Locomotive location system and method
First Claim
1. A location system for locating the position of a locomotive on a trackway comprising:
- an inertial sensor system for sensing linear and rotary acceleration associated with the movement of the locomotive over a trackway, said intertial sensor system having a first plurality of MEMS rate-of-turn rotary acceleration sensors having respective first sensitive axes and a second plurality of MEMS rate-of-turn acceleration sensors having respective second sensitive axes, the first and second sensitive axes oppositely aligned;
a sensor for determining, either directly or indirectly, distanced traveled over the trackway;
a radio-frequency based geo-positional receiver for at least periodically determining a geo-positional value for the locomotive;
an optimal estimator for accepting information on a continuous or periodic basis from the inertial sensor system, the distanced traveled sensor, and the geo-positional receiver and establishing a first computational instance and a second computational instance for determining the location of the locomotive as a function of information from the inertial sensor system, the distanced traveled sensor, and the geo-positional receiver.
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Abstract
A locomotive location system and method utilizes inertial measurement inputs, including orthogonal acceleration inputs and turn rate information, in combination with wheel-mounted tachometer information and GPS/DGPS position fixes to provide processed outputs indicative of track occupancy, position, direction of travel, velocity, etc. Various navigation solutions are combined together to provide the desired information outputs using an optimal estimator designed specifically for rail applications and subjected to motion constraints reflecting the physical motion limitations of a locomotive. The system utilizes geo-reconciliation to minimize errors and solutions that identify track occupancy when traveling through a turnout.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A location system for locating the position of a locomotive on a trackway comprising:
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an inertial sensor system for sensing linear and rotary acceleration associated with the movement of the locomotive over a trackway, said intertial sensor system having a first plurality of MEMS rate-of-turn rotary acceleration sensors having respective first sensitive axes and a second plurality of MEMS rate-of-turn acceleration sensors having respective second sensitive axes, the first and second sensitive axes oppositely aligned; a sensor for determining, either directly or indirectly, distanced traveled over the trackway; a radio-frequency based geo-positional receiver for at least periodically determining a geo-positional value for the locomotive; an optimal estimator for accepting information on a continuous or periodic basis from the inertial sensor system, the distanced traveled sensor, and the geo-positional receiver and establishing a first computational instance and a second computational instance for determining the location of the locomotive as a function of information from the inertial sensor system, the distanced traveled sensor, and the geo-positional receiver. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of determining track occupancy of a locomotive after the locomotive has passed through a turnout onto either of a first or at least a second track, comprising the steps of:
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inertially sensing linear acceleration and turn rate associated with the movement of a locomotive over a trackway, the sensing step including combining turn rate information from a first plurality of MEMS turn rate sensors having respective first sensitive axis and a second plurality of MEMS turn rate sensors having respective second sensitive axis aligned in opposite directions; determining, either directly or indirectly, distanced traveled over the trackway; establishing, in an optimal estimator, a first computational instance for the first track and a second computational instance for the second track using predetermine track parameters, effecting the continued processing of each of the first and second computational instances computing at least the location of the locomotive and/or values related thereto by derivation or integration and the corresponding estimated error states until one of the first and second computational instances exhibits pre-determined features in its estimated error states indicating that the track for that instance is not the track occupied by the locomotive. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. A system for locating the position of a locomotive on a trackway comprising:
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a strapdown inertial navigation system for providing at least linear and rotary acceleration associated with the movement of a locomotive over a trackway and at least a first integral thereof, said intertial sensor system having a first plurality of MEMS rate-of-turn rotary acceleration sensors having respective first sensitive axes and a second plurality of MEMS rate-of-turn acceleration sensors having respective second sensitive axes, the first and second sensitive axes oppositely aligned; a sensor for determining, either directly or indirectly, distanced traveled along the trackway; an optimal estimator for accepting information on a continuous or periodic basis from the strapdown inertial navigation system, the distanced traveled along the trackway sensor and establishing a first computational instance and a second computational instance for determining the location of the locomotive as a function of information from the strapdown inertial navigation system and the distanced traveled along the track sensor; and a radio-frequency based geo-positional receiver for at least periodically determining a geo-positional value for the locomotive. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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Specification