Management App for Wayside Controllers

Highlights

Our world-known client owns a range of railway wayside products – logic controllers to execute interlocking operations at rail locations. As the product was developed, the desktop tool used for сontroller management revealed compatibility issues, access limitations, and lack of scalability. The new one was to be developed with the future in mind, so it could be in service for decades without drastic modernization.

Challenge

Client Challenge

Replace the outdated interlocking management tool with the new one, with consideration of a long system lifecycle and more convenient access.

Project Objective

Develop a tool for comprehensive monitoring and management of interlocking control systems with the opportunity for hassle-free addition of new equipment.

Solution

The PSA engineering team created an application providing web access for smooth and reliable online monitoring of wayside controllers and management of interlockings at rail locations. To meet the highest safety standards, the PSA team held deep-dive discovery sessions onsite exploring the wayside products’ features.

The developed tool enables the following capabilities:

Monitor connection with the wayside controllers
Monitor the operating state of the system regarding events, tracks, LEDs, lamps, communication links, and station message traffic
Configure interlocking applications’ parameters, such as timer, boards, and variables
Configure communication links for Peer, hot standby, and Safe P functionality
Assess power consumption for every power supply
View the historical data on users, events, warnings, and errors

Thus, it reveals a convenient and error-free environment for creating interlocking application files under Signal Design Quality Procedures to be used for the execution of interlocking operations. The app assists with the following:

Development and compiling application logic
Debugging the programs
Uploading the firmware into logic controllers

Developed with scalability in mind, the solution can be kept up-to-date with the latest needs of the railway industry. It required minimum resources from us to add the support of new hardware during the use of the tool and provide updates to improve product stability.

The delivered app contains tools required for field installation, system configuration, monitoring, maintenance, and troubleshooting. It is available both for Linux and Windows, as we provided source code porting.

To explore more technical details click here.