USA: Independent safety assessor TÜV Süd has granted CENELEC SIL-4 safety certification for Piper Networks’ ultra-wideband location detection and train control technology.
The time-of-flight radio technology can provide the location of trains in real-time to within a few centimetres and calculate their speed in a manner consistent with the CENELEC standard.
Piper said it now has the first UWB-based location and speed monitoring technology with SIL-4 accreditation. End-to-end verification and validation of all components and processes means this can be ‘seamlessly integrated with higher level systems to ensure that they are operating with the highest levels of confidence’.
UWB has a number of potential use cases across the rail and urban transport sectors, complementing existing train control technology, and Piper’s UWB has already been trialled on the 7-Flushing Line of the New York Subway, providing train position data for CBTC deployed by Thales.
Other potential applications in the urban rail sector are foreseen, with surface light rail in particular. These include Automatic Train Protection, movement authority protection, collision avoidance and prevention of Signal Passed at Stop incidents.
The technology has been approved against nine separate standards covering Functional Safety, EMI/EMC and Environmental Certification.
‘Piper’s SIL-4 achievement is the latest step in our five-year programme to develop a safety certified UWB system that propels the industry forward in the development of advanced train control systems’, said Robert Hanczor, CEO of Piper Networks, on August 31.
