ASDO stands for Automatic Selective Door Operation or Operating system. ASDO was primarily developed to improve passenger operation at stations where the platforms are shorter than the trains.
Without ASDO, trainsets with one or several doors not facing the platform would commonly remain shut, forcing passengers to board or leave the trains through other trainsets. In addition, the selection of the doors to be opened is usually done manually, with a risk to open the wrong doors.
ASDO enables an automatic check of the train position and the platform configuration: only doors safe to be opened are released, thus enhancing passenger comfort and safety while allowing for shorter stops at stations.
The ASDO system first checks the platform configuration to ensure doors will only be opened at the right places.
Beacons are usually positioned on the tracks to inform the train about its position and about platform configurations. Other sources of information such as odometry with GPS positioning can be used to identify the stations and to determine how many doors shall be opened and on what side(s) of the train.
The EKE-Trainnet ASDO can be certified up to SIL 2.
