Testing and validation
Individually configured. Accurate. Fast.
In our accredited RailSiTe® laboratory, we test components, interfaces and operational scenarios.
Given the particular safety requirements in the rail sector, the de-velopment of control and safety technology goes hand in hand with continuous testing. This starts with the specification, includes the derivation of test cases and test environments, and ends with the acceptance of the final systems and hardware devices.
The Institute of Transportation Systems carries out research into processes, methods and their actual implementation, with the aim of optimising testing processes. Our modular RailSiTe® train laboratory provides the infrastructure for our research: complete track infrastructures can be loaded into this environment, allowing us to carry out extensive functional and operational tests even at the design stage. This helps us to identify errors in the planned message packets or detect potential safety problems on the line. We can even test and evaluate operational changes and improvements to lines that are already in operation.
Thanks to RailSiTe®‘s modular structure, individual rail system components can also be tested in simulations of functional and operational scenarios. Our work currently focuses on the compliance and interoperability testing of components for the European Train Control System (ETCS).
But the testing of systems is not limited to ETCS. Since the layers in the individual modules can be replaced, other control and safety systems can also be implemented and tested. This includes, for instance, the quick and efficient testing of new user interfaces for electronic interlocking control centre, or new interface concepts for additional control and safety system components.
The tests carried out in the RailSiTe® laboratory can also be used for system validation. A comprehensive range of methods is available for the derivation of test cases from specifications, the transfer of test cases to laboratory scenarios, and the automated implementation, logging and analysis of scenarios.
The Institute of Transportation Systems thus has extensive exper-tise and knowledge in testing and validation, particularly in the areas of conformity and interoperability testing, as well as a flexible test infrastructure.
You may also be interested to know that the DLR RailSiTe® train laboratory was accredited in early 2012 for the functional compliance testing of ETCS on-board units (ERA Subset-076) in accordance with DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005.