Eurobalise-Train communication modelling to assess interferences in railway control signalling systems

The evolution of the railway sector depends, to a great extent, on the deployment of advanced railway signalling systems. These signalling systems are based on communication architectures that must cope with complex electromagnetical environments. This paper is outlined in the context of developing the necessary tools to allow the quick deployment of these signalling systems by contributing to an easier analysis of their behaviour under the effect of electromagnetical interferences. Specifically, this paper presents the modelling of the Eurobalise-train communication flow in a general purpose simulation tool. It is critical to guarantee this communication link since any lack of communication may lead to a stop of the train and availability problems. In order to model precisely this communication link we used real measurements done in a laboratory equipped with elements defined in the suitable subsets. Through the simulation study carried out, we obtained performance indicators of the physical layer such as the received power, SNR and BER. The modelling presented in this paper is a required step to be able to provide quality of service indicators related to perturbed scenarios. The work described in this paper is partially supported by the EU FP7-SEC-2011-1 Col-laborative Research Project entitled SECRET—SECurity of Railways against Electromagnetic aTtacks—and by the EU FP7 Research Project entitled EATS—ETCS Advanced Design Test- ing and Smart Train Positioning System. This work is also supported by the Spanish Min- istry of Economy and Competitiveness through the SAREMSIG TEC2013-47012-C2 project— Contribution to a Safe Railway Operation: Evaluating the effect of Electromagnetic Disturb- ances on Railway Control Signalling Systems. This work is partially produced within the Training and Research Unit UFI11/16 funded by the UPV/EHU.