Abstract:
A system and method for automated, wireless short-range data collection and communications for interconnected mobile systems, such as trains includes a master control unit and a plurality of data transmission units communicating in a daisy-chain fashion along the collection of interconnected mobile systems. The master control unit can verify collected data and serve as an interface with an external communications system for providing real-time data to a central control site, for example via wayside readers, satellite communications, cell phone linkage, 2-way radio, etc. Data could include sensor information, railcar identification, status, trouble spots, location, and warnings.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/205,782 filed May 19, 2000. 
     
    
     
       TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0002]    The following disclosure relates generally to wireless data collection and communications methods, apparatus and systems for interconnected mobile systems, such as railways.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    TRAINTALK from GE Harris Railway Electronic is a wireless communications system that employs a spread spectrum direct sequence radio to provide communications between railway vehicles (i.e., locomotives and cars) forming a railway train. In its current configuration, the TRAINTALK system provides electronically controlled braking (ECB) with a railway train, although marketing materials indicate that future capability may include providing information about car status and cargo conditions. Railway companies appear reluctant to place braking under electronic control for a variety of reasons, such as the high cost of retrofitting associated with such a system. The TRAINTALK system employs a mesh typography, each vehicle coupled to at least two other vehicles, in each direction, to provide multiple paths between vehicles for routing addressed messages.  
           [0004]    Some railway companies began implementing data collection in 1992 using Amtech&#39;s AVI products. While successful at collecting data, the AVI system did not provide the collected data to the railway in “real-time.” 
           [0005]    Communications technology, including communication infrastructure, has become more cost-effective and pervasive in the last five to eight years. With the widespread use of cellular phone systems, Global Positioning Systems, and even satellite communicators, real time communication with almost any location within the United States is a current possibility. Railways have not fully taken advantage of such communications technology, and do not generally track equipment and inventory in real-time. Real-time tracking of equipment and inventory may increase operating efficiency, prevent losses, assist in the building and dismantling of trains or other collections of interconnected vehicles, and/or otherwise provide useful scheduling data. A need exists for real-time data collection and reporting for interconnected mobile systems, such as railways.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    In one aspect a system and method of automated wireless data collection and communications for interconnected mobile systems, such as railway trains, includes an internal or “intra-train” communications system having a master control unit (“MCU”) carried by one of the interconnected vehicles and a number of data transmission units (“DTU”) each carried by a respective one of the other interconnected vehicles. Communications between the interconnected vehicles takes place in a daisy-chain fashion, each interconnected vehicle communicating with immediately adjacent vehicles, and appending its own data to data previously collected from prior vehicles. The master control unit may serve as the start and the terminus of the communications daisy-chain, and can provide the collected information to an external communications component.  
           [0007]    Thus, the automated wireless data collection and communications for interconnected mobile systems may include the means for providing real-time tracking data for each railcar in this country. The data could include specific information concerning the condition, load, and inventory of each railcar on a train.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overview of an interconnected mobile systems data collection and communications system in the form of a railway communications system including an internal communications system carried by a plurality of railway vehicles forming a train and an external communications system.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a portion of the railway communications system including a master control unit carried by a locomotive for collecting data from the plurality of railway vehicles forming the train of FIG. 1 and transmitting the collected data externally from the train.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a portion of the railway communications system including a data transmission unit carried by each of the railway vehicles forming the train of FIG. 1.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the master control unit.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of the data transmission unit. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0013]    Wireless data collection methods, systems and techniques are described in detail herein. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided, such as specific dimensions, protocols, frequencies, etc. to provide a thorough understanding of, and enabling description for, embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art, however, will recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details or with other dimensions, protocols, frequencies, etc. In other instances, well-known structures or operations are not shown, or not described in detail, to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 shows a wireless railway data collection and communications system  10  for collecting data from a number of railway vehicles  12  coupled serially together to form a train  14 . The railway vehicles  12  can include one or more locomotives  16 , and one or more cars  18 . Typically, the locomotives  16  provide the power, pulling or pushing the cars  18 . The locomotive  16  can be at a first end  20  of the train  14 , as shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, the locomotive  16  can be a second end  22  of the train, or can be between the first and the second ends  20 ,  22  of the train. Where the train includes more than one locomotive  16 , the locomotives can be dispersed throughout the train.  
         [0015]    The railway data collection and communications system  10  includes two subsystems, an intra-train communications system  26  for communicating between the railway vehicles  12  forming the train  14  and an external communications system  28  for communicating externally from the train  14 . A master control unit  30  forms an interface between the intra-train communications systems  26  and the external communications system  28 .  
         [0016]    In addition to the master control unit  30 , the intra-train communications system  26  includes a number of data transmission units  32 . Each of the data transmission units is carried by a respective one of the railway vehicles  12 , other than the railway vehicle carrying the master control unit  30 . As shown in FIG. 1, each of the data transmission units  32  communicate with a data transmission unit  32  carried by the adjacent railway vehicle  12 . Thus, the intra-train communications takes the form of a daisy-chain communications path between the various railway vehicles  12  forming the train  14 . The daisy-chain communications path provides a lower cost alternative to a mesh topology, and provides more efficient routing of data since little or no addressing or other overhead is required. By employing a known block size, the master control unit  30  or the central control station can attribute the collected data to specific railway vehicles  12  using the identifier and/or the order of data with respect to the order of railway vehicles  12  in the train  14 . Railways, which have thousands of locomotives and cars, require low infrastructure costs and high efficiency to deploy data collection and communications systems.  
         [0017]    Typically, the master control unit  30  will be installed in a locomotive  16  at the first end  20  of the train, and a respective data transmission unit  32  will be installed in each of the other railway vehicles  12  of the train  14 . However, it is possible to install the master control unit  30  at other positions in the train  14 , still relying on the daisy-chain communications path between each of the adjacent railway vehicles  12  to collect data and relay data.  
         [0018]    In addition to the master control unit  30 , the external communications system  28  can include a communications link  24 .  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 2 shows the interaction of the master control unit  30  carried by the locomotive  16  with the other components of the intra-train communications system  26  and the external communications system  28 . The master control unit  30  serves as of the interface between the intra-train communications system  26  and the outside world. The master control unit  30  can initiate data collecting and monitor the daisy-chain communications path on the train  14 . The master control unit  30  may employ existing communications infrastructure to provide real-time communications between the train  14  and the outside world. For example, the master control unit  30  may employ other components of the external communications system  28 , such as a way side communications link  36 , an AMTECH AVI interface, a 2-way radio interface  38 , a satellite link  40  such as a global positioning system, and/or a cellular telephone interface  42 .  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 3 shows the interaction of the data transmission units  32  and some of the data transmission unit&#39;s data collection capabilities. The data transmission units  32  act as a transponder capable of operating in a master/slave configuration. One of the data transmission units  32  is typically mounted on each railway vehicle  12 , although a separate data transmission unit  32  may be provided for each piece of high value cargo. The data transmission unit  32  has inputs for receiving data from sensors associated with the railway vehicle  12  and/or the railway vehicle cargo. For example, the data transmission unit  32  may receive data such as wheel out-of-round data from a wheel out-of-round sensor  44 , wheel bearing condition data from a wheel bearing condition sensor  46 , AVI collected data from an AMTECH AVI interface  48 , weight in motion data from a weight in motion sensor  50  and/or car identification information  52 .  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the master control unit  30 . The master control unit  30  includes a microprocessor  54  which may include an integral memory or can rely on a discrete memory (now shown) for instructions and data. The master control unit  30  also includes a short range transceiver  56  for providing intra-train communications with the data transmission units  32  on adjacent railway vehicles  12 . The short range transceiver  56  includes a short range transmitter  58  and a short range receiver  60 . The short range transceiver  56  may take the form of a radio frequency (“RF”) transceiver. The master control unit also includes a long range transceiver  62  for providing communications externally from the train  14 . The long range receiver  62  includes a long range transmitter  64  and a long range receiver  66 . The long range transceiver  62  can take the form of one or more of a global position system transceiver, a 2-way radio transceiver, a cellular telephone transceiver, and/or a way side communications transceiver. The master control unit  30  may include, or may be coupled to one or more antennas (not shown) for providing suitable communications.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of the data transmission unit  32 . The master control unit  32  includes a microprocessor  68 . The microprocessor  68  can be similar to the microprocessor  54  of the master control unit  30 , or can be a less powerful processor or controller since the data transmission units  32  have less of a processing burden than the master control unit  30 . The data transmission unit  32  also includes, a short range transceiver  70  for providing intra-train communications with the data transmission units  32  on adjacent railway vehicles  12 . The short range transceiver  70  includes a short range transmitter  72  and a short range receiver  74 . The short range transceiver  70  can take the form of an RF transceiver. The data transmission unit  32  may include, or may be coupled to one or more antennas (not shown) for providing suitable communications.  
         [0023]    Operation of the wireless data collection and communications system  10  will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The master control unit  30  may be programmed to query the train  14  at predetermined intervals, or upon command from a central control station relayed to the master control unit  30  via the communications link  34 . The master control unit  30  initiates the vehicle query sending an RF signal to the “first” data transmission unit  32 . The data transmission unit  32  then assume master control, appending the contents of its memory to the data string, querying for the “next” data transmission unit  32 , and transferring master control to that next date transmission unit  32 . The “first” data transmission unit  32  then enters into a “sleep but monitor” mode. The process would be serially repeated along the train  14  until all data transmission units  32  on the train  14  had appended their information to the data bus.  
         [0024]    The “last” data transmission unit  32  on the train  14  could be configured as an end of train (“EOT”) device. When all data transmission units  32  had responded, including the EOT data transmission unit, the data string would be echoed back up through each data transmission units  32  until it reached the master control unit  30 . The master control unit  30  could compare previous data strings, pre-programmed vehicle count, or could simply process the data.  
         [0025]    After the master control unit  30  confirmed the validity of the data, the master control unit  30  could establish an external communication link. The external communications link could be direct or indirect. A direct link could be established using a 2-way radio or cellular telephone transceiver to communicate with a central control station. An indirect link could be established with a wayside reader or a satellite communication link. The master control unit  30  could report on the location, time, and transfer all data collected during the interrogation process.  
         [0026]    Background information and/or further details for certain aspects of the above embodiments may be found in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/205,782, filed May 19, 2000, entitled “WIRELESS DATA COLLECTION METHOD SNA DSYSTEMS, SUCH AS FOR RADIO FREQUENCY (RFID) TAGS” (Attorney Docket No. 11041-8286), assigned to the assignee of this application; Association of American Railroads, Mechanical Division, Standard for Automated Equipment Identification, Standard S-918-950 (adopted in 1991 and revised in 1995); product brochures by Echelon Corporation (http://www.echelon.com), including the LonWorks System and “Ep x ™ Direct Braking and TrainTalk™”, published electronically by GE Harris Railway Electronics at www.geharris.com/products/EPXwp.pdf; “TrainTalk™ Wirefree Communications System: A Robust Wireless Communications Specifically Designed for the Railroad Environment” presented to European Rail Research Institute (ERRI) High Productivity Freight and ECP Brake in Europe, Feb. 4-5, 1998, available at www.geharris.com/products/francetraintalk.pdf.  
         [0027]    The above description of illustrated embodiments of the invention is not intended to be exhaustive, or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. The teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to other data collection and communications systems and methods, not necessarily the railway data collection and communications systems described above.  
         [0028]    The various embodiments described above can be combined to provide yet further embodiments. All of the above references and U.S. patents and applications are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary to employ the systems, functions and concepts of the various patents and applications of described above to provide yet further embodiments of the invention.  
         [0029]    From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.