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Overview
The
US Congress in 2008 mandated the deployment of Positive Train Control
(PTC) systems: advanced, wired- and wireless-networked communications
systems to prevent train-to-train collisions, enforce train speed
restrictions, and provide safety for road and railway workers.
PTC
has four primary components
- Equipment
deployed on the locomotive/train
- Equipment
deployed trackside
- Network access
points deployed at or near trackside that are connected to systems
operating at a remotely located control center
- A
bi-directional wireless data link that links all these elements. It
is this component upon which the Interest Group shall focus.
A
presentation (IEEE 802.11-11/1032r1) was made
at both the IEEE 802.11 WNG and IEEE 802.15 WNG sessions at San
Francisco in July 2011, and the establishment of an Interest Group was
approved by the IEEE 802.15 WG during that
session. The fit with IEEE 802.15 is excellent; the released standards
and in-process work that IEEE 802.15 has done to date have addressed in
part many of the requirements for a wireless link for PTC. This
Interest Group will review the work that has been done and propose a
path to development of a future standard for the wireless data link
element. Efforts are being made to coordinate with IEEE
VTS and to invite participation from the broad rail
transportation communications industry.
Current
Status
The
IEEE 802.15 PTC Interest Group is preparing a Call for Contributions
document and we are soliciting, and hearing, contributions that address
numerous PTC aspects. Over the next month, it will be important to
identify the similarities and the differences that exists between our
goals and those of in-process and completed standards or amendments. It
is our desire to ask for Study Group status at the upcoming Atlanta
Plenary in November 2011 and complete the PAR and 5 Criteria documents
in the Study Group phase. The plan is to move to a full-fledged Task
Group by the following Plenary at Jacksonville FL in March 2012.
How
to participate
Participate
by attending our telecons. Our first telecon will be on 13 October (US)
and then continuing weekly up to the Atlanta plenary. The time and date
for the next meeting will always be sent out at least 7 days in
advance. The conference number and access codes will be sent out on the
reflector at least 24 hours before the meeting time, with more detailed
agenda attached.
IEEE
802.15 PTC Interest Group conducts their discussions on the
STDS-802-15-PTC Public Mailing List. You can learn how to subscribe to
the 802.15.4 PTC reflector by pointing your browser here.
Information
We are in the
process of collecting publicly available documents that may provide a
good overview about the state-of-the-art in PTC efforts globally.
Document submittal is simple. If you choose to grow our library of
knowledge, please do so using the standard IEEE 802 template. Please note
that submission of copyrighted, confidential or proprietary material is
prohibited. Double check for "Confidential" or "Proprietary"
boilerplate before you push the "upload" button!
Who to contact with questions
- Interim
Chairman: Jon Adams
- Vice Chairman: TBD
- Secretary: TBD
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, Inc.
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