Accelerating Safe Railway Application Development Using Model-Based Design

Alstom’s train traction team uses MATLAB^® and Simulink^® to develop traction control software adhering to Software Safety Level 2 standard EN 50657 (including former EN 50128).

Hear a brief summary of the earlier talk from MATLAB EXPO 2018 when the traction control team used MATLAB and Simulink for prototyping code generation on traction controllers for the very first time. Learn how Alstom transformed its software development processes and tools from traditional tools such as Visio, textual documents in combination with IEC 1131 design tools, and hardware-based testing using MATLAB and Simulink for requirement management, software development, and verification on personal laptops according to safety standards EN 50128/50657. Alstom has developed software products and projects to successfully have trains running in passenger service with independent safety assessment using a Model-Based Design certified workflow from MathWorks. Alstom upskilled its software developers and verifiers to transform into this new way of working and new tools. For certain validation activities, the team has managed to cut cost by 80% compared to traditional way of working.

Hear about the opportunities Alstom sees in MATLAB and Simulink and what the team is prototyping to create an even more efficient system development process. Learn about some of the challenges faced and how to overcome them, as such transformations don’t always go smoothly.