Railway crossing collision avoidance system
First Claim
1. A railroad crossing collision avoidance system for alerting a road vehicle approaching a railroad crossing of an oncoming rail vehicle, comprising:
- a first tracking apparatus on the rail vehicle to determine the rail vehicle'"'"'s position with respect to the railroad crossing;
a transmitter responsive to the tracking apparatus for transmitting tracking data over a satellite communications link, the tracking data being indicative of the location of the rail vehicle with respect to the railroad crossing;
a first receiver comprised of a satellite communications receiver at the railroad crossing for receiving the transmitted tracking data over the satellite communications link from the rail vehicle;
a processor at the railroad crossing for calculating the velocity and arrival time of the rail vehicle in response to the tracking data;
a second tracking apparatus located at the railroad crossing, the second tracking apparatus providing tracking data to permit a differential calculation of the velocity and arrival time of the rail vehicle using the tracking data from the first and second tracking apparatus; and
a transmitter at the railroad crossing responsive to the processor for transmitting an alarm signal to an approaching road vehicle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
With the vehicle anti-collision system of the present invention, road vehicles in the vicinity of a railway crossing are alerted as a train approaches the crossing. A signalling device operating in conjunction with a GPS receiver located in the train emits a signal to a receiver located at the railway crossing to provide an indication of the rail vehicle'"'"'s location with respect to the railway crossing. The signal is sent continuously at predetermined intervals to provide the railway crossing with sufficient data to estimate the velocity and time of arrival of the train or railway vehicle at the crossing. The railway crossing processes the information and transmits an alarm signal to approaching road vehicles as the rail vehicle approaches the crossing. The signal emitted by the crossing is received at the road vehicle which provides various levels of alarms depending on how close the rail vehicle is to the crossing. The communications between the railroad vehicle and the crossing monitor are preferably by satellite link. A sensor is also preferably provided at the crossing to detect an object on the crossing when the rail vehicle is approaching.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A railroad crossing collision avoidance system for alerting a road vehicle approaching a railroad crossing of an oncoming rail vehicle, comprising:
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a first tracking apparatus on the rail vehicle to determine the rail vehicle'"'"'s position with respect to the railroad crossing; a transmitter responsive to the tracking apparatus for transmitting tracking data over a satellite communications link, the tracking data being indicative of the location of the rail vehicle with respect to the railroad crossing; a first receiver comprised of a satellite communications receiver at the railroad crossing for receiving the transmitted tracking data over the satellite communications link from the rail vehicle; a processor at the railroad crossing for calculating the velocity and arrival time of the rail vehicle in response to the tracking data; a second tracking apparatus located at the railroad crossing, the second tracking apparatus providing tracking data to permit a differential calculation of the velocity and arrival time of the rail vehicle using the tracking data from the first and second tracking apparatus; and a transmitter at the railroad crossing responsive to the processor for transmitting an alarm signal to an approaching road vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A railroad crossing collision avoidance system for alerting a road vehicle approaching a railroad crossing of an oncoming rail vehicle, comprising:
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tracking apparatus on the rail vehicle to determine the rail vehicle'"'"'s position with respect to the railroad crossing; a receiver on said rail vehicle for receiving data indicative of the position of a railroad crossing which is being approached by the rail vehicle; a processor on the rail vehicle for calculating the velocity of the rail vehicle and arrival time at the railroad crossing that it is approaching by sequentially calculating a differential position of the railroad vehicle with respect to the railroad crossing that it is approaching in response to the receipt of the data indicative of the position of the railroad crossing; a first transmitter responsive to the processor for transmitting an alarm signal to an approaching road vehicle, the alarm signal being indicative of the velocity and time of arrival of the rail vehicle at the railroad crossing, wherein the tracking apparatus on the rail vehicle comprises a first GPS receiver and the data indicative of the position of the railroad crossing is generated from an output of a second GPS receiver located at the railroad crossing. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification