Dr. James Moore Receives a New Grant From FTA/DOT

(From USC Viterbi News - Civil and Environmental Engineering)

October 04, 2011 — The grant awarded from FTA/DOT is entitled, "Technical and Institutional Evaluation of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority Positive Train Control Deployment Project." 5 VSOE faculty members are involved in this major multifaceted project. Professor James Moore is the PI while Professor Maged Dessouky, Professor Urbashi Mitra, Professor Najmedin Meshkati, and Professor Petros Ioannou are the Co-PIs.



The University of Southern California (USC), in partnership with Rail Safety Consulting LLC (RSC), and with the support of the SCRRA, will execute an FTA-funded research study of the implementation of Metrolink’s new PTC system.  The goal of this research is to evaluate and promote the development of new technologies that will improve the safety and efficiency of rail transit system operation.

The research project will focus on the safety and reliability of PTC technology in the commuter rail operating environment, and on developing recommendations concerning best practices in the implementation of PTC systems.  The research will include the evaluation of current PTC technology; the SCRRA PTC system; the documentation of related implementation issues; and will identify the needs for further research in Rail Transit Signal and Control Systems (RTSCS) for commuter rail operations relating to PTC objectives.



The two year project is funded at the level of $900K, and  includes a subcontract to Rail Safety Consulting LLC (http://www.railsafetyconsulting.com/), which is based in New York.  The USC faculty investigators are Prof. Naj Meshkati, (CEE/ISE) who will focus on human factors and safety; Prof. Petros Ioannou (EE-Systems; Director, Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies), who will focus on control systems and braking algorithms, Prof. Urbashi (Ubli) Mitra (EE-Systems), who will focus on wireless communications systems and architectures, Prof. Maged Dessouky (ISE, Director, Epstein Institute), who will focus system level performance and simulation, and me (ISE/CEE; Vice Dean for Academic Programs; Director, VSOE Transportation Engineering program).  Professor Moore will focus on life cycle costs and cost effectiveness, and serve as the interface between the USC team and the subcontractor, the USC team and the sponsor (FTA), and the USC team and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink).  Professor Moore assembled the research team and led the proposal effort in response to the RFP (http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/FTA-2011-005-TRI.pdf).  Each investigator has the opportunity to work with and support an advanced graduate student.  We also expect to work with a doctoral graduate from the Epstein ISE Dept, Dr. Greg Placencia, who will collaborate with Prof. Meshkati.  The project will produce a simulation test bed for deployment of PTC systems, architectures, and technologies.



The project began on August 16, 2011 and will conclude in June 2013.