Research & Development
Topics
MINOS - Collaborative project
Real-time data service for service for rescue vehicles for faster access to fire and accident scenes - forecast for for the delay-free crossing of railway
supported by:
It all started with the idea of using real-time information and good forecasts from the railway infrastructure to make a valuable new contribution to improving intermodal transport and ultimately to improving safety at level crossings. This idea has evolved so that today we have combined a very complex topic with a transparent use case.
On 13 September 2022, we as Neovendi GmbH had the opportunity to successfully present the “MINOS” (Mobility & Infrastructure Online Services) project at the 4th BMDV Startup Pitch. The MINOS project won both the sponsored audience award and the sponsored jury award by a large majority.
This gave us the opportunity to apply as a team with DB Netz (now DB InfraGO), DB Systel and Mainz University of Applied Sciences for the subsequent mFund funding call in March 2023 and to develop a universally valid data system with standardised data interfaces with which public and non-public infrastructure operators can provide data for Mobility 4.0 services. The time had come in July 2023. We received the funding decision (FKZ 19F2255A) and started work straight away.
Our original presentation from the mFund pitch vividly illustrates the current problems and objectives of the MINOS project.
At the mFund conference in Berlin in December 2023, the Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport, Dr Volker Wissing, personally presented Neovendi GmbH with the funding certificate for the MINOS project at a ceremony in Berlin.
As Neovendi, we are very proud and happy to have received this special honour as a strong and competent team with our consortium partners DB Netz AG (now DB InfraGO AG), DB Systel GmbH and Mainz University of Applied Sciences. Two partners from the Maintal fire brigade were also present.
In a festive ceremony, the Federal Minister Dr Volker Wissing described the MINOS project as a “lighthouse project”. The MINOS project will provide a data service that predicts with sufficient advance notice whether the emergency vehicle will find an open or closed crossing when it reaches the level crossing. This will enable emergency services to optimise their route planning in an innovative way so that they can get to the scene as quickly as possible.
With this research project, we are trying to make digital railway infrastructure data accessible and usable for the public in order to improve safety and traffic flow at level crossings (BÜ).
In this project, many positive benefits could be tested and utilised at a junction of different road users (level crossings).
DIN-Connect
Definition and standardisation of an EULYNX MBSE methodology for the specification of railway systems
As part of a funding call by DIN e.V and DKE, we had the opportunity to submit a multi-page research project draft and qualify for the DIN Connect pitch. On 10.11.2022, we roughly presented the project with the help of a 2-minute video and subsequently won the funding, so that we had one year to define this new standardisation and submit it to DIN.
At the end of March 2024, the time had come and we were able to submit the final version to DIN e.V.
In the research project “Definition and standardisation of an EULYNX MBSE methodology for the specification of railway systems”, Neovendi GmbH was able to describe and document a standardisation of interfaces for field elements and subsystems in which the model-based systems engineering methodology (MBSE) using the example of EULYNX is already in practical application for the European railway sector.
The aim of the EULYNX MBSE framework is, among others, to create a seamless development approach and to facilitate reuse, automation and innovation. Precisely for this purpose, the use of specified system and interface behaviours in the form of executable models is foreseen, instead of using only text-based requirements (typical specifications).
The EULYNX MBSE specification framework enables the seamless top-down description of the abstract solution of a railway system at different levels of granularity and from different points of view.
The MBSE methodology discussed in this document applies primarily to the safety-critical area of train control, train protection and signalling of railway operations (Command, Control & Signalling; CCS). The MBSE methodology comprises a process (a logical sequence of tasks) and methodological techniques for carrying out the tasks. The methodology is based on a semi-formal graphical modelling language, the Systems Modelling Language (SysML). This uses a clear and universally valid notation. The requirements specifications of digital railway signalling systems benefit from the adoption of this methodology.
Furthermore, although this EULYNX MBSE methodology primarily describes the model-based requirements specification of the “small V” (CENELEC EN 50126), it can be extended to the entire V life cycle model. This means that a generalised version of the methodology can be applied to MBSE implementations outside the railway CCS domain. Furthermore, in its current state, it is capable of supporting formal verification and model-based safety analysis (MBSA).
It is important to understand that EULYNX and the EULYNX MBSE methodology are independent of each other. The former is a specification for railway digital CCS architecture, the latter is an MBSE methodology that can be applied to virtually any railway system specification.
We describe here a standardised EULYNX MBSE methodology that is compliant with the current national EULYNX requirements and rules.
The authors and engineering team of Neovendi GmbH, have the necessary knowledge and experience to integrate formal verification and MBSE into the system development activities of digital CCS systems.
MultiPath
"Multi-Path-Communication" is a research project that brings together different radio standards in the railway sector. This could clarify one of the important prerequisites for ETCS L3 and ATO.
In the railway sector, the research objective of MULTI-PATH (Funding code 03WIR1216G) is to define, prototype and test a communication system that brings together various cellular and non-cellular radio standards and guarantees seamless and reliable radio connections for field elements as an integrated system.
Collaborative partners in the research project (03WIR1216G) are: TU Chemnitz; SRCC e.V.; Siemens Mobility GmbH; PINTSCH GmbH; DB InfraGO AG; Neovendi GmbH; Ingenieurbüro Weißflog; comcrypto GmbH.
The Multi-Path project will initially define a system based on a requirements analysis that integrates the various cellular (LTE/5G/NB-IoT) and non-cellular (IEEE802.11p, 802.11) standards in order to connect field elements via at least two of these channels. The following radio networks are taken into account: 5G NR (5G New Radio), which is also currently being used to expand the 5G network, IEEE802.11p (as well as ac, ax, and bd), LTE-A (4G) and GSM-R, all of which are commercially available and in use.
The goal here is to achieve a very high level of reliability through redundancy. In addition, the system is to be implemented in a proof-of-concept demonstrator in order to realise field tests and evaluate the overall concept.
The use of wireless, radio-based connections between field elements and interlocking computers is a promising approach that could significantly reduce the costs of using field elements. However, it should be noted that radio transmissions can generally be affected by changing external conditions and cannot necessarily realise the same reliability and safety integrity level (SIL) as wired transmission systems.
The engineering team of Neovendi GmbH has special knowledge, experience and skills in the field of radio standards, NeuPro, EULYNX, RaSTA and systems engineering, which make a particularly high contribution to this project and also offer added value for other stakeholders.
Education4Rail
(further) education formats for the railway sector
Skilled labour is scarce. The challenges of the future for business and research are great and urgent.
The Education4Rail project was created with the question “How can we succeed in sensitising people early and sustainably to the requirements of the future in work and education and develop attractive education and training opportunities?
Neovendi GmbH is working on this issue together with SRCC e.V. and the Chair of Management Accounting and Controlling at Chemnitz University of Technology under the leadership of the Centre for Knowledge and Technology Transfer (ZWT) at Chemnitz University of Technology.
Vocational and university education, further education and STEM enthusiasm – these three pillars are being considered within the joint project as part of WIR! funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Following an analysis of offers and stakeholders through comprehensive research, workshops and interviews, the needs are identified, derived and then used to develop offers.
Funded by
Federal Ministry of Education and Research -> WIR! Change through innovation in the region
Duration from 12/23 to 11/25
The consortium partners are:
Current work focusses on the following areas: vocational and university education:
• Workshops to discuss “How can the transition between school and vocational training/studies be successful?”
• Evaluation of workshop and interview results on needs in the education sector
Further training in the rail transport sector
• Evaluation of the certificate course on “Fundamentals of railway operations” taking place in July
• Evaluation of the workshop and interview results on the needs in the area of further education
MINT enthusiasm
• Activities and offers within the VDIni Club in Annaberg-Buchholz, such as the development of tasks for an escape train together with pupils during a holiday workshop
Funded by
Federal Ministry of Education and Research -> WIR! Change through innovation in the region
Duration from 12/23 to 11/25
The consortium partners are:
University Toronto
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5G4Rail
Neovendi supports the Communications Engineering and Communication Networks departments at Chemnitz University of Technology in the 5G4Rail project in the investigation of questions about the use of 5G in railway operations.
Specifically, the focus is on communication between digital interlockings and field elements via radio. In other words, we are investigating what happens when messages such as ‘change signal’ or ‘set points’ are sent from the interlocking via a 5G network. The type of message plays a role here, Eulynx telegrams, which correspond to a European railway standard, as well as the RaSTA (RailSafeTransportApplication) protocol that is used in railway operations.
At present, such communication takes place exclusively on the basis of fixed network connections. Access to existing radio networks is not only cost-effective, but also offers a fallback option if, for example, the fixed network is temporarily unavailable due to e.g. construction works or cable theft. However, wireless networks also have their own peculiarities that can affect the transmission speed and other parameters.
Together with the TU Chemnitz, Neovendi is testing scenarios with and without disruptions of the 5G network in order to empirically assess its suitability for communication in railway operations. In this project, Eulynx-based railway knowledge is combined with modern radio technology.
MBSE-Hochschule
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