Control Software for Surface Ice and Snow Detecting Device Viktor A. Barausov Vladimir P. Bubnov Shokhrukh Kh. Sultonov KTN LLC; director general, Department of Information and Department of Information and Saint Petersburg, Russia Computer Systems, Emperor Computer Systems, Emperor info@idm-ktn.ru Alexander I St. Petersburg Alexander I St. Petersburg State Transport University State Transport University St. Petersburg, Russia St. Petersburg, Russia bubnov1950@yandex.ru sultonovsh@yandex.ru life of heating equipment, less time and money consuming installation, easier and less costly maintenance, quick and easy assessment of the equipment condition. Modern railways use excessively thermal equipment Abstract and systems to prevent faulty operation of railway switches and other mechanical devices caused by The paper discusses the principles of designing pressed snow and ice buildup – which is often the case and developing control software used in the in the cold seasons of the year. system for detecting ice and snow buildup on Currently available wide range of equipment used to controlled surface, with the principles for prevent faulty operation caused by ice and show buildup identifying the best-suited method of detecting. can be classified into types and classes according to the The paper also describes basic principles principles of their operation: mechanical, pneumatic, underlying the development of ice and snow thermal and combined devices and systems. Most buildup detection systems used on railway widely applied – of all currently available thermal switches which results in improved sensitivity systems – are electrical heating systems. and precision of the data collected and Currently the system which finds the widest application processed allowing for reduction of electric in the railway industry for heating switches is SEIT- power consumption and improved reliability 04M. It consists of TEHs mounted on frame rails, and longer life of detection devices. outdoor air temperature sensor, switch, precipitation sensor, comparing element (in which the outdoor air Introduction temperature sensor is connected to the second input of the comparing element) with only one rail temperature Higher speeds and heavier traffic coupled with demands sensor mounted on frame rail and connected to the first for lower costs require new solutions to improve input of the comparing element [Wol16, Bro12, Sel19 & efficiency of railway equipment including electric Bar16]. heating applications. Most essential among the Given all the advantages of the analogue the properties of equipment required are longer useful life following causes can be identified which prevent high- and lower maintenance and repair costs. efficiency operation of the device (according to the In their turn, more demanding requirements make it present application): necessary to develop innovative technologies providing • No information is provided of the type (based on solutions which will produce more energy-efficient, ‘input signal comparison’) of the electronic data reliable, ecology-friendly systems with higher-precision processing (EDP) device used, and no explanation and measuring of physical values and, hence, more reliable description are given for ‘specific algorithm’ and and exact data for decision-making in the process of ‘specific software’. There are many reasons to suggest control. the EDP device organization as that of an automatic Principles underlying electric heating system operation, controller of poorer quality and less possibilities control units and other system components are to ensure compared to modern EDP devices – logic-based EDPs electric power saving, high reliability during the useful performing logic operations/gates with the input signals Copyright c by the paper's authors. Use permitted under Creative processed according to the algebra of logic principles to Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). In: A. produce output signals relevant for the effective function Khomonenko, B. Sokolov, K. Ivanova (eds.): Selected Papers of the values. Models and Methods of Information Systems Research Workshop, St. Petersburg, Russia, 4-5 Dec. 2019, published at http://ceur-ws.org 75 • No indication is given as to possibility or ‘precipitation absent’ feature. Fig. 1 shows a possible impossibility to quickly change the algorithm and system architecture design based on the description software given or involvement in operation of the given above. It presents a multilevel design which gives control personnel (including operators) of various levels all stages of data processing by the system, i.e. data either by changing algorithm or by manual two- or three- collection, summarization, archiving, precipitation- level duplication with priority ranging. This condition relevant feature development. Such architecture design has a negative effect on technical and logistic properties can be applied for the system described as each stage of the prototype when the system is implemented based on the data processed at the previous stage. extensively thus causing higher probability of faults and resulting accidents and emergencies. Data Collection • Such application makes insufficient use of «Subsystem» current digital technologies and automated Rail Precipitation Level of data collection with workstations. temperature sensor sensor data requests made for data from The task to be solved by the present application is Сommunication various sources Outdoor air improved technical and operational properties, temperature sensor economic efficiency and wider range of technical and operational options for electric heating systems installed Data Processing «Subsystem» on either railway switches or other elements of railway Level of data processing, signal infrastructure. The achievement of the above properties indication and/or registering and is ensured by higher reliability, reduced energy Verification Integration data verification consumption and options of both local and multilevel remote control. One of the basic requirements of precipitation-detecting Data Archiving «Subsystem» system on the controlled surface is regular updates of ice Level of data archiving with or snow presence/absence measurements on the Precipitation Data archive data archived and stored for precipitation sensor surface. After the request by EDP condition feature Data storage further processing device the sensor elements transfer the data required. EDP device summarizes the data (digitized signals) from the system data sources. The data collected are Data Output Subsystem archived, and the archives and the decisive rule set Printer or Level of data output with data (‘precipitation-present’ feature developed) are used by card processing and human-oriented User Data output the system to decide on the presence or absence of interface Automated workstation output precipitation. The system assesses condition of the sensor surface as ‘precipitation present’ or ‘precipitation absent’ applying the criterion based on the phenomenon of temporary (or partial) stabilization of the sensor Figure 1: Multilevel EDP device system surface temperature at the level of shift between phases architecture design [Kho19]. Signal values accumulated in the current cycle are stored Figure 1 shows all levels of the system with detailed in the EDP device RAM and are transferred via the serial structures of subsystems. The elements of the communication channel to external flash memory subsystems presented are of abstract character and are device which stores the data together with the condition implied by the information on the system described. The properties produced by the precipitation sensor and the names of the levels are given within boxes which, in current time as a file. The data received can be printed UML notation, refers to subsystems (a set of objects and out by sending them to a special printer device or varied other systems). Such representation allows to formats of the data output. demonstrate each level as consisting of multiple As the above description shows, the first block of the elements[Kho19]. system collects the data, the second block summarizes the data obtained from the sensor elements (sources), the third block performs data archiving and, finally, the fourth block develops the ‘precipitation present’ or 76 System Environment and Models On terminating the measurement cycle Data The process of system designing implies revealing the comparing element forms a report interaction and connections of the software being with the data of sensor measurements developed and the environment. Interaction and within a given period collected by the connections revealed allow for solutions which provide data collection system. The report for both the functionality required and the system design contains the initial temperature on the ensuring efficient interaction between the system and its sensor plate surface timed from the environment. heating element switch-on to the The UML notation-based model of system environment temperature value above the threshold can be expanded into a set of subsystems. When value of solid-to-liquid phase (0°С) presented in such a way, the ice and snow buildup Sensor is connected to the hardware detecting system environment is shown as existing Input signals with units for controlling, measuring, within the data collection subsystem. Other subsystems data processing, signal indicating which make up the system of the ice and snow buildup and/or registering and data transfer, detecting on controlled surface are also given there. which, coupled with the sensor, form The ice and snow melting thermal system interacts with the device for detecting ice and snow external to the system objects during the start and the buildup on the controlled surface stop stages, during compiling reports (at the stage of ‘precipitation present’ or ‘precipitation absent’ feature Feedback The resulting data are transferred to development) using the data collected and during the system of the ice and snow melting- stage of testing and calibration of meteorological related data instruments (Fig.2). The request is made for report on the Comment criterion set based on application of the surface temperature temporary Start stabilization phenomenon with frequency of reporting varying with station and time. In relation to a given Stop sensor plate the conclusion of either ‘precipitation present’ or Report ‘precipitation absent’ is drawn based on temporary stabilization phenomenon criterion. Calibration Development of specific algorithm for control and data collecting and processing system for detecting snow or Testing ice buildup on the controlled surface can be shown as block-chart. Block-chart allows algorithm design visualized thus allowing for algorithm operation to be analyzed and for logic errors in the algorithm Figure 2: Options of ice and snow melting thermal implementation to be detected. A typical block-chart is system shown in Fig.3 [Ada17, Bey05 & Smo08]. System Communication Possible ‘Precipitation present’ feature application development Elements Data collection system, ice and snow melting thermal system, comparing element 77 N=1100; % Lengths of data array (test of 25_04_2019) NW=30; % Sliding window length. A≤B Ns=120; % Time of 2nd heating element switch-on. A, B i=0; k=1:NW; dif(k)=0; % Data array shown in window. k=1:N; Av1(k)=0; Av2(k)=0; % Median array shown in window. Parameter value 1 Res1(k)=0; sum=0; A>B while iNs && (ch1 > T1 || ch2 > T1) % Decisive rule (precipitation Figure 3: Typical algorithm block-chart: 1 – logic gate present feature development) Res1(i)=0.5; OR; & – logic gate AND; A, B – logic gate of else if i>Ns && Av1(i)Ns && (ch1 > T1 || ch2 > T1) present feature development % Decisive rule (precipitation Res1(i)=0.5; buildup on the controlled surface else if i>Ns && Av1(i)