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mInt - The Modeling Interlockings project with Ansaldo STS  - pursues the development of toolsets that generate Interlocking Controller application logic based on control tables.

Introduction

Railway interlockings control and protect the movement of trains through a railway system. The current methods used to develop interlocking application logic are highly detailed from first principles via track layouts and control tables to Interlocking Controller logic. The goal of the mInt project is reduce development time and increase consistency and regularity of the produced Interlocking Controller application logic by automating many elements of the process. Additionally it will also explore ways to automate the Verification and Validation (V&V) techniques used during the development process to provide the quality assurance required for safety-critical application logic.

Mission

The mInt project will develop a prototype model-driven framework for the development and verification of railway interlocking control logic. The framework will be based on MDA and incorporate both traditional approaches to V&V and novel V&V techniques, such as model checking and model-based testing. The composite V&V strategy will be capable of providing the high level of assurance that is required for safety-critical systems such as railway interlockings.

Outcomes and Benefits

The results of the project will:

• improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the development and verification process
• contribute to safer and more cost-effective Interlocking Systems
• enable the technology to be used by similar organisations world-wide.

Origins

A student project co-supervised by Ansaldo STS and investigators from The University of Queensland (UQ), has demonstrated that the emerging technology of Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) can be applied to the development of railway interlocking control logic. However, this proof of concept was on a small scale (a single interlocking from a single railway domain) and did not involve any V&V, other than rudimentary inspection.

Ansaldo STS is an international transportation systems company. Before a company like Ansaldo STS can adopt a technology such as MDA, it must be shown that the technology scales up to larger and more complex interlockings, and that comprehensive and cost-effective V&V can be carried out to the level required for safety-critical applications such as railway interlockings.