Radio-based electro-pneumatic control communications system
First Claim
1. A radio-based, Electro-Pneumatic (EP) rail car braking system for a railroad train having a lead locomotive and a plurality of rail cars, said EP rail braking system comprising:
- a plurality of rail car two-band radio systems, each rail car radio system being mounted on a rail car and includinga two-band radio including a first narrow band high power transmitter and a second broad band low power transmitter,a first microcontroller controlling said two-band radio, andpneumatic interfaces responsive to control signals generated by saidfirst microcontroller in response to commands received bysaid two-band radio on the first narrow band; and
a locomotive radio system mounted on said lead locomotive, said locomotive radio system including a third narrow band high power transmitter,a second microcontroller controlling said third transmitter, andair brake control and display providing input and receiving outputfrom said second microcontroller,said second microcontroller controlling said third transmitter to transmit commands to all rail cars in the train, selected rail cars spaced through the train being designated as repeaters with a predetermined number of cars assigned to each repeater forming a group of cars that act as a Local Area Network (LAN), wherein rail cars in a group communicate with each other using said second transmitter and in response to a command broadcast by the lead locomotive, rail cars in a group act on the command and transmit status information to their respective repeater and the repeater, in turn, transmitting back status messages to the lead locomotive on said first transmitter based on consolidation of data received from rail cars in its group.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A radio-based, Electro-Pneumatic (EP) rail car braking system supports both End-of-Train (EOT) and Distributed Power Control (DPC) communication systems. The EP rail car braking system operates within existing frequency allocations and meets operational reliability needs by adopting a hybrid, two-band communications scheme. The EP rail car braking system uses a broadcast band for transmitting commands to all cars in the train. Selected cars spaced through the train are designated as repeaters, and a predetermined number of cars are assigned to each repeater for form a group of cars that act as a Local Area Network (LAN). The cars in a group communicate with each other using a low power, spread spectrum band. In response to a command broadcast by a lead locomotive, cars in a group act on the command and transmit status information to their repeater car. The repeater car, in turn, sends back status messages to the lead locomotive on the broadcast band based on consolidation of data received from the cars in its group.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A radio-based, Electro-Pneumatic (EP) rail car braking system for a railroad train having a lead locomotive and a plurality of rail cars, said EP rail braking system comprising:
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a plurality of rail car two-band radio systems, each rail car radio system being mounted on a rail car and including a two-band radio including a first narrow band high power transmitter and a second broad band low power transmitter, a first microcontroller controlling said two-band radio, and pneumatic interfaces responsive to control signals generated by said first microcontroller in response to commands received by said two-band radio on the first narrow band; and a locomotive radio system mounted on said lead locomotive, said locomotive radio system including a third narrow band high power transmitter, a second microcontroller controlling said third transmitter, and air brake control and display providing input and receiving output from said second microcontroller, said second microcontroller controlling said third transmitter to transmit commands to all rail cars in the train, selected rail cars spaced through the train being designated as repeaters with a predetermined number of cars assigned to each repeater forming a group of cars that act as a Local Area Network (LAN), wherein rail cars in a group communicate with each other using said second transmitter and in response to a command broadcast by the lead locomotive, rail cars in a group act on the command and transmit status information to their respective repeater and the repeater, in turn, transmitting back status messages to the lead locomotive on said first transmitter based on consolidation of data received from rail cars in its group. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for controlling Electro-Pneumatic (EP) rail car braking for a railroad train having a lead locomotive and a plurality of rail cars, the method comprising the steps of:
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mounting a plurality of rail car two-band radio systems on rail cars in the train, each radio system having a first narrow band high power transmitter and a second broad band low power transmitter; assigning the rail cars with two-band radio systems to one of several groups and designating a single rail car within each group as a repeater; broadcasting a command from said lead locomotive a command using a third narrow band high power transmitter; receiving the command at the rail cars with two-band radio systems; executing the command at the rail cars and transmitting a status report to the repeater for the respective rail car using the second broad band low power transmitter; receiving status reports from the rail cars within a group by the repeater for the group; and formatting status reports received by each repeater and transmitting a formatted status report to the lead locomotive using the first narrow band high power transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification