Eurobalise

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Eurobalises in Wittenberg

The Eurobalise is a special form of the balise . Technically, it is an inductively coupled transponder which, mounted between the rails of a track, is energized by the vehicle when it is driven over and sends a message ( telegram ) to the vehicle. Its counterpart on the vehicle is the Balise Transmission Module (BTM). A feedback about the correct receipt of the error-protected message is not provided. There are balises with a fixed message, as electronic milestones , and those that receive current messages from the signaling line equipment, similar to a signal .

The Eurobalise is standardized as a safety-relevant element of the European Train Control System (ETCS) by the European Railway Agency (ERA), but is also used in numerous other signaling systems.

history

Direct forerunners are the KER balises, as used for KVB ( GEC Alsthom ), EBICAB ( ABB ) and RSDD ( Ansaldo ). The BTM for Eurobalises can optionally be set to a mode in order to read out the KER balises. The KER balises use the same frequency for power supply of 27.095 MHz and are positioned in the middle of the track in the same way as Eurobalises.

At the beginning of the 1990s, it was investigated whether balises could be used to transmit signal information for punctual train control, both for lines with little traffic and as a fall-back level for more efficient systems.

The development was coordinated and continued by the Eurobalise / Euroloop project 92/94 of the 3rd  research framework program. In 1995 the EUROSIG consortium was founded with the ERTMS / EUROSIG project 95/98 as part of the 4th Research Framework Program. The companies belonged to him

on.

In autumn 1995, Siemens was the first company to provide samples of the S21 type Eurobalises. In the so-called Siemens balise , elements of punctiform train control systems and prototype balises developed by Siemens as part of the ETCS project, which were based on surface wave technology, were combined and tested on the Zurich S-Bahn and on the Nuremberg – Hof axis . From July to October 1996, prototype tests were carried out by Siemens and the Balisen, developed in cooperation between ABB , GEC Alsthom and Ansaldo, at the Austrian research and testing center Arsenal and on the Velim railway test ring . The individual development work was merged with an integrating EMSET project 96/00.

The Eurobalise FFFIS ( Form Fit Function Interface Specification ) has been added to the series of ERTMS specifications as SUBSET-036 . The foreword of an older edition describes that the specification is based on the results of the EUROSIG consortium and that the development was financially supported by the European Commission .

installation

Two Eurobalises, with special fastening, on an ETCS stop board (instead of a main signal) on the new Erfurt – Leipzig / Halle line
Eurobalise on slab track on the new Ebensfeld – Erfurt line

There are a variety of systems and concepts for attaching balises to the track. In general, larger metal parts in the vicinity of the balise interfere. Special brackets and securing devices are sometimes used for special requirements.

For example, on the high-speed lines Nuremberg-Erfurt and Erfurt-Leipzig / Halle balises were installed with a special fastening for increased protection against impacts such as chunks of ice and with fluidic optimization.

Fixed data balise

During installation, a fixed data balise ( Fixed Data Balise or simply Fixed Balise ) is impressed with a wired or wireless telegram, which then transmits it to appropriately equipped vehicles. In particular, this telegram contains identities and distances (typically ≈ 1 km, maximum 2.5 km) between neighboring balise groups. This link is an essential security element, as it enables the detection of failures (from balises or the BTM), measurement deviations of the odometry , and crosstalk from the neighboring track.

Transparent data balise

Transparent data balises ( Transparent Data Balise or Controllable Balise ) are connected with a cable to a LEU ( Lineside Electronic Unit ). The LEU transmits the telegram to be transmitted to the balise. This could e.g. For example, the signal aspect could be stop with a red signal and the signal aspect drive with a green signal. The LEU is integrated into country-specific signal systems - be it by tapping the signal aspect of a conventional signal or by connecting it to an interlocking.

As a rule, LEUs should only be able to transmit a few telegrams, be small and not require a separate power supply.

arrangement

Instead of individual balises, balise groups are used to protect against failures, usually a pair of fixed data balises and transparent data balises. The sequence allows the direction of travel to be determined. If more information needs to be transmitted, further balises can be added to a group. At the beginning and end of a line equipped with ETCS there are two fixed data balises that switch the ETCS monitoring on and off. Unlinked balise groups to secure temporary speed limits are executed twice.

Euroloop

Fixed dates balise in Toledo

The balises can be supplemented with a Euroloop . This is a leakage cable laid at the foot of the rail and up to 1000 m long , which also transmits telegrams to the vehicle, which, unlike the balise, are not only transmitted selectively but continuously along the entire length of the cable. In this way, it is possible to react more quickly to changing information in the area in front of a new block section (e.g. a new block section was left by the train ahead and can now be driven on) and in this way to end the braking of the train earlier to avoid unnecessary speed loss.

power supply

The Eurobalise does not require a power supply, it receives the necessary energy via a vertical magnetic field generated by the vehicle's BTM with a frequency of 27.095 MHz ( channel 11A CB radio ). When the vehicle drives over, this magnetic field induces a current in a coil within the Eurobalise.

Data transfer

With the Eurobalise, data can be transmitted from the track equipment to the vehicle (uplink) or from the vehicle to the track (downlink). The downlink took place via an amplitude modulation of the 27.095 MHz magnetic field, which is used to supply the balises with energy. The downlink was seldom used and has been omitted with version 2.5.1 of the specification. The uplink takes place via an FSK- modulated magnetic field with the frequencies 3.951 MHz for a logical "0" and 4.516 MHz for a logical "1". The data transmission rate of 564.48 kBit / s is sufficient to transmit a telegram at up to 500 km / h . Telegram is the name for the data record of a balise.

The programming of balises is not standardized.

Interoperability

Balises from different manufacturers must work reliably with BTMs from different manufacturers. This not only means that the BTM must be able to read the data even at maximum train speed, but also that no valid telegrams may be received from a balise on the adjacent track - even if this balise happens to be powered by another train is supplied. For this purpose, upper and lower limits are set for the uplink field strength in particular, in different zones around the balise and depending on the energizing magnetic flux (Section 5.2.2 in). Even the geometry and position of conductor loops for measuring the field strength are specified in Appendix B2 of the test specification. These specifications are available for Eurobalises in two sizes, standard size and smaller, whereby the smaller ones can be mounted lengthways and crossways. The specification for the interference immunity u. a. compared to magnetic iron oxides, salty mud and wet snow, a distinction is made between more interference-resistant Class A balises and less interference-resistant Class B balises (Section 5.7.9 in).

Telegram structure

Each balise transmits a data set called a telegram. These telegrams have either 1023 bits or 341 bits, depending on the balise. Of these, 830 or 210 bits can be used for signaling applications - the user data block is divided into 10-bit symbols, which are represented by 11 bits each after the shaping and scrambling transformation (i.e. a block of 913 = 83 * 11 bits or 231 = 21 * 11 bit):

Structure of a telegram
Coded data bits
(length depends on the balise)		 Control
bits Cb 		Scrambling bits
Sb 		Additional shaping
bits Esb 		Checksum
CheckBit 		overall length
913 bit (user data: 830 bit) 3 bit 12 bit 10 bits 85 bits 1023 bits
231 bits (user data: 210 bits) 341 bits

When the balise is crossed, the telegrams are repeated cyclically. To protect against transmission errors, the user data is scrambled (scrambling code), a substitution of the usage data with code words of different Hamming distances is selected, and checking is made possible by a checksum. Since the checksum is only calculated after the substitution code of the user data, the additional shaping bits are used to fill in the bits of the checksum in such a way that the entire telegram only consists of symbols of the selected channel coding , with each transmitted symbol comprising 11 bits.

The user data consists of a header ( header ) followed by a plurality of message fields ( packets ), which are standardized in the ERTMS protocol. Mandatory fields are Packet 5 - Linking information, Packet 12 - Movement Authority, Packet 21 - Gradient, Packet 27 - Static Speed ​​Profile, Packet 255 - End of information. Many applications use optional fields such as Packet 3 - National Values, Packet 41 - Level transition and Packet 136 - Infill Location Reference. If the user data area comprises more than 830 bits, further message fields can be transmitted via telegrams from the following balises in the same balise group - with up to eight balises per balise group, an ERTMS message can therefore contain up to 8 * 830 = 6640 user data bits (with each telegram having one Header block and the end packet must contain 255).

Signaling systems that use the Eurobalise

  • ETCS - the Europe-wide standardized train control system
  • Euro-Signum - a variant of the Swiss Integra-Signum train control system
  • Euro-ZUB - a variant of the Swiss train control system ZUB 121
  • SCMT - an Italian train control system
  • TBL 1+ - a Belgian train control system
  • ZUB 262 - a German system for transferring route profiles to tilting technology trains
  • ZBS - a new train control system for the Berlin S-Bahn
  • ZSI-127 - train control system for some Swiss narrow-gauge railways
  • TASS - a British system for influencing tilting technology trains

Web links

Commons : Eurobalise  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Eurobalise  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h ERTMS / ETCS - FFFIS for Eurobalise. (PDF; 1 MB) In: Website. European Railway Agency , February 24, 2012, accessed February 20, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Albert Bindinger: Perspectives for an increase in performance in railway operations through modern operations control technology . In: Deutsche Bahn . tape 68 , no. 7 , 1992, pp. 730-735 .
  3. ↑ Also Germany with ETCS Level 2 . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . No. 2 , 2016, p. 76-78 .
  4. ^ Ulrich Lehmann: Activities of Siemens for the introduction of the EURO-Balise S21 . In: signal + wire . tape 88 , no. 12 . Tetzlaff Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, 1996, p. 21-26 .
  5. ^ Heinz Althaus: The Siemens balise - the basis for train control systems . In: signal + wire . tape 87 , no. 3 , March 1995, ISSN  0037-4997 , p. 60-62 .
  6. ^ A b c Jens-Peter Bauer: EURO-Balise S21 from Siemens for long-distance traffic . In: signal + wire . tape 89 , no. 5 , 1997, pp. 5-10 .
  7. ↑ EU Commission (ed.): Eurosig - Development of the complete ERTMS concept . Final report, 2000, ISBN 92-828-7350-1 .
  8. ↑ FFFIS for Eurobalise v2.4.1 . September 27, 2007 .: "[Foreword] This Norm incorporates results from the original work (" Eurobalise FFFS ") carried out by the EUROSIG Consortium under the financial support of the European Commission (Eurobalise / Euroloop Project -'92 / 94 ', ERTMS / EUROSIG Project -'95 / 98 ', and EMSET Project -'96 / 00'), and in close co-operation with technical bodies of the UIC and of the EEIG ERTMS User Group. The EUROSIG specifications were subsequently updated by the UNISIG Consortium "
  9. ^ A b Klaus Hornemann, Bernd Fröhlich: Application of the Eurobalise at DB Netz AG . In: signal + wire . October 2015 ( PDF ).
  10. ↑ Werner Weigand: ETCS - operational advantages of the different functional levels and operating modes . In: Railway technical review . tape 56 , no. 11 , 2007, p. 676-681 .
  11. ^ Martin Guss: Eurobalises and interoperability . In: signal + wire . tape 108 , no. 5 , 2016, p. 27-29 .
  12. ↑ ERTMS / ETCS - Test Specification for Eurobalise FFFI. (PDF; 2.7 MB) In: Website. European Railway Agency , February 24, 2012, accessed February 20, 2018 .
  13. ↑ a b Warren Kaiser, Stein Nielsen: THE CORE OF ATP - DATA ENGINEERING. (PDF) Institution of Railway Signal Engineers Australasia, March 14, 2008, archived from the original on April 29, 2013 ; Retrieved February 13, 2016 (Australian English).