Railroad management system having data source integration

• US 9,623,885 B1
• Filed: 12/04/2015
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Progress Rail Locomotive Inc. (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Electro-Motive Diesel Incorporated (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Inventors: Shubs, Jr., Alexander, Roenspies, David Matthew, Seaton, James David
• Primary Examiner(s): ARTHUR JEANGLAUD, GERTRUDE
• Application Number:
  US14/959,915
• Time in Patent Office: 501 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2, 701 19, 246167 R, 246208
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0018 Communication with or on the vehicle or train
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0081 On-board diagnosis or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/009 On-board display devices
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 25/02 Indicating or recording positions or identities of vehicles or trains
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/10 Operations, e.g. scheduling or time tables
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/57 for vehicles or trains, e.g. trackside supervision of train conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/00 Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00

Abstract

A railroad management system is disclosed. The railroad management system may include a display device configured to display information to an operator and a controller in electronic communication with the display device. The controller may include a train control module configured to receive input data from one or more train control systems and a business systems module configured to receive input data from one or more railroad data management systems. The controller may also include an integration module configured to identify discrepancies among the input data from the one or more train control systems and the railroad data management systems and generate corrected input data based on the input data from the one or more train control systems and the railroad data management systems. The controller may be configured to display one or more graphical user interfaces on the display device based at least in part on the corrected input data.

Claims

1. A railroad management system, comprising:

a display device configured to display information to an operator; and

a controller in electronic communication with display device and including;

a train control module configured to receive input data from one or more train control systems and generate command signals for controlling operations of a train based on the input data from the one or more train control systems;

a business systems module configured to receive input data from one or more railroad data management systems; and

an integration module configured to;

identify discrepancies among the input data from the one or more train control systems and the railroad data management systems; and

generate corrected input data based on the input data from the one or more train control systems and the railroad data management systems;

wherein the controller is configured to display one or more graphical user interfaces on the display device based at least in part on the corrected input data.

2. The railroad management system of claim 1, wherein the one or more train controls systems include one or more of an energy management system associated with a train, an automatic train protection signaling system, and an automatic train operating system.

3. The railroad management system of claim 1. wherein the one or more railroad data management systems include one or more of a logistics system, an enterprise resource planning system, an asset management system, a supervisory control and data acquisition system, a maintenance system, a financial forecasting system, a yard scheduling system, and a wayside equipment system.

4. The railroad management system of claim 1, wherein the integration module is configured to:

identify common pieces of data received from a plurality of different train control systems of railroad data management systems;

identify discrepancies among the common pieces of data based on a comparison of the common pieces of data.

5. The railroad management system of claim 4, wherein the integration module is configured to:

select one of the common pieces of data based on a hierarchy of the plurality of different train control systems or railroad data management systems; and

generate the corrected input data based on the selected one of the common pieces of data.

6. The railroad management system of claim 4, wherein the integration module is configured to:

perform simulations using each of the common pieces of data and select one of the common pieces of data based on results of the simulations; and

generate the corrected input data based on the selected one of the common pieces of data.

7. The railroad management system of claim 4, wherein the integration module is configured to:

select one of the common pieces of data based on one or more of a fuzzy logic model, a discrete choice model, or a neural network model; and

generate the corrected input data based on the selected one of the common pieces of data.

8. The railroad management system of claim 4, wherein the integration module is configured to combine the common pieces of data to generate the corrected input data.

9. The railroad management system of claim 4, wherein the integration module is configured to;

assign a trust level to each of the plurality of different train control systems or railroad data management systems based on historic data; and

generate the corrected input data based in part on the trust level of each of the plurality of different train control systems or railroad data management.

10. The railroad management system of claim 1, wherein:

the integration module is configured to;

determine when expected input data is not received from the one or more train control systems and the railroad data management systems; and

generate substitute input data based on a model, wherein inputs to the model include one or more of historic data and default data; and

the controller is configured to display the one or more graphical user interfaces on the display device based at least in part on the substitute input data.

11. A method of managing a railroad network, comprising;

receiving input data from one or more train control systems;

receiving input data from one or more railroad data management systems;

identifying discrepancies among the input data from the one or more train control systems and the railroad data management systems;

generating corrected input data based on the input data from the one or more train control systems and the railroad data management systems; and

displaying one or more graphical user interfaces on a display device based at least in part on the corrected input data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the one or more train control systems includes one or more of an energy management system associated with a train, an automatic train protection signaling system, and an automatic train operating system; and

the railroad data management systems include one or more of a logistics system, an enterprise resource planning system, an asset management system, a supervisory control and data acquisition system, a maintenance system, a financial forecasting system, a yard scheduling system, and a wayside equipment system.

13. The method of claim 11, further including:

identifying common pieces of data received from a plurality of different train control systems or railroad data management systems;

identifying discrepancies among the common pieces of data bayed on a comparison of the common pieces of data.

14. The method of claim 13, further including:

selecting one of the common pieces of data based on a hierarchy of the plurality of different train control systems or railroad data management systems; and

generating the corrected input data based on the selected one of the common pieces data.

15. The method of claim 13, further including:

performing simulations using each of the common pieces of data;

selecting one of the common pieces of data based on results of the simulations; and

generating the corrected input data based on the selected one of the common pieces of data.

16. The method of claim 13, further including:

selecting one of the common pieces of data based on one or more of a fuzzy logic model, a discrete choice model, and a neural network model; and

generating the corrected input data based on the selected one of the common pieces of data.

17. The method of claim 13, further including combine the common pieces of data to generate the corrected input data.

18. The method of claim 13, further including;

assigning a trust level to each of the plurality of different train control systems or railroad data management systems based on historic data; and

generating the corrected input data based in part on the trust level of each of the plurality of different train control systems or railroad data management systems.

19. The method of claim 11, further including:

determining when expected input data is not received from the one or more train control systems and the railroad data management systems; and

generating substitute input data based on a model, wherein inputs to the model include one or more of historic data and default data; and

displaying the one or more graphical user interfaces on the display device based at least in part on the substitute input data.

20. A railroad management system, comprising;

a display device configured to display information to an operator; and

a controller in electronic communication with the display device and including;

a train control module configured to receive input data from one or more train control systems and generate command signals for controlling operations of a train based on the input data from the one or more train control systems;

a business systems module configured to receive input data from one or more railroad data management systems; and

an integration module configured to;

identify common pieces of data received by a plurality of different train control systems or railroad data management systems;

identify discrepancies among the common pieces of data based on a comparison of the common pieces of data; and

select one of the common pieces of data or combine the common pieces of data to generate corrected input data;

wherein the controller is configured to display one or more graphical user interfaces on the display device based at least in part on the corrected input data.