HPC Platform for Railway Safety-Critical Functionalities Based on Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

The automation of railroad operations is a rapidly growing industry. In 2023, a new European standard for the automated Grade of Automation (GoA) 2 over European Train Control System (ETCS) driving is anticipated. Meanwhile, railway stakeholders are already planning their research initiatives for driverless and unattended autonomous driving systems. As a result, the industry is particularly active in research regarding perception technologies based on Computer Vision (CV) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), with outstanding results at the application level. However, executing high-performance and safety-critical applications on embedded systems and in real-time is a challenge. There are not many commercially available solutions, since High-Performance Computing (HPC) platforms are typically seen as being beyond the business of safety-critical systems. This work proposes a novel safety-critical and high-performance computing platform for CV- and AI-enhanced technology execution used for automatic accurate stopping and safe passenger transfer railway functionalities. The resulting computing platform is compatible with the majority of widely-used AI inference methodologies, AI model architectures, and AI model formats thanks to its design, which enables process separation, redundant execution, and HW acceleration in a transparent manner. The proposed technology increases the portability of railway applications into embedded systems, isolates crucial operations, and effectively and securely maintains system resources.

The High-Adhesion Die-Cleaning Tape with Dual-Functional Groups for Die to Wafer (D2W) Hybrid Bonding

“…The demand for high-performance computing based on artificial intelligence continues to break out in diverse applications. − Increasing the size of transistors is the traditional way to improve computing power; however, it is limited by the lithographic size and device miniaturization. The advanced three-dimensional interconnect package is a novel approach to enhance computational capability. , From the traditional liquid metal welding technique to the fan-out package, the I/O interconnect pitch has greatly shrunk to the smallest 36 μm. − Unfortunately, due to the solder volume and deformation problem, it is difficult to satisfy the advanced process for a smaller pitch.…”

Toward the Enhancement of Rail Sustainability: Demonstration of a Holistic Approach to Obstacle Detection in Operational Railway Environments

“…It is a critical component of modern railway systems aiming for safer, more efficient, and more reliable transport networks. The majority of OD systems in railways are deployed as on-board systems installed on trains themselves, consisting of different on-board sensors such as cameras and lidar sensors [4][5][6][7][8]. These on-board systems are designed to continuously monitor the tracks ahead and detect any obstacles or hazards that may pose a risk to the train's safe operation.…”