Patent ID: 7653465

Claim:
A method for remote control of locomotives, comprising the steps of: providing a single time division multiple access network for communication between at least one locomotive control unit and at least two operator control units, said locomotive control unit being interfaced so as to enable the remote control of a locomotive, wherein said network employs both spatial and frequency diversity for remote control, wherein the network comprises a centralized coordination mode comprising a repeater infrastructure along with a distributed coordination mode wherein the locomotive control unit communicates directly with the operator control units, wherein the repeater infrastructure communicates coverage area and defines periods of time for communication by the at least one locomotive control unit and the at least two operator control units; configuring the at least one locomotive control unit and the at least two operator control units to use the centralized coordination mode simultaneously with the distributed coordination mode; and exchanging information between the locomotive control unit and at least one operator control unit, via the network, so as to operatively control the locomotive, wherein each of the locomotive control unit and the operator control units will only transmit in a respective defined period of time.