2017 – July – Banerjee – Monologue of a Byte by Byte traveller

Somnath Banerjee B. Tech, FIRSE, MIEEE, MIRSTE, RPEQ The history of “Byte by Byte” Railway signalling is also the history of new technology for Railway Signalling.  Any discussion on this subject will remain incomplete unless we know how to manage new technology bite by bite. The introduction of new technology in Railway Signalling systems, more often than not, is a challenging exercise. This assumes significant importance because compared to the investment and its physical visibility its impact is very high. This paper discusses how the challenges can be managed in a structured manner. Some important steps can help reduce the labour pains of introduction of new technology in a Railway signalling system.     .    a)  Clear understanding of the operator’s need for the new technology. 
    .    b)  Choosing the right technology to match the operator’s expectations . 
    .    c)  Structuring the development to match the operator requirements using several independent blocks. This is 
again an important step and if not thought out properly, it can make changes to the design difficult and costly. 
    .    d)  Designing the sub-systems with enough resilience to allow with minimum effects to other sub-systems. 
    .    e)  A strategy for testing the sub-systems to ensure minimum changes to it once the sub-systems are integrated into a single system