PTC-Sim - Positive Train Control Simulation

This application is a Positive Train Control (PTC) Back Office Server (BOS) with web interface, track/locomotive simulators, and Edge Message Protocol (EMP) messaging subsystems. Development has begun with the intention of growing into an open-source PTC solution after observing first-hand the difficulties railroads are currently experiencing as they attempt to meet PTC implementation deadlines imposed by congress. It is a work in progress and distributable free under the MIT license. All images obtained under the Creative Common License.

PTC's mandate is to prevent:

Train on train collisions
Over-speed derailments
Incursions into work zone limits
Movement through misaligned track-switches

Interoperability between railroads is also required, as defined by the Federal Railroad Administration's Interoperable Train Control (ITC) standard.

PTC-Sim currently implements broker-assisted EMP communication between simulated on-track devices (locomotives and 220 MHz radio base-stations) and the BOS. Locomotive tracking and computer-aided-dispatch (CAD) is facilitated by a web interface, where current device status and location are displayed graphically. For the simulation, each web client gets its own "sanbox", consisting of an independent broker and track/locomotive simulator.

Usage

From a Linux terminal, start the application with ./sim_bos.py, then navigate to `http://localhost:5000'

Application Structure

Components

Each component exists as a seperate entity. Communication between entities occurs via EMP messaging over TCP/IP.

Back Office Server : Displaying real-time device and locomotive status via its web interface. Plans exist to also provides CAD capabilities, such as communicating track restrictions to locomotives.
Message Broker: An intermediate message translation system allowing bi-directional communication between track devices, locomotives, and the BOS. Currently, each component transports EMP messages via TCP/IP only. Future versions will implememnt Class C (IP based multicast protocol) and Class D (IP based point-to-point protocol) messaging.
Track Simulator: Simulates on-track devices:
- Locomotives: Each locomotive travels along the track, broadcasting status messages (and eventually receiving CAD directives) over its two simulated 220 MHz radio transducers.
- 220 MHz Radio Base Stations: Receives locomotive status messages and transmits them to the Message Broker via LAN.
- Waysides: Receives status messages from it's attached switches via LAN, then broadcasts them over 220 MHz radio to the BOS.
- Switches: Each switch sends its current position (OPEN, CLOSED, or ERROR) to its parent wayside at regular intervals.

Files

PTC-Sim
|   app_config.dat - Application configuration information.
|   lib_app.py - Shared application-level library.
|   lib_messaging.py - Messaging subsystem library.  
|   lib_track.py - Track simulation class library.
|   lib_web.py - Web interface library.
|   LICENSE - MIT License.
|   Procfile - Process definition, for use in virtual environments.
|   requirements.txt - Dependencies, for use in virtual environments.
|   runtime.txt - Python version def, for use in virtual environments.
|   README.md - This document.
|   sim_bos.py - The Back Office Server / web interface.
|
+---docs - Contains documentation.
|
+---logs - Created on startup to hold log files for each component.
|
+---static - Static web content, such as images, css, and js.
|
+---templates - Flask web templates
|       home.html - The main device and locomotive satus page. 
|       layout.html - Top-level container template, including navbar.
|
+---track
|       track_bases.json - JSON representation of the track's radio base stations.
|       track_locos.json - JSON representation of the railroad's locomotives.
|       track_rail.json - JSON representation of the track's main branch.

Dependencies / Technologies

Requires Python 2.7. Other dependencies managed by the application include: Flask, Jinja, JQuery, and the GoogleMaps API.

Preview

To preview PTC-Sim, navigate to https://ptc-sim.herokuapp.com/

PTC-Sim Screenshot

Unimplemented

At this point in development, some features typical in a PTC deployment, such as authentication, encryption, high availability, redundancy, and persistent data have not been implemented. Track simulation is also currently restricted to a single branch, however locomotives are not currently aware of each other on that branch. Additionally, the following TODO items are in progress:

Broker queue msg expire time
Web Output: logs and broker queue monitor, to demonstrate msging system
Base coverage overlays in website map display
Segregated logs
Ensure PEP8 for file headers, imports, and docstrings (model after Tack and connection, but move public members to class level-doc)
Privatize necessary members and do validation on public members
Readme screenshots and high-level PTC images
Track Circuits, to aid col avoidance.

dustinfast / PTC-Sim

readme