Information Flow Analysis and Software Architecture Design for the Vehicle Control System in a High-Speed Maglev Transportation System

In the high-speed maglev transportation system, the vehicle control system (VCS) is an on-board part of the operation control system (OCS). It connects with the electrical facilities of a maglev train and is responsible for monitoring, safety protection and control. First, this paper analyzes the interface relationship of VCS with the train’s electrical facilities, and summaries the communication mode, key function and interactive information for each interface. In order to graphically represent the information flow of VCS, this paper refers to the data flow diagram (DFD) of software engineering and defines six graphic elements. Also, this paper uses six diagrams to systematically analyze the flow of information diagram for VCS to simplify the information flow diagram of VCS. These diagrams are drawn from the perspective of the originator of an information flow. According to the analysis of information flow diagram of VCS, the software function modules are identified and divided into four layers according to their characteristics. Based on that this paper proposes a hierarchical software architecture for VCS.