ISSN (Online) 2321-2004

IJIREEICE ISSN (Print) 2321- 5526

International Journal of Innovative Research in Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation and Control Engineering
NFTPCOS-18
National Conference on Future Technologies in Power Control and Communication Systems
College of Engineering Perumon, Kollam, Kerala
Vol. 1, Special Issue 2, March 2018

Wi-Fi Based Signalling in Railways

Bindu S. J.1, Arun M. S.2, Abhijith A. G.3, Arun Gopi4, Harikrishnan G.5, Sanoj Sanjeev6,
Sreekanth G. S.7
Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
College of Engineering Perumon, Kollam, India 1
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
College of Engineering Perumon, Kollam, India2
UG Students, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
College of Engineering Perumon, Kollam, India 3-7

Abstract: The proposed system is an alternative to the conventional hardware section of the interlocking and signalling
methodologies adopted by Indian Railways, which are largely composed of relays and cables. In this paper, sensors,
controllers and Wi-Fi modules, made to work in an integrated fashion to replace these otherwise inefficient (both in
terms of energy and space) systems is presented. The presence of trains in railway tracks, detected by sensors, is used to
control the railways signals, via microcontrollers. Further, this information is used to switch the siding tracks and level
crossing gates through various motors. The utility of microcontrollers in this area also warrant several other additional
features like pre-acknowledging loco pilots about upcoming signals, stopping the trains directly from control rooms in
case of emergency, etc., which also adds to the security aspect of the entire system.
Keywords: Indian Railways; signalling; interlocking; energy efficiency; safety factors in railway; embedded systems.

I. INTRODUCTION

A unique feature of rail network for it to circulate in total safety, unlike road network, is that it must be controlled. The
obvious reason for this is that trains don’t have the possibility of avoiding each. This entire control of rail network is
taken care of interlocking, which, by definition, is the arrangement of signal and signal appliances, so interconnected,
such that the trains’ movement must succeed in proper sequence. Considering the large length of trains, the entire rail
network is divided into sections (called blocks) and each of them is controlled by an interlocking system. The entire rail
network is guided by one prime safety rule, viz. only one train must be present in a block at a particular point of time.
For this, along the track sides, various systems that authorizes the train whether to continue its journey or not are placed
[1]. The presence of trains is anticipated by various systems and its output is used in track switchers, gate crossing and
various other scenarios.
One example of a conventional type of interlocking methodology (as adopted by Indian Railways) is shown in Fig. 1.
In both Fig. 1(a) and Fig. 1(b), where a 12 V dc supply is exciting a relay through the rails. When the train is not present
in the track, the circuit is completed through the rails and the signal shows the green/clear aspect. However, when a
train is present in the block, its axle shorts the circuit and thus de-energizing the relay. The LED signal indication
corresponding to this situation is through a red/stop aspect [2].

II. TOWARDS A NEW SIGNALLING MODEL

In this respect the following points are worth observing, which may be deemed as the disadvantages of the convectional
system mentioned in the last section.
 The relays and cable circuits are very bulky and consume large space. The energy consumption associated
with them are very high.
 There are large losses in the cable circuits that spans a large area (probably a block or two).
 In electrified tracks, where ac current of different frequencies are used to excite the relays, appearance of
parasitic oscillations may give misguided information.

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 ISSN (Online) 2321-2004
IJIREEICE ISSN (Print) 2321- 5526

International Journal of Innovative Research in Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation and Control Engineering
NFTPCOS-18
National Conference on Future Technologies in Power Control and Communication Systems
College of Engineering Perumon, Kollam, Kerala
Vol. 1, Special Issue 2, March 2018

 When insulation breaks the circuit by-passes the relay sections, giving the same signal indication irrespective
of the presence/absence of trains.
 Sanders, used in locomotives during rainy and misty seasons, isolated the axle of the train from the wheel.
This further makes the train virtually ‘invisible’ to the signalling system.

(a) (b)
Fig. 1 Schematic drawing of a track circuit - unoccupied (a) and occupied (b).

These are some of the issues which the proposed system of signalling must address. Specifically, the signalling system
must have only reduced number of relays and cables, considering the amount of losses and the space consumption they
demand. Also, the signalling must be more economical, so that cost of maintenance can be reduced significantly. The
scope for automating the associated processes in signalling, like opening and closing of level crossing gates, track
switching, must be utilized. It will be shown how the aforesaid points can be made possible in this paper. Further,
although not within the scope of this work, the system can have additional utility for safety like acknowledging the loco
pilot about the upcoming signals, emergency control of train from control rooms etc. It must be stated that these
additional functionalities can be added any time into the proposed system after its commissioning without much effort.

III. LED SIGNALLING, TRACK SWITCHING AND GATE CONTROL

A. Sensing the Train

The present system of signalling utilizes the trains’ cutting of relay excitation path for detecting its presence. This, as
mentioned in I, has its own disadvantages. In the proposed system of signalling, suitable sensors are used to detect a
train. These sensors can be of ultrasonic or infrared type and are suitably placed so that it cut only the passing trains.
These can be commissioned sidewise, or as any other suitable mechanical arrangement. Also, delays must be provided
so that it could distinguish cutting a train from some other instantaneous means of blocking (say, a bird). In both
ultrasonic and infrared types, a distance of detection can be preset. Having this value in hand, the sensors won’t
misinterpret the trains of other tracks as a valid output. However, considering the advantages that ultrasonic sensors
have in detecting obstacles irrespective of whether it is day time or night time, and that its detection is independent of
whether fog, mist, smoke, etc. are present, it’s a preferable choice. But, as far as showing the system in an exhibit
model, both does the same job equally well.

B. Methodology and Algorithm

Having detected a train, this data is directly fed to a microcontroller (either directly or through Wi-Fi modules).
Through suitable programs in the microcontrollers, this input can be utilized to perform various actions like changing
the signals, switching the tracks or controlling the level crossing gates. The block diagram representation of each of
those functions is shown in Fig. 2. As a practical component for each block, an LPC2148 is used as the microcontroller,
ESP8266 as the Wi-Fi module, IR sensors as the sensor and servo motors for both controlling the track and gate
position. The design considerations of these elements shall be dealt at a later section. In Fig. 2 note that the detection
point may not be necessarily connected electrically to the microcontrollers that directly control the gate and track
motors. They can be interfaced through Wi-Fi module, hence avoiding the need for any cables.

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 ISSN (Online) 2321-2004
IJIREEICE ISSN (Print) 2321- 5526

International Journal of Innovative Research in Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation and Control Engineering
NFTPCOS-18
National Conference on Future Technologies in Power Control and Communication Systems
College of Engineering Perumon, Kollam, Kerala
Vol. 1, Special Issue 2, March 2018

Fig. 2 Block diagram approach of changing the LED signals, switching the tracks and controlling the gate level
crossing motors based on the output from the IR sensors.

Now, an algorithm shall be developed restricting the analysis to a track section shown in Fig. 3. Here, a main track (or
priority track) and a siding track have been shown. The presence of trains in these tracks are sensed by the sensors
labelled IRS1, IRS2 and IRS3. The aspects indicated by various signalling LEDs are marked as L1, L2 and L3. The track
changing motor is shown by M1. Enlisting out all the outcomes, a truth table as in Table 1 can be formed, which
mention what are the corresponding states IRS1, IRS2, IRS3, L1, L2, L3 and M1 could take.

Fig. 3 A track section consisting of train detecting sensors, signalling points and track changing motors.

TABLE. 1 A TRUTH TABLE SHOWING VARIOUS OUTCOMES.

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 ISSN (Online) 2321-2004
IJIREEICE ISSN (Print) 2321- 5526

International Journal of Innovative Research in Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation and Control Engineering
NFTPCOS-18
National Conference on Future Technologies in Power Control and Communication Systems
College of Engineering Perumon, Kollam, Kerala
Vol. 1, Special Issue 2, March 2018

IRS1 senses whether a train is approaching the main track or not whereas IRS2 and IRS3 senses in the later part of the
main track and siding track. In the table, a ‘0’ indicate the absence of train and ‘1’ otherwise. One assumption made
here is that, by default, the signals indicate the green aspect when all the blocks are empty. However, this may vary
depending on the railway preferences. Also, in the table, ‘M’ stands for that configuration of the track switcher when it
is aligned to the main track, and ‘S’ to the siding track. ‘R’, ‘Y’ and ‘G’ are illustrated with their respective colours as
they are supposed to be in their corresponding signals.
Now consider the combination 010 [3]. This means that a train is present in the priority track (either stopped due to
some emergency or passing that signal) and the other track is empty. This would imply that any train following it must
slow down and enter the siding track, if approached. Hence the track switch must be aligned ‘S’ to direct the following
train into the siding track. L1 and L3 must be ‘Y’ and ‘R’ respectively so that the following train slows down, enter into
the siding track and wait until the main train has passed by. However, L3 must be shown ‘G’ indicating its permission
to move with line speed.

C. Circuit Diagram
The circuit level implementation is shown in Fig. 4. For the microcontroller part, an LC2148 is used. For convenience,
the signalling, motoring and train detection points are all shown at the same place, so that only one microcontroller
controls them. Here six IR sensors are shown, of which three are used for detecting the trains, two for conforming
whether the gates in the level crossings have been completely closed and the last one for ensuring that the tracks are
properly switched. All these sensors are fed to the Port 0 of LPC2148. The LED signals are sourced from Port 1. Their
indication logic is already mentioned in Table 1. The servo motors for controlling the gate and the track switch are
connected to the PWM pins. This is because, in order to control the positions of the servo motor, suitable PWM waves
are to be fed as control signals into it. The duty ratio of the PWMs are to be computed beforehand, depending on the
load, and are to be suitably programmed into the microcontroller. It must be remembered that in the actual case, the
microcontroller may not be able to source a high load driven motor. In such cases, the motor is fed through a driver
circuit (either IC based or otherwise). A Wi-Fi module (ESP8266) is also connected to the microcontroller, in order to
communicate with the neighboring ones (or as stated earlier, with loco pilot).

Fig. 4 Circuit level implementation

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 ISSN (Online) 2321-2004
IJIREEICE ISSN (Print) 2321- 5526

International Journal of Innovative Research in Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation and Control Engineering
NFTPCOS-18
National Conference on Future Technologies in Power Control and Communication Systems
College of Engineering Perumon, Kollam, Kerala
Vol. 1, Special Issue 2, March 2018

The choice of LPC2148 is by no means strict. One could equally use an ATmega16. But since a common controller for
signaling, motoring and train detection have been used, an increase in the number of pins has to be accounted for. In the
motor side, a stepper motor could have been used owing it its high torque capability and less power consumption. The
other associated circuits are those as mentioned in the datasheet of LPC2148. C 1 and C2 are capacitors connected to
remove the surface charges from the crystal that clocks the controller. A reset circuit is also designed, which by default
connected to 3 V through a current limiting resistance. When the push button is pressed, it is directly connected to the
ground.

IV. MODEL TESTING AND SUMMARY

A model, implementing all the facts mentioned, was constructed as shown in Fig. 5. All the conditions of the truth table
were tested and the results conformed to what was designed.

Fig. 5 Model of the track section constructed on an exhibit.

This model is just an indication of the utility of embedded system into the area of signalling in railways. This new
approach to signalling can serve as a replacement to the present system and weed out all the associated disadvantages.
This space is utilized to mention some of the future scopes of this work. The foremost one is the utility of Internet of
Things (IoT) in railways [4]. This would further make railways more connected, safe and pave ways for easy fault
detection techniques. The increasing bandwidth of internet and data security would only aid this process. Further, since
this method of signalling is based on low power semiconductor devices, the power required for it can be generated
utilizing solar energy. Solar panels built around the stations is one example towards this step. Since DC supply is what
is actually needed in these devices, the energy from solar can be utilized directly without conversion.

REFERENCES

[1] James Pigg – Railway Block Signalling, London.

[2] Armstrong, John (1957) – All about Signals, Trains Magazine, June and July, 1957.
[3] German PZB Signalling – Manuals released by Railworks.
[4] Smart Trains and Connected Railways – IBM Internet of Things, Travel and Transport.

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