Patent Publication Number: US-2005119804-A1

Title: Train playback station and method

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE  
      This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/751,945 filed Jan. 7, 2004, which is a divisional of U.S. Pat. No. 6,789,005 filed Nov. 22, 2002, and is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/212,782 filed Aug. 7, 2002, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates generally to train locomotive simulators and playback stations and more specifically to improvements thereto.  
      Simulators and playback stations, for example, the Train Dynamics Analyzer (TDA), a long standing Locomotive Engineer training tool offered by the Train Dynamics Services Group of New York Air Brake, have been used to train engineers. The TDA functionality was enhanced to assist in training Locomotive Engineers on how to better handle their trains. Designs of simulators with math models are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,041,283; 4,827,438 and 4,853,883. Further capability was added to investigate accidents by playing back the event recorder data through the TDA, monitoring critical physical parameters. Through the years, data was collected from instrumented trains and laboratory experiments, allowing the models used by the TDA to be refined. On board data collection for off-loading is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,561,057 and 4,794,548.  
      As more Locomotive Engineers became familiar with the TDA display through training sessions, it became apparent that a real-time version of the TDA in the cab of a locomotive would offer substantial benefits in improved train handling. Earlier designs for on board computer controllers are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,810 with a description of math models. A Locomotive Engineer Assist Display and Event Recorder (LEADER) system, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,901, is a real-time, enhanced version of the Train Dynamics Analyzer (TDA).  
      The LEADER system has the ability to display a real-time or “live” representation of a train on the current track, the trackage ahead, the dynamic interaction of the cars and locomotives (both head end and remote), and the current state of the pneumatic brake system. As a tool for the Locomotive Engineer, the LEADER system allows insight into the effect of throttle changes and brake applications throughout the train providing feedback and information to the Locomotive Engineer not currently available. The information offered by the LEADER system provides an opportunity for both safer and more efficient train handling leading to enormous potential economic benefits.  
      The LEADER system has all the necessary information to predict the future state of the train given a range of future command changes (what if scenarios). With this ability, LEADER can assist the railroads in identifying and implementing a desired operating goal; minimize time to destination, maximize fuel efficiency, minimize in train forces, (etc.) or a weighted combination thereof. LEADER will perform calculations based on the operational goal and the current state of the train to make recommendations to the Locomotive Crew on what operating changes will best achieve these goals.  
      TDAs are usually available at a training site and are not typically mobile or portable. Also, LEADER systems are available on the train and are also generally not portable. There is a need in the industry for a truly portable simulator and playback station. One of the limitations of providing a truly portable simulator is a need to provide a control stand that replicates the actual control devices on a locomotive. These include propulsion and multiple braking control valves.  
      Displays for train simulators are exemplified by FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,901. It includes display of conditions throughout the trains in graphic representation, as well as a display of numerical values. Another type of display, known as a Strip Chart Display, is exemplified by FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,215. Both forums provide different kinds of information for different purposes. Although the simulator display of the LEADER system provides forces throughout the train, the Strip Chart provides a historical record in a playback mode of values as a function of time. Also, these systems have either operated in the playback mode or a simulation mode with no crossover.  
      A playback station according to the present disclosure includes a microprocessor, a display and an input device for the microprocessor. A data file of a video of a track correlated and simultaneously recorded with operating parameters for a run of a train on the track is stored in the work station. A program in the microprocessor plays back the data file by driving the display to selectively depict the operating parameters and the correlated video of the track. The video and the operating parameters may be separately stored and correlated by time stamps.  
      The operating parameters to be displayed are selected via the input device. The program may drive the display to depict the present operating parameters of the train with the history of the operating parameters of the train at a point on the track selected via the input device. The program may drive the display to switch between the depiction of the present operating parameters of the train and the history of the operating parameters of the train at a point on the track selected via and in response to the input device.  
      A method of collecting train operational data for playback includes collecting video images of at least a track on which the train moves and time coding the images; collecting operating parameters of the train and time coding the parameters; and storing the time coded video images and the time coded operating parameters in a data file. The images and parameters may be stored in an event recorder on the locomotive.  
      In a playback mode, the data file would include the track with correlated values of the control stand for a run of a train on the track. The program plays back the data file by driving the display to depict the operating parameters correlated to the track display. The ability to switch from the playback mode to a simulation mode using the playback data is provided.  
      A playback station, according to another aspect of the present invention, portable or not, includes a microprocessor, a display and an input device for the microprocessor. It also includes a data file of a track with correlated operating parameters for a run of a train on the track. A first program plays back the data file by driving the display to selectively depict the operating parameters correlated to the track either as the present operating parameters of the train or a history of the operating parameters of the train. The operating parameters to be displayed are selected via the input device. The operating parameters of the train may be depicted with the history of the operating parameters of a train at a point on the track selected via the input device. A second program operates the playback station as a simulator using the track of the data file by initially using the operating parameters from the data file as inputs and subsequently using the inputs from the input device to derive the operating parameters.  
      Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a portable simulator and playback station, according to the principles of the present disclosure.  
       FIG. 2  is an illustration of a display of a virtual control stand.  
       FIG. 3  illustrates a display including a strip chart, according to the principles of the present disclosure.  
       FIG. 4  is a flow diagram illustrating the taking over or switching between playback and simulation modes.  
       FIG. 5  is a schematic view of a train yard including an RCL device and centralized storage according to the present disclosure 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      A portable simulator and/or playback device  10  is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . It is illustrated as a portable, personal computer. It includes a microprocessor and an integral display  12 . It includes an input device for the microprocessor. The input devices include a keyboard  14 , a mouse  16  or the touch screen of display  12 . The program for simulation or playback is included in the microprocessor or may lie in a remote microprocessor  18 . The portable simulator  10  may be connected to the remote microprocessor  18  by a network  19 . The network may be, for example, the internet.  
      The display  12  may be a split display, as illustrated, with a virtual control stand  11  and a depiction of a track to be traversed  13 . One detailed embodiment of the virtual control stand  11  is illustrated in  FIG. 2 , and one example of the track to be traversed with other information is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . Alternatively, the displays  11  and  13  may be full-screen displays with the ability to switch there between. As with many other software-based systems, multiple screens may be displayed side-by-side, staggered or full-screen reduced and restored.  
      An example of a virtual control stand that allows the simulator and playback station to be truly portable is illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Virtual control stand  11  includes a throttle portion  20  having a throttle position indicator and controller  22  extending between throttle run positions  1  and  8  and idle. It also includes a direction selection indicator  24  between forward, reverse and neutral. The window  26  indicates the speed of the vehicle. The dynamic brake portion indicator and controller  28  is part of the brake control, and the opposite position of the throttle is provided. A window  30  to display the amperes of the dynamic brake and traction motor current (both for DC locomotives) is also provided. An enable power reduction button  32  is provided, as well as an adjustment  36  for the amount of power reduction in window  34 . Window  38  illustrates the air flow rate in the brake pipe.  
      The brake portion  40  of the virtual control  11  includes an automatic brake indicia and controller  42  and an automatic brake cut-out button  44 . This is to control the brake pipe for train braking. The independent brake for the locomotive includes an independent brake indicia and controller  46  and a bail-off or actuate button  48 . The bail-off button  48  allows release of the independent brakes of the locomotive. Window  50  shows the feed valve value, which is adjusted by button  52 . Window  54  illustrates a brake pipe pressure, window  56  the brake cylinder pressure and window  58  the equalization reservoir pressure.  
      Section  60  indicates the value of the controls for a remote locomotive unit. Slide  62  provides an indication and control of the throttle position, and slide  64  indicates and controls the amount of dynamic brake. Window  66  displays the amperes of both the traction motors and dynamic brake system (for DC locomotives). Button  68  controls the remote feed valve. Window  70  indicates the brake pipe pressure at the remote locomotive unit.  
      Section  72  illustrates pneumatic brake controls for trains with the remote power. It includes a control  74  for an emergency brake at the remote unit. Buttons  76  and  78  apply and release the automatic brakes, and buttons  80  and  82  apply and release the independent brakes for the remotely controlled locomotives.  
      Panel  84  depicts the auxiliary functions of the locomotive. These functions both control the function and indicate their status. This includes horn, bell, sand, call bell, remote sand and lead sand. Panel  86  provides indicia depicting the status or warnings. It includes power cutout switch open, wheel slip, sand, alerter alarm, overspeed alarm and remote wheel slip. Window  90  is a clock illustrating the date and time. Window  92  is a screen for miscellaneous messages to the engineer.  
      The majority of the depicted indicia and controls are those available on a standard control stand. The position of the indicia for the throttle dynamic brake, independent brake, automatic brake and those elements on the remote unit are controlled by an input device. As previously discussed, this may be the keyboard  14 , the mouse  16  or a touch screen control. One or more software programs may be provided to drive the display to depict the various elements of the virtual control stand  11 , as well as the changing of the controls in response to control inputs from the input device. Other control devices may also be implemented with the virtual control stand  11 . These may include combined throttle and dynamic brake and other distributed power interfaces.  
      The depiction of the track  13  may be a video of the track or CGI, as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , which shows a track plus a crossing and a signal light. A second program in the portable simulator  10  has data file of the track and provides it as the train moves along the track. This second program is also responsive to the inputs from the first program or control stand to appropriately progress along the track based upon the stored conditions of the track from the data file, as well as inputs from the throttle and brakes from the control stand  11 .  
      Alternatively, the track display  13  may be that illustrated in  FIG. 3 . The track display portion  100  includes the track profile in three views. The train may be represented on the track in these views. The horizontal view of the track  102  shows the grade in which the train is currently positioned and the grade of the track profile for a number of miles. It shows the geographic shape as a vertical slice of the track profile. An overhead or vertical view  106  incorporates symbols that represent track structure, such as crossing, signals, overpasses, underpasses and sidings. The track curvature representation  108  is made up of blocks that represent track curvature. A block above the dividing line represents a curvature to the right, and a block below the dividing line represents a curvature to the left. The longer the block, the longer the curvature. The higher the block, the more severe the curve. This example of a TDA display or a LEADER display is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,901.  
      The track view  100  may also be provided in the same software for, and be an alternative to, the graphic or video display of  FIG. 1 . If the LEADER system is available on the locomotives for that railroad, the LEADER display would be preferable for training purposes. It should also be noted that a fill LEADER display, as shown in FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,901, may also be provided in the portable simulator  10 .  
      The display of operating parameters may be on the virtual control stand  11 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , or part of the track display  13 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . Whereas the control stand display of operating parameters is for the present operating parameter, the display in the track portion  13  is correlated to the track position and represents a history of the operating conditions as the lead locomotive traverses the track. Both may also be displayed. If a standard LEADER-type display is used, the present conditions of the operating parameters would be illustrated as part of the track display  13 .  
      Section  120  of the display  13  of  FIG. 3  is a strip chart representation of operating parameters. It illustrates the history of the parameter correlated to the location of the track. Even though the representation  120  in  FIG. 3  shows the history of a portion of where the train has not reached yet, in a simulator mode it will display only that portion which the train has traversed. The illustration  FIG. 3  is a playback mode wherein the data file includes the depiction of the track and its correlated operating parameters. The operating parameter display may also be configured to show values ahead of the train if so desired by the user in the playback mode.  
      It should be noted that display  13  of  FIG. 3  may be used on any simulator or playback station whether it is portable or not. It may be used with or without a control stand for playback analysis of data collected from a train on a particular run with the operating parameters correlated to the track information.  
      The Strip Chart Display  120  includes a plurality of graphics  122  illustrating the value of the operating parameter. Window  124  indicates the name of the value, and  126  would display the actual numerical value at the position selected by pointer  130 . Controls  132  move the pointer to the position on the track display. The position in miles is indicated in Window  134 . A row of buttons  136  provides the standard control of the track display  100 . This allows moving of the track display and the correlated operating parameters by time, location or other operational parameters. The zoom in and out control provides the amount of track shown. The movement of the playback may be accelerated, real time or for actual playback speed control.  
      The operating parameters  124  to be displayed may be selected. These may include, but not be limited to, tractive effort, dynamic brake effort, end of train brake pipe pressure, run in/out (RIO) forces, brake system pressures, lateral over vertical (L/V) force ratio, traction motor current, traction motor voltage, speed, speed limit, acceleration, heading, buff/draft forces, minimum safe brake pipe reduction, actual brake pipe reduction, fuel consumed, horn use, bell use, throttle setting and dynamic brake setting. This system may also automatically identify exceptions, such as overspeed, and highlight these events on the display.  
      The control section  140  includes the time factor  142 , the time and date for the run  144 , the file and path number  146  and a miscellaneous status information message window  148 . The controls  150  provide control of the time factor  142 , the run selection and the select parameter button. It also provides control of a run by a start and stop button, as well as an exit from the program. Display  152  provides the propulsion controller position of each locomotive in the train, as well as provides the fuel usage  154 . As previously discussed, the whole history section  120  is displayed in a playback station and only that which has transpired would be displayed in a simulator. The playback system will allow the operator to select a location by track position in either the strip chart representation or the LEADER system representation and be able to flip back and forth between the two. All presented data would be accurate for each screen with the position of the train in the playback being preserved.  
      Portable simulator and playback station  10 , or any other simulator and playback station, whether portable or not, may also be provided with a program to allow the transition from playback to simulation as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . During playback process  208 , the information from a data file at  204  that has track information correlated with operating parameters, as illustrated in  FIG. 3 , is played back. The operating parameters may be in the strip chart version, as indicated in  120 , or in the numerical values. During playback, the control inputs for the software of the track display comes from the data file  204 .  
      A button  160  allows switching the program from simulation (S) to playback (PB). At the point the button is pushed during playback  208  to switch at  212  to simulation at  214 , the track information from the data file is displayed, as well as the operating conditions from the playback source  210  with the initial conditions from the final state of the simulation session. From that point forward, the control signals to drive the track display and the operating parameters display is switched to the inputs from the control stand. It may include a standard control stand or the virtual control stand of  FIG. 2 . The input signals from the control stand will produce calculable, changing operating parameters versus pre-recorded operating parameters, as well as move the track display at the appropriate rate.  
      It should be noted that the data file with the correlated operating parameters may be from an actual locomotive, for example, event recorder data, an earlier simulation run or from other sources or forum. The track or time-coded data file may be manually created, for example, by scripting, or can be a modification of pre-existing data to create situations to which the engineer should respond or to supply missing or corrected suspected information in determining the cause of an accident or other failure. An example of collecting and correlating, by example time stamps, a video of the track and the operating parameters is shown on  FIG. 5  for a rail yard.  
      The ability to switch back and forth between playback and simulation allows the operator to try different scenarios in analyzing pre-recorded data to determine appropriate corrective procedures, as well as to adjust the variables to determine causes of pre-recorded existing conditions. If it is a pre-recorded actual run of the engineer, it allows him to make different decisions to see what the results are. After using the system in simulator mode  214 , the program can be switched at  200  back to playback mode  208  with the user identifying the desired track position at  202  and the system identifying the initial conditions of the recorded files for that desired track position  204 . The playback conditions from  206  are the data for the initial conditions necessary to start the playback process  208   
      It should be noted that any of the virtual buttons on the screens of  FIGS. 2 and 3  may be replaced by actual keys on a keyboard or switches. The virtual presentation is preferred in a portable setting.  
      As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , a yard may include the train  310  with locomotive  312  and cars  314 , wherein the locomotive  312  is controlled by RCL device  340 . The RCL device  340  may include substantially more information and intelligence to be displayed to the operator. It would include a local RCL data storage and program  342  and a display  344 . The RCL device  340  has a transceiver to communicate with locomotive  312  via air waves  346 . The location of the train on the track within the yard would be determined by the programming storage device  342  and displayed on display  344 . This would give the operator a different view point of the locomotive within the yard, which would not be available from his perspective. This is especially true since the operator of the RCL device is generally at ground level. The locomotive  312  generally has a GPS device receiving signals from a satellite  350  via link  354 . This information can be conveyed to the RCL device  340  to aid in locating the device&#39;s current position in the pre-stored data base for the track or yard at  342 . The RCL device may also include a GPS transponder receiving signal by  352  from the satellite  350 . This will determine its position within the yard. The device  342  would include software equivalent to that of the LEADER technology. This will allow the system  342  to drive the display  344  to show not only the location of the train  310  on the track or within the yard, but also allow display of forces throughout the train  310 . This is important in the control and operation of the train  310  within the yard.  
      Also, within the yard, are generally cameras  356 , which may include a GPS device communication with the GPS satellite  350  via radio link  358 . The cameras  356  may also be connected with a centralized data storage  360  via radio link  364  or by hard wire  366 . The transceiver of the RCL device  340  also can communicate with the centralized data storage  360  via radio link  362 . The centralized data storage  360  correlates the telemetry of the train  310  with the commands from the RCL device  340  for further use. It also may be correlated with the video from the camera  356 . This is achieved through time-stamp of the information from the locomotive  312  and the RCL device  340 . This is correlated with the time-stamped information from the camera  356 . By using the time stamp received from the GPS satellite  350 , the accuracy and ease of correlation of information from the locomotive  312 , RCL device  340  and camera  356  is increased.  
      The centralized data storage  360  may collect information from other locomotives and RCL device  340  within the yard. This information may also be transmitted from the locomotive and RCL devices to other RCL devices for displaying of their positions in the yard on the display  344  of the RCL device  340 . That would allow an operator to know where other operators are in the work environment. Also, a tag may be worn by yard workers that would also transmit its position. That would allow locomotive operators (RCL or onboard) to know where other workers wearing tags are located and add a measure of safety. The software would include the ability to avoid co-occupation of any workspace by a locomotive and an RCL device (collision avoidance based on telemetry calculations).  
      The centralized data storage  360  allows playback of the information for management control and accident analysis of the yard. As in other LEADER systems, in playback, a simulation can take place by varying the telemetry of the train to see what results would occur. The software  342  has the ability of performing playback locally. The centralized data storage  360  may be at any remote location, for example, the tower in the yard.  
      As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,068, locomotives may have cameras to view the conditions down the track from the front of the train. The images from the camera may be viewed simultaneously with the LEADER display as described in the patent. According to the present disclosure, these images may also be time stamped and stored as video images with the operating parameters in the event recorder on the locomotive and/or the centralized data storage  360 . This will make them available for play back on any playback device be it stationary or portable.  
      Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is to be clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation. The spirit and scope of the present invention are to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims.