V-aware end of train device

• US 9,994,242 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2015
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harsco Technologies, LLC (Enviri Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Harsco Technologies, LLC (Enviri Corp.)
• Inventors: Bartek, Peter Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Mark T
• Application Number:
  US14/873,578
• Publication Number:
  US 20160096537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 984 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0027 Radio-based, e.g. using GSM-R
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0054 Train integrity supervision, e.g. end-of-train [EOT] devices
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0072 On-board train data handling
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 2205/04 Satellite based navigation systems, e.g. global positioning system [GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 23/34 for indicating the distance between vehicles or trains by the transmission of signals therebetween
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/42 for mass transport vehicles, e.g. buses, trains or aircraft

Abstract

The present disclosure teaches inter-vehicle communications for avoiding rear collision of rail vehicles on a railroad. For example, a collision avoidance system may comprise an end-of-train device and a V-aware unit located on different vehicles. The two devices may be configured to wirelessly communicate with each other, and then detect each other'"'"'s presence by estimating a distance between them. Warnings may be issued to respective operators against a collision hazard when the distance drops to or below a pre-determined threshold.

Claims

1. An end-of-train device positioned at about a rear end of a train, the end-of-train device comprising:

at least one transceiver configured to;

wirelessly communicate with a rail vehicle that is moving towards the rear end of the train, and

receive signals from a wayside device; and

a processor configured to;

detect, based on the communication with the rail vehicle, a presence of the rail vehicle to prevent a potential collision between the train and the rail vehicle, and

determine, based on the received signals, a location of the rear end of the train relative to the wayside device.

2. The end-of-train device of claim 1, wherein the train comprises a locomotive and at least one car coupled to the locomotive, wherein the end-of-train device is configured to be installed on a last car, and wherein the end-of-train device is further configured to notify a train operator of the presence of the rail vehicle by sending a data signal to the locomotive.

3. The end-of-train device of claim 1, wherein the rail vehicle is equipped with a vehicle (V)-aware unit located thereon, and wherein the V-aware unit communicates with the at least one transceiver over a radio link for determining at least a distance range between the train and the rail vehicle.

4. The end-of-train device of claim 3, wherein the communication between the V-aware unit and the at least one transceiver over the radio link comprises using radio frequencies near about 400 MHz.

5. The end-of-train device of claim 3, wherein the communication with the V-aware unit comprises sending chirp signals in a radio frequency band near about 2.4 GHz.

6. The end-of-train device of claim 1, further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) module configured to communicate with a control center over a communications link.

7. The end-of-train device of claim 1, further comprising a cellular module configured to communicate with an operations control center over a cellular communications link.

8. The end-of-train device of claim 1, wherein the wayside device comprises a smart tag deployed in a switching yard, and wherein the end-of-train device is further configured to send the location of the rear end of the train relative to the smart tag to a crew in a locomotive of the train to prevent hitting a yard barrier.