No. 1007
Committee Report of Flexible Signaling System
Cooperative Committee of Flexible Signaling System
The railway signaling system which is one of the social systems is positioned as essential equipment of train operation, has also obtained steadfast evaluation from a viewpoint of safety or functionality. However, subjects which must be solved still more, such as flexibility to functional change and less-correspondence at the time of operation disorder. The expected life cycle time as a social system is very long, and during the life time the system has not only difficulty of functional improvement, but also obsoletes quickly by rapid progress of an information technology. Moreover, although the social mission imposed on the signaling system is also changing in rapid aging or globalization, it is lacking in the flexible corresponding to change of such needs. On the other hand, development of an advanced signaling system is also performed, and the state of the signal system as a social system which looked down at these is asked.
The new system concept that is a flexible system was built in consideration of the matter mentioned above. A flexible system is an evolved type system and has the feature which can function similarly also at the state of the time of normal, and abnormalities. Examination of an interface, abstraction of the contents of information, and communication of autonomous distributed type become indispensable at realization of the concept. Furthermore, this system concept was applied to the railway signaling, and it verified about the conquest possibility of "the brittleness against an apparatus obstacle" which is the weak point of today's railway system, and the flexibility to the improvement in functional as a system. Consequently, this concept acquired the prospect that it may become a system architecture concept applicable to other industrial fields, and effective.
©2005. The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan