What is Train Real-Time Data Protocol (TRDP)?

The Train Real-Time Data Protocol (TRDP) is a network protocol for IP based communication in trains.

TRDP is developed by TCNOpen. TCNOpen is an open source initiative which the partner railway industries created to collaboratively build some key parts of new or upcoming railway standards, commonly known under the name TCN. TCN (Train Communication Network) is a series of international standards developed by Working Group 43 of the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), specifying a communication system for the data communication within and between vehicles of a train.

The TRDP components include PDCom, MDCom, TRDP Light, VOS (Virtual Operating System) and Utilities. PDCom handles Process Data and MDCom handles Message Data communication on TCN. The abstraction layer VOS (Virtual OS) provides a standard interface for the functions of the Operating System (OS) and underlying hardware, which are used by the TRDP functions internally as well as by the application. TRDP Light is a subset of TRDP as illustrated in the architecture diagram below. TRDP Light targets low.end devices with limited performance whereas the full TRDP is intended for high-end devices.

Further Reference:

• TCNOpen
• TRDP Project
• Presentation introducing the TCNOpen initiative and the TRDP project