Research on General Automatic Test Platform for Onboard Automatic Train Protection

Traditional train control systems experience problems such as low efficiency, tedious operation, high labor costs, poor visibility, and difficulty in designing and maintaining test cases during manual functional testing of onboard automatic train protection (ATP) equipment in a semi-physical testing environment. In the study, we conducted in-depth research on the functions of various ATP products and designed and implemented a general automatic test platform for ATP. Additionally, we developed a general script language for onboard ATP testing that can be converted into a set of specific script instructions based on train type. For the hardware, an extensible interface platform was designed and developed and combined with a robotic arm control unit and driver–machine interface image recognition unit to simulate ATP external input signals and driver operation. For the software, we designed a general communication protocol between devices; developed a series of toolsets including script parsing and execution, communication protocol conversion, and test process management; and realized the automatic control of the test process. An actual engineering application indicates that this ATP general automatic test platform can be used to reduce development costs and improve test production efficiency, thereby showing high practical value.