Traffic control system utilizing on-board vehicle information measurement apparatus
US5332180A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 28, 1992 |
| Grant date | Jul 26, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 28, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB61L27/16
- WIPO fieldTransport
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A railway traffic control system in which accurate vehicle information is effectively available in real-time to facilitate control of traffic flow. Unlike prior art methods of precisely monitoring train location, the current invention is dependant only on equipment on-board the vehicle and position updates provided by external benchmarks located along the track route. The system's dynamic motion capabilities can also be used to sense and store track rail signatures, as a function of rail distance, which can be routinely analyzed to assist in determining rail and road-bed conditions for preventative maintenance purposes. In presently preferred embodiments, the on-board vehicle information detection equipment comprises an inertial measurement unit providing dynamic vehicle motion information to a position processor. Depending on the amount and quality of apriori knowledge of the vehicle route, the inertial measurement unit may have as many as three gyroscopes and three accelerometers or as little as a single accelerometer. To minimize error between benchmarks, the processor preferably includes a recursire estimation filter to combine the apriori route information with movement attrib…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.