TÃœBÄ°TAK MRC chooses QNX for safety-critical control systems in the new E1000 electric locomotive
QNX, a subsidiary of BlackBerry, today announced that the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÃœBÄ°TAK)-Marmara Research Center (MRC) has selected the QNX Neutrino Realtime OS as the software platform for its new E1000 electric locomotive.
The first prototype locomotive was delivered to the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) and successfully passed testing. Seventy locomotives are expected to be built by the Turkey Locomotive and Motor Industry Corporation (TÃœLOMSAÅž) by 2023.
The E1000 uses the QNX Neutrino OS in two critical components: the Train Control and Monitoring System (TCMS) and the Traction Control Unit (TCU). The TCMS serves as the brains of the E1000, performing centralized management, communications and diagnostics for the locomotive’s various subsystems. The TCU ensures optimal traction during acceleration, cornering and braking, and helps maximize the E1000’s energy efficiency.
The E1000, which is developed and built for TCDD with the cooperation of TÃœBÄ°TAK MRC and TÃœLOMSAÅž, marks a turning point for the Turkish railway industry, which has traditionally relied on imported rail technology. As the first electric locomotive designed and built in Turkey, the E1000 demonstrates the country’s drive to become an innovation hub and, ultimately, a global exporter of state-of-the-art train-control systems.
“The QNX Neutrino OS was the perfect choice for the E1000 locomotive project,” said associate professor, Dr. Abdülkadir Balıkçı, Director of the Energy Institute, TÃœBÄ°TAK MRC.
“It helped us build a high-performance system that can manage multiple time-critical tasks while processing huge volumes of data. It also allowed us to achieve a high degree of reliability and system availability. In a train-control system, there is no room for reboots. And, last but not least, the OS was instrumental in helping us create a safe-by-design system architecture.”
Achieving a high level of safety and reliability was critical to the success of the E1000 project, but so was the need to complete the project on time.
“We expected the QNX Neutrino OS to enable high reliability, but quickly discovered that its unique microkernel architecture also makes it easier to design, develop and debug sophisticated rail applications. We estimate that, by using QNX Neutrino and the QNX Momentics® Tool Suite, we were able to reduce our software development time by 50 percent,” commented Dr. Balıkçı.
John Wall, Senior Vice President and Head of QNX Software Systems added,
“We are proud to help TÃœBÄ°TAK reach this historic milestone,”
“QNX OS technology has a proven track record in an array of railway applications, including locomotive control, brake control, tilt control and yard control. The successful launch of the E1000 is a testament to our ultra-reliable OS architecture, and demonstrates why QNX is an ideal OS partner for companies building safety-critical rail applications.”
