Empowering Through Knowledge and Skill Development Initiatives by

Empowering Through Knowledge and Skill Development – Initiatives by IRISET C. K. Prasad, IRSSE (SAG/NF) Professor IRISET INDIAN RAILWAYS INSTITUTE OF SIGNAL ENGINEERING & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Agenda • Partnership and Mo. Us • Leveraging Information Technology and Tools • Training Infrastructure • Technology • Performance Highlight • Roadmap Ahead • Conclusion If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability – Henry Ford

What Gives Value to an Organization? Organization’s Value • Physical Assets • Financial Assets • Intangible Assets – People!

Partnership & Mo. U IRISET has partnered with premier institutes to achieve excellence in training and human resource development. • Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur for Consultancy on Centre for Safety Critical Software • Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad for MTech Program for in service IRSSE officers • Osmania University College of Engineering (OUCE), Hyderabad for Joint M Tech/ME program for IRSSE Probationary officers • Mo. U with National Knowledge Network for connectivity, knowledge sharing and collaborative research programs

CENTRE FOR SAFETY CRITICAL SOFTWARE FOR SIGNALLING Consultancy Agreement was signed in April 2015 for setting up Centre for Safety Critical Software with IIT, Kharagpur. Boadly, the scope of work includes: • Identification and documentation of the qualifications and training requirements of the Signalling & Telecommunication personnel to be posted at the centre. • Work out detailed syllabus for imparting training in Software Engineering, Reliability Engineering, Safety Standards including CENELEC, Software Testing, Verification and Validation, Version control, Safety cases etc

CENTRE FOR SAFETY CRITICAL SOFTWARE FOR SIGNALLING • Specification and configuration of Safety Critical Data Centre that includes architecture, specifications for data centre infrastructure, servers, networking hardware, work stations etc. • Suggest Software Verification tools to be procured and set up at the Centre

CENTRE FOR SAFETY CRITICAL SOFTWARE FOR SIGNALLING • The technology in Signalling and Train Control systems has been under transformation • The current technology is based on computer controlled software embedded systems and communication technology. • Signalling and Communication future technologies are getting more and more integrated. • to manage the life cycle of these advance & complex systems, the setting up of the Centre for Safety Critical Software for Signalling at IRISET will play a key role in training & competency building of S&T Engineers.

CONCEPTUAL ARCHITECTURE OF CENTRE FOR SAFETY CRITICAL SOFTWARE AT IRISET WITH ACCESS TO ZONAL RAILWAYS, RDSO, CORE

Mo. U with Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad • IRISET has formalised an Mo. U with Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad for Master of Technology programme to be offered by IIT, Hyderabad to select officers of Indian Railways (primarily of IRSSE cadre) in line with the principles of Industry-Academic co-operation. • The Mo. U has been approved by Rly Board and is likely to be signed next week

Mo. U with Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad Key objectives of the programme • To offer Master of Technology to Officers of Indian Railways by IIT Hyderabad through a 2 - Year Post-graduate programme at par with IIT Hyderabad’s own campus students so that the level of instructions imparted to them are the best and latest in the mainstream of engineering education in the country. • To help IRISET in updating its capability for introducing courses in engineering technologies specifically useful to Indian Railways. • To increase interaction and cooperation between these two organizations as a pioneering ‘Industry – Institute’ collaboration for larger benefit to both the academia as well as Industry.

Mo. U with Osmania University College of Engineering (OUCE), Hyderabad • Joint Post Graduate M. Tech / M. E Degree Programme for IRSSE Probationary Officers of Indian Railways who undergo exhaustive training programme at IRISET aimed to prepare them to shoulder the responsibility of a specialized job of Signal & Telecom engineers • The Proposal has been approved by Board of Studies of Osmania University College of Engineering, (OUCE), Hyderabad and by the Academic Council, OUCE on 29 th July, 2015. • Mo. U proposal is under approval process of the Osmania University which thereafter will need Railway Board’s approval

National Knowledge Network • A Mo. U has been signed with National Knowledge Network (NKN) for providing 100 Mbps connectivity to IRISET. • The last mile connectivity is provided by Rail. Tel Corporation and the MPLS port of 100 Mbps has been provisioned by National Informatics Centre (NIC). • The service has been commissioned on 28 th July 2015 • NKN is designed as a Smart Ultra High Bandwidth network that seamlessly interconnects the leading Scientific and Technological institutions - which are pursuing world-class research and development.

Services Available to IRISET as Part of NKN Community Generic Services: Ø Internet, Intranet, Network Management Views, e-Mail, Messaging Gateways, Caching Gateways, Domain Name System, Web Hosting, Voice over IP, Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) Services, Video Portals, SMS Gateway, Co-Location Services, Video Streaming etc. Community Services: Ø Shared Storage, e-Mail List Software Application (LISTSERV), Authentication Service, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Collaboration Service, Content Delivery Service, International Collaborations with EUIndia Grid, Global Ring Network for Advanced Applications Development (GLORIAD) etc. Special Services: Ø Virtual Private Network Stitching Services (VPN@L 2 (Virtual Private Wire Service / Virtual Private LAN Service), VPN@L 3) etc.

Services Available to IRISET as Part of NKN Community • Virtual Library Enables sharing of Journals, Books and research papers • Virtual Classroom The NKN platform enables delivery of effective distance education programs where teachers and learners can interact in real time • Network Technology Test-Bed It provides a test-bed for testing and validation of services before they are made available to the production network

Training Infrastructure-Augmentation • Impetus on Practical Skill and Competency based training and trouble shooting • Augmentation of infrastructure for training & skill development by commissioning latest S&T equipments in New Signal & Telecom Lab facility. • New facility building has 3 floors (G+2). With 3800 sq metres of floor area. • Inaugurated in June 2014.

NEW S&T LABORATORY & E-LEARNING CENTRE • Building G+2 • Total floor area : 3800 Sq Meters

E-Learning – Reloaded • To facilitate anywhere, anytime, interactive learning through electronic multi-media supported by telecom infrastructure, IRISET has expanded its activities beyond conventional training systems by establishing an E-learning Centre. • New training modules are added to the E-learning Portal. On date 29 training modules on Signalling and Telecom subjects are available on the portal. • New facility has a seating capacity for 80 trainees ( Clients on twin sharing) and augmented with advance projection system and interactive panel with podcasting functionality. • The centre also provides facility to conduct on-line examination. 17

E-LEARNING CENTRE E-learning session in progress

Virtual Classroom • A virtual classroom for distance learning via Video Conferencing between IRISET & Zonal S&T Training Centres (STTC’s) on Indian Railways • Targeted at skill development of Artisan staff (ESM’s , TCM’s etc) • Facilitates interaction in real time between IRISET faculty and trainees at STTC’s.

Virtual Classroom Training Centres

VIRTUAL CLASSROOM Virtual Classroom session screenshot

New Signal Labs • Electronic Interlocking Lab • Train Protection Warning Signal lab • LED signal Lab • Digital Axle Counter Lab • Block using UFSBI & Digital Radio Modem with Voice & Data Transmission, Solid State Block Proving by Axle Counter

New Signal Labs Electronic Interlocking Laboratory has been equipped with Electronic Interlocking system of M/s. Medha make and FAT set up of M/s. Westrace , M/s Medha, and Microlok II. TPWS LAB: Train Protection & Warning System of M/s. Ansaldo, Training model is installed in this lab which is on ETCS level 1.

New Signal Labs LED Signal Lab: The Lab is equipped with LED Signals of most of the manufacturers. LED Signal Units of seven different manufacturers are provided Digital Axle Counter Lab: Equipped with MSDAC of Frauscher ACS 2000 & SSDACs of CEL-710 P and GG-Tronics-G 36 make. This lab also houses Block using UFSBI & Digital Radio modem with Voice & Data transmission/reception facility and also solid state block proving by axle counter as per latest RDSO specifications.

New Telecommunications Labs • Computer Networking Lab • Disaster Management VSAT system • Voice Over Internet Protocol Telephony and Interoperability testing Lab • Mobile Train Radio Communication VHF communication & GSM-R Lab

New Telecommunications Labs Computer Networking Lab • The lab has a capacity to provide Hands-on training to 36 participants. • A TCP/IP network comprising of 3 LAN’s connected with different make of routers and packet tracer application is provided • Unified PRS/UTS setup with last mile connectivity on copper and fibre are provided. • Trouble shooting and network performance metrics are demonstrated

New Telecommunications Labs Disaster Management Communication for Voice & Data on VSAT

New Telecommunications Labs Voice Over Internet Protocol Telephony System • Vo. IP PBX is setup on Open Source Asterisk Communication Server installed on general purpose PC hardware with Redhat Linux open source operating system • Free. PBX open source client is used to configure and manage the services on the server Interoperability The Vo. IP PBX is integrated with ISDN Exchange of Tadiran Telecom, Hi. Path PBX of Siemens, NGN switch of IR/Rail. Tel and GSM/GSM-R gateway using Matrix gateway (PRI to IP interface) to provide seamless connectivity

New Telecommunications Labs Mobile Train Radio Communication – Global System for Mobile for Railways BTS, e-BSC, TRAU, RC Cab Radio and associated Power Supply

GSM R Radio Commander View

Automation of Library • • Library Management System has been deployed to automate the process of the Library Bar coded inventory of books/journals and issue of Bar coded Photo ID cards. IRISET has a repository of 40, 000 books and 50 journals. Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) can be accessed through RAILNET using a web browser.

AUTOMATED LIBRARY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Library Management System with Photo ID and Bar Code Printer

COMPUTER BASED TUTORIALS IN LIBRARY The present collection of CBT’s has about 200 titles

Training Assessment and Evaluation • On-line training assessment and evaluation tool deployed for conducting online examination • Existing E-learning centre IT infrastructure is leveraged(Thin Clients/Desktop PC’s) • System facilitates generation of various types of reports for assessing the performance of trainees and the program

Training Assessment and Evaluation • Creation of Tests-Multiple Choice, Short answer, Fill in the blanks, Ordered sets • Automated correction of questions- Multiple Choice, Short answer, Fill in the blanks, Ordered sets • Report- Detailed exam result report to exam takers, Class performance report, individual score cards, individual answer sheets, exam usage reports • Support for essay questions, multimedia questions – Audio, Video and Picture • Social media integration. • Collaboration options for exam creation • Scoring/Grading of questions, Randomize questions, Marking question for review during the exam

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS Courses Trainees 60 116 131 140 1985 142 3574 3917 3907 3001 80 2011 2012 2013 Courses conducted 2014 2015 Courses Projected 2051 2012 Trainees 2013 2014 Trainees Projected 2015

Knowledge Management Initiatives • IRISET is significantly contributing to integrate the knowledge available across multiple disparate entities on Indian Railways through the Knowledge Portal www. indianrailways-knowledgeportal. com • IRISET as a technology & knowledge partner is helping National Academy of Indian Railways to integrate all the libraries across all the CTI’s, Railway Board, Zonal Railways, RDSO and other institutes through a common platform

Road Ahead Focus on Training Productivity and efficiency • Microsoft Sharepoint deployment – Collaboration, Document Sharing , Portal Management – Scheduling, Yammer • Android App to access E-learning content from smartphone • A Smart Classroom & Cyber Security Lab is planned for development

IRISET Training Process Flow Trainings People Development Knowledge Development Classroom & Labs Cross-domain training Knowledge Mgmt Articles OEM/End-user training Leadership Development Paper publications E-Learning portal Cross-functional training Knowledge transfer (OEM’s) IRISET Academy Experienced Personnel Soft Skills Tools Culture Certification Tech & Domain Training Plan Training Needs Identification Assessment Non-IR Personnel Application Process/Quality Pre- Induction Training Aids Induction & Training Education, Research, CSCS team 41 Post- Induction Visiting Faculty OEM’s SMEs Well-Trained, Certified, Highly Productive Resources Trained Personnel New Joinees Continuous Improvement Additional training needs

CONCLUSION • The initiatives so taken will enable IRISET to be in the forefront of knowhow of technology development in the core area of Signalling and Telecommunications. • It will enable IRISET to upgrade the existing courses, formulate new and richer programs, enhance teaching/training capabilities thereby enhancing the learning in terms of knowledge, skill development and competency building. • The effort made by IRISET will bridge the knowing – doing gap among the railway personnel and is expected to make them confident and competent to handle new challenges in their work area.

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