The IEEE 1473-L Communications Protocol: Experience In Rail Transit

Even before the IEEE’s Rail Transit Vehicle Interface Standards Committee (RTVISC) approved IEEE 1473, railcar manufacturers from Breda in Italy to Kinki-Sharyo in Japan to Bombardier in Canada had been designing the underlying LonWorks® protocol into their rail vehicles. But after its formal adoption in 1999, IEEE 1473-L based networks have begun to proliferate at transit properties in North America and around the world. The US transit industry’s acceptance of IEEE 1473-L as its de facto and de jure protocol for rail transit vehicles is a good indicator of the overall success of the IEEE’s RTVIS Committee and its new standards. Today, transit agency staff, suppliers, and consultants from around the world continue to meet regularly and are creating new Working Groups to establish even more standards for rail transit systems. Many will provide additional synergy with these new IEEE 1473 serial train networks. LonWorks is widely used on rail transit projects throughout the world — both on and off rail vehicles. Recent US applications include NTC Transit’s R142 and R143, Amtrak’s Acela, NJ Transit’s Comets, door monitoring by Vapor; friction brake watchdog monitors and Advanced Automatic Train Control Systems for SF BART; Translite passenger information signs for SF Muni; event recorders by Peerless for Metro North; and propulsion systems from Alstom. Outside the US LonWorks is used on door controls for Sydney Commuter Rail; lighting, heating and air conditioning controls for Deutsche Bundesbahn; and automatic platform door control for monorail stations in Japan and RATP’s Meteor line in Paris — to name just a few. Recently, smaller firms have begun to capitalize on the popularity of LonWorks on rail vehicles by developing new products that increase the throughput of 1473-L by allowing it to be “tunneled” through standard, communications protocols such as T1/E1 and T3/E3. Others have products that tunnel LonWorks through IP (Internet Protocol.) Tunneling establishes a migration path to upgrade the performance of IEEE-1473-L based networks. Others have developed industrial routers for train applications that permit IEEE 1473-L networks to be overlaid onto existing trainlines currently dedicated to other functions. This is now possible using advanced Power Line Transceiver technology that is now a new ANSI/EIA standard. This new ability to retrofit IEEE 1473-L easily onto existing rail fleets opens new opportunities for many transit properties that otherwise would have had to undergo a major trainline retrofit program to free up existing trainlines.