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Academic Visit: Barcelona Metro Control Room

Date: Monday, June 15 · 10:00 AM Location: Sagrera neighborhood (exact address provided by API)


About the Metro Control Room

The operational brain of Barcelona's Metro network. Specialists monitor and manage all train lines — both conventional and fully automated — 24/7 to ensure safety and service regularity.


Pre-Visit Framing (assigned end of Thu 6/11 class)

🌍 Connection to course: "The Metro's automated lines run on digital control systems. Everything you've built — FSMs, serial communication, memory, timing — is running a city's transit."


Observation Questions

  1. Where are the FSMs? Train door control, signal systems, route switching — what states do they have?
  2. Where is serial communication? Train-to-control-center links, sensor networks, display systems.
  3. Where is memory? Schedules, real-time position data, historical logs.
  4. What happens when timing fails? Ask about safety interlocks and fail-safe modes.

CRAFT Reflection (due at start of Tue 6/16 class)

  1. 🌍 What did you see?
  2. ⚠️ What surprised you?
  3. 🔧 What connects? — name at least 3 specific course concepts
  4. 🔗 What's next?

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