Method for managing the circulation of vehicles on a railway network and related system

1. A method for managing circulation of vehicles on a railway network, the network being subdivided into a plurality of resources, each resource having an allocation state, assuming the value “allocated” or “unallocated,” and having an interlocking state, assuming one value from among a plurality of predetermined values, one or several of the resources being driven by a ground controller equipped for wireless communication, a regulating unit capable of planning all of movements of the vehicles circulating on the network, and being connected to fixed base stations, on the ground, being equipped for wireless communication, and each vehicle circulating on the network including an onboard controller equipped for wireless communication permitting communication with the ground controllers and base stations connected to the regulating unit, the method comprising:

planning, by the regulating unit, of a mission assigned to a vehicle;

transmitting the mission from the regulating unit to the onboard controller of the vehicle;

identifying, by the onboard controller of the vehicle and for a given time slot of the mission, a group of resources that, on condition each of the resources being allocated to the vehicle and being in a required interlocking state, would permit the vehicle to continue said mission, by using a path on the network corresponding to the group of identified resources;

reserving the identified resources by implementing a predetermined protocol in the onboard controller requiring, from each of the ground controllers associated with the resources of the group of identified resources, the specific allocation of the resource to the vehicle;

then, once all of the resources of the group have been allocated to the vehicle, interlocking the resources by implementing a further predetermined protocol of the onboard controller requiring, from each of the ground controllers associated with the resources of the group of allocated resources, modification of the interlocking state of the resource in compliance with the required interlocking states;

verifying, by the onboard controller of the vehicle, that each of the resources of the group of identified resources has been allocated to the vehicle and is in the required interlocking state; and,

when the result of the verifying step is affirmative, extending authorization, by the onboard controller, for the vehicle to move on the path of the network corresponding to the group of identified resources, allocated and correctly interlocked.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the onboard controller of a vehicle sends the regulating unit, via the base stations, information on the position and/or group of identified resources, and uses the information to update the various missions assigned to the vehicle and any other vehicles circulating on the railway network.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising releasing a resource allocated to a vehicle by carrying out a yet further predetermined protocol where the onboard controller of the vehicle requires, from the ground controller associated with the allocated resource that the resource no longer be allocated to vehicle.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step for identifying a resource takes into account, in addition to the mission, descriptive information on the network and instantaneous position information on the vehicle.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 wherein the identification step includes a step for estimating a speed profile of the vehicle along a path of the network corresponding to a group of potential resources to determine the required time slot associated with each resource of a group of identified resources.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the reserving step for allocating the identified resource includes:

emitting, by the onboard controller of the vehicle, a request asking for the allocation of the identified resource sent to the ground controller associated with the identified resource;

emitting, by the ground controller, an allocation response delivering the allocation state and/or the interlocking state of the identified resource;

verifying, by the onboard controller, that there is no pending reservation and/or that no interlocking has interlocking states incompatible with requested interlocking states.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the interlocking step for engaging the allocated resource includes:

emitting, by the onboard controller of the vehicle, a request asking for the interlocking of the resource allocated to the vehicle, sent to the ground controller associated with the resource;

verifying, by the ground controller associated with the resource, whether interlocking parameters for a current state of the resource are different from requested interlocking parameters, and, in the affirmative, driving the resource according to the interlocking parameters; and

emitting, by the ground controller, an interlocking response indicating the instantaneous interlocking state of the resource.

8. The method as recited in claim 3 wherein the step for releasing an allocated resource includes:

emitting, by the onboard controller of the vehicle, a request asking for the release of the resource allocated to said vehicle, sent to the ground controller associated with the resource;

verifying, by the ground controller associated with the resource, whether the latter is allocated to the vehicle and, in the affirmative, no longer allocating said resource to the vehicle;

emitting, by the ground controller, a release response indicating that the resource is no longer allocated to said vehicle.

9. A controller onboard a vehicle circulating on a railway network subdivided into a plurality of resources that respectively have an allocation state, assuming the value “allocated” or “unallocated,” and an interlocking state, assuming one value from amongst a plurality of predetermined values, each resource of the network being associated with a single ground controller, each ground controller including: radio communications; a processor permitting allocation of the associated resource and ordering a change in the interlocking state of the associated resource; a driver capable of determining the instantaneous interlocking state of the associated resource and, on command by the processor, driving the associated resource according to interlocking parameters of a received interlocking request, the onboard controller comprising:

onboard controller radio communications permitting exchange of messages between the onboard controller and the ground controllers;

an identifier permitting identification of a group of resources that, on condition of each of the resources being allocated to the vehicle and being in a requested interlocking state, would permit the vehicle to continue a mission, by taking a path on the network corresponding to the group of identified resources, the mission being managed by a regulating unit including a planner so as to manage, on a network scale, movements of the vehicle and any other vehicles and to create a mission for each of the vehicle and any other vehicles, the regulating unit being connected to fixed base stations, on the ground, including a wireless communications permitting communication with the onboard controller to transmit the mission assigned to the vehicle;

an allocator and releaser permitting, from a group of identified resources, generation of resource allocation requests intended to be sent to the ground controllers associated with the identified resources, and processing of resource allocation responses coming from the ground controllers, and permitting, from a group of allocated resources, generation of resource interlocking requests, which include interlocking parameters, intended to be sent to the ground controllers associated with the allocated resources, and processing of resource interlocking responses coming from the ground controllers; and

a verifier permitting verification that all of the resources of a group of identified resources have been allocated to said vehicle and that all of the resources of a group of allocated resources are in the requested interlocking state.

10. The onboard controller as recited in claim 9 wherein allocator and releaser are capable, based on a plurality of allocated resources, of generating resource release requests intended to be sent to the ground controllers associated with the allocated resources, and to process resource release responses coming from the ground controllers.

11. The onboard controller as recited in claim 9 further comprising a positioner capable of delivering instantaneous position information for the vehicle.

12. The onboard controller as recited in claim 9 further comprising a database including details of the resources composing the railway network.

13. The onboard controller as recited in claim 9 further comprising an estimator for estimating a speed profile of the vehicle on a group of potential resources.

14. The onboard controller as recited in claim 9 further comprising at least one list corresponding to a group of identified resources, the list including, for each resource in the group: a resource identification field; a field corresponding to a required allocation time slot for the resource; a field corresponding to the “allocated” or “unallocated” allocation state of the resource to the vehicle; a field defining the required interlocking state for the resource; and an interlocking field corresponding to a flag indicating that the resource is indeed in the required interlocking state.

15. A ground controller capable of being associated with at least one resource of a railway network subdivided into a plurality of resources that respectively have an allocation state, assuming the value “allocated” or “unallocated,” and an interlocking state, assuming one value from amongst a plurality of predetermined values, and, onboard a train circulating on the network, an onboard controller including radio communications and an allocator and releaser permitting generation of a resource allocation request intended to be sent to the ground controller, or a resource interlocking request including interlocking parameters and intended to be sent to the ground controller, the ground controller comprising:

radio communications capable of receiving an allocation or interlocking request for the resource associated with the ground controller;

a processor capable of allocating the associated resource in compliance with a received allocation request and ordering a modification of the interlocking state of the associated resource in compliance with a received interlocking request; and

a driver capable of determining the instantaneous interlocking state of the associated resource and, upon command from the processor, driving the associated resource according to the interlocking parameters of the interlocking request.

16. The ground controller as recited in claim 15 further comprising an allocation table including a stack of cells, each cell containing either the value NULL, or the identifier for a vehicle to which the resource is allocated.

17. The ground controller as recited in claim 15 further comprising, for each resource associated with it, an interlocking state table including as many fields as there are parameters characterizing the interlocking state of said resource.

18. A ground controller capable of being associated with at least one resource of a railway network subdivided into a plurality of resources that respectively have an allocation state, assuming the value “allocated” or “unallocated,” and an interlocking state, assuming one value from amongst a plurality of predetermined values, and, onboard a train circulating on the network, an onboard controller according to claim 9 , the ground controller comprising:

radio communications capable of receiving an allocation or interlocking request for the resource associated with the ground controller;

a processor capable of allocating the associated resource in compliance with a received allocation request and ordering a modification of the interlocking state of the associated resource in compliance with a received interlocking request; and

a driver capable of determining the instantaneous interlocking state of the associated resource and, upon command from the processor, driving the associated resource according to the interlocking parameters of the interlocking request.

19. A system for managing the circulation of vehicles on a railway network subdivided into a plurality of resources, each resource having an allocation state assuming the value “allocated” or “unallocated” and having an interlocking state, assuming one value from amongst a plurality of predetermined values, the system comprising:

a plurality of ground controllers, each ground controller as recited in claim 18 ;

the onboard controller onboard a vehicle; and,

a regulating unit including a planner so as to manage, on the network scale, movements of the vehicles and to create a mission for each of them, the regulating unit being connected to fixed base stations, on the ground, including wireless communications permitting communication with the onboard controller of a vehicle to transmit the mission generated by the regulating unit assigned to the vehicle.