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System Overview
HERMES has been developed to provide a high-fidelity model of the real world railway, while retaining the flexibility within its architecture to add new functional elements and to substitute components as needed to tailor the facility to specific rail conditions and processes. The simulator is a hybrid macro and microscopic model, able to perform predictive calculations as well as a full representation of interlocking and train performance.
The simulator has been developed to tackle some of the most challenging issues facing the modern railway, providing an extensible framework to allow users and developers to new functional modules within the HERMES context and to interface with external third-party systems. HERMES is a tool conceived to help resolve the problems of the 4C challenge, looking at a 30 year time horizon:
HERMES Platform Features:
The core concept behind the HERMES simulation platform is the development of a modular, component based software model that faithfully represents the workings of the real world railway. By breaking the system up into its constituent components, we can evaluate the consequences of replacing the conventional functionality with something novel and innovative. This enables the virtual solution to be experimented with, developed, validated, deployed and optimised.
The essential capabilities of the HERMES environment include:
- Preparation and validation of the infrastructure and rollingstock data.
- Construction, evaluation and maintenance of timetables.
- Analysis of traffic management, capacity and system performance.
- Cost - benefit of infrastructure procurement options.
- Evaluation and validation of operational systems.
- Support a central repository of infrastructure, rollingstock and timetables.
- Provide opportunities for callborative working.
- Use simulator as scenario generator for training systems.
HERMES ETCS Level 2 Modelling on the Great Eastern Mainline at Stratford
The key benefits of the HERMES Platform Include:
- A core railway simulation facility.
- Replaceable functions such as driver behaviour, train service regulation and re-routeing.
- Extensions to provide ETCS 3.6.0, Telecommunications, Traffic Management and Dynamic Timetabling.
- A data preparation and validation tool.
- An extensive API allowing third party software to interact with HERMES.
- Client displays to represent signalling panels, driving position and live train running analysis.
HERMES is not limited to these core functions and can be extended to develop algorithms, decision making components and graphical clients that feed results back into HERMES. HERMES can be integrated via its external interfaces with a range of systems, both simulated (Virtual) and Physical (Real World).
