functionally, an ATO system may automatically optimize the target "time-speed-distance" patterns from stop-to-stop, and also determine a real-time control strategy that may track the optimal patterns to optimize the desired objective, such as safety, on-time and efficiency, etc.This thesis presents the development of CTCS-2 based inter-city ATO system to meet the demand of ICRT based on the existing urban rail ATO technology, and the simulation studies to verify the feasibility of the proposed prototype. The major results given in this thesis are as follows:(1) Compare the running environment between the ICRT and Urban Rail Train (URT), and investigate their difference in hardware and software structure. and then design the whole structure of ATO system.(2) On the basis of the CTCS-2 control system, we improve the hardware system according to the existing ATO:the overall plan, vehicle interface etc.(3) Design the software system. the work is carried out in three steps:First, collecting the running data; Second, optimize the running profile by Genetic Algorithm; Finally, design the controller to track the target profile.(4) Test the ATO system to verify controlling results in the laboratory.From the result of the lab-simulation, the proposed system is able to meet the basic requirements. It is important practical significance of the inter-city ATO system realization.