Outline of INTEROS Development
J. Kawasaki, Yoichi Kouno · JR East technical review · 2011
A 100 Mbps Ethernet-based Train Communications Network (TCN) called “INtegrated Train communication/control networks for the Evolvable Railway Operation System (INTEROS)” has been developed by JR East. The main function of INTEROS is transmission of commands from the driver to onboard devices such as main traction converters and brake control devices. Additionally, using status data from various on-board devices, INTEROS handles various assistance functions for drivers and crews, data transmission functions for passenger services and remote maintenance. The system will send large volumes of onboard data in the near future to wayside systems at train operation centers and maintenance depots by using general-purpose wireless communications such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX). Transmission lines have been developed, including couplers and connectors in a test car (MUE-Train), and evaluation of transmission characteristics that met reference values for 100 Mbps Ethernet has been undertaken, in order to verify the performance of transmission lines for Ethernet in a railcar. Additionally, two INTEROS systems having different system configurations have been developed, and those are equipped to MUE-train. The results of transmission experiments and the characteristics of the two INTEROS systems are described in this article.