Vehicle communication systems and control systems

• US 10,486,720 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2016
• Issued: 11/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Global Sourcing LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: GE Global Sourcing LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Dulmage, Scott William, Oliveira, Robert Thomas, Cooper, Jared Klineman, Daum, Wolfgang, Kraeling, Mark Bradshaw, Lawry, Brian, Noffsinger, Joseph Forrest, Kellner, Steven Andrew, Smith, Eugene, Peltonen, Glen Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Ingram, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US15/237,070
• Publication Number:
  US 20160355198A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,198 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 17/228 for railway vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0027 Radio-based, e.g. using GSM-R
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0062 On-board target speed calculation or supervision
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0072 On-board train data handling
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0081 On-board diagnosis or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 2205/02 Global system for mobile communication - railways [GSM-R]
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/40 Handling position reports or trackside vehicle data
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/50 Trackside diagnosis or maintenance, e.g. software upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/70 Details of trackside communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40189 by using a plurality of bus systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40293 the transportation system being a train
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A vehicle control system includes a controller that communicates between a first vehicle and a second vehicle and/or a monitoring device in a vehicle system. The controller determines a communication loss and, responsive to determining the communication loss, switches to communicating via a different communication path. The controller also determines an operational restriction on movement of the vehicle system based on the communication loss that is determined, obtains a transitional plan that designates operational settings of the vehicle system at one or more different locations along a route being traveled by the vehicle system, different distances along the route being traveled by the vehicle system, and/or different times. The controller automatically changes the movement of the vehicle system according to the operational settings designated by the transitional plan to reduce the movement of the vehicle system to or below the operational restriction.

Claims

1. A vehicle control system comprising:

a controller configured to communicate via a first communication path between a first vehicle and one or more of a second vehicle or a monitoring device in a vehicle system that also includes the first vehicle, the controller also configured to determine a communication loss via the first communication path and, responsive to determining the communication loss, the controller is configured to switch to communicating via a different, second communication path between the first vehicle and the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device,

wherein the controller also is configured to determine an operational restriction on movement of the vehicle system based on the communication loss that is determined,

wherein the controller also is configured to obtain a transitional plan that designates operational settings of the vehicle system to transition current movement of the vehicle system according to a current operational setting of the vehicle system to restricted movement according to the operational restriction, and

wherein the controller is configured to automatically control the vehicle system to transition from the current movement of the vehicle system according to the current operational setting to the restricted movement according to the operational restriction responsive to the communication loss being detected.

2. The vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to change a format of a message previously communicated via the first communication path for communication via the second communication path.

3. The vehicle control system of claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to change the format of the message by one or more of restricting the message to be compliant with a smaller bandwidth capacity of the second communication path relative to the first communication path or removing information from the message.

4. The vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the first communication path is a radio frequency wireless communication path and the second communication path is one or more of a wired communication path extending from the first vehicle to the second vehicle, an audio communication path, an infrared optical communication path, an ultraviolet optical communication path, a visible light optical communication path, a communication path that communicates using vibrations, or a thermal communication path.

5. The vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine a first protocol used to communicate one or more messages via the first communication path and a different, second protocol used to communicate one or more messages via the second communication path, the controller also configured to switch from communicating messages in the first protocol to communicating messages in the second protocol responsive to determining the communication loss.

6. The vehicle control system of claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to determine the first protocol by comparing data content of the one or more messages communicated via the first communication path with designated data contents associated with different message protocols.

7. The vehicle control system of claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to determine the first protocol by examining protocol identifying datum or data added to the one or more messages communicated via the first communication path to identify the first protocol.

8. The vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the operational restriction is a reduced speed limit that is slower than a previously designated speed limit of a route.

9. The vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the transitional plan designates one or more of different throttle settings, different brake settings, or different moving speeds of the vehicle system at one or more of:

different locations along a route, different distances along the route, or different times.

10. The vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to automatically implement the operational settings designated by the transitional plan such that the vehicle system gradually changes the operational settings of the vehicle system from the current operational setting to the operational restriction over a first time period such that the vehicle system one or more of consumes less fuel or generates fewer emissions compared to the controller directly changing the movement of the vehicle system from the current operational setting to the operational restriction over a shorter, second time period.

11. The vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine that communication between the first vehicle and the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device is re-established, and

wherein the controller is configured to determine a return plan that designates different operational settings of the vehicle system to increase the movement of the vehicle system above the operational restriction.

12. A vehicle control system comprising:

a controller configured to communicate a message in a first protocol from a first vehicle in a vehicle system that also includes one or more of a second vehicle or a monitoring device in the vehicle system, the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device configured to communicate a message in a different, second protocol,

wherein the controller is configured to switch from communicating the message in the first protocol with the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device to communicating the message in the second protocol with the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device,

wherein the controller also is configured to determine an operational restriction on movement of the vehicle system based on a communication loss that is determined,

wherein the controller also is configured to obtain a transitional plan that designates operational settings of the vehicle system to transition current movement of the vehicle system according to a current operational setting of the vehicle system to restricted movement according to the operational restriction, and

wherein the controller is configured to automatically control the vehicle system to transition from the current movement of the vehicle system according to the current operational setting to the restricted movement according to the operational restriction responsive to the communication loss being detected.

13. The vehicle control system of claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to determine the second protocol used by the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device by comparing data content of one or more messages received by the controller from the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device with designated data contents associated with different message protocols.

14. The vehicle control system of claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to determine the second protocol used by the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device by comparing data content of one or more messages that are received and examining protocol identifying datum or data added to the one or more messages received from the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device to identify the first protocol.

15. The vehicle control system of claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to communicate with the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device via a first communication path and, responsive to a communication loss in the first communication path, the controller is configured to switch to communicating with the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device via a different, second communication path.

16. The vehicle control system of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to change a format of a message previously communicated via the first communication path for communication via the second communication path.

17. The vehicle control system of claim 16, wherein the controller is configured to change the format of the message by one or more of restricting the message to be compliant with a smaller bandwidth capacity of the second communication path relative to the first communication path or removing information from the message.

18. The vehicle control system of claim 16, wherein the first communication path is a radio frequency wireless communication path and the second communication path is one or more of a wired communication path extending from the first vehicle to the second vehicle, an audio communication path, an infrared optical communication path, an ultraviolet optical communication path, a visible light optical communication path, a communication path that communicates using vibrations, or a thermal communication path.

19. A method comprising:

determining a communication loss between a first vehicle and one or more of a second vehicle or a monitoring device in a vehicle system that also includes the first vehicle;

determining an operational restriction on movement of the vehicle system based on the communication loss that is determined;

determining a transitional plan that designates operational settings of the vehicle system based on the operational restriction that is determined;

automatically changing the movement of the vehicle system according to the operational settings designated by the transitional plan to reduce the movement of the vehicle system to or below the operational restriction determined by the controller responsive to the communication loss being detected;

determining a re-establishment of communication between the first vehicle and the one or more of the second vehicle or the monitoring device; and

determining a return plan that designates different operational settings of the vehicle system to increase the movement of the vehicle system above the operational restriction.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the operational restriction is a reduced speed limit that is slower than a previously designated speed limit of a route.