Walt Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Kevin L Fenno

Kenneth S Gold

Jody D Gerstner

A positive-feedback go/no-go control system for an electric-vehicle ride (10) at an amusement park reliably communicates motion commands, vehicle-presence signals, and vehicle-status signals in the presence of high electrical noise and does so without the addition of expensive add-on equipment. The railway electric-vehicle ride includes an outbus (16) and an inbus (18) running along a railway (14). The positive-feedback go/no-go control system comprises a wayside control board (22) that provides a bipolar pulse-width-modulated command signal (26) to the outbus. A control circuit (24) onboard the electric vehicle receives the bipolar pulse-width-modulated command signal, amplitude modulates it at different frequencies that represent the electric vehicle's intended action, and provides the processed bipolar pulse-width-modulated command signal (30, 32) to the inbus. The wayside control board receives the processed bipolar pulse-width-modulated command signal, bandpass filters the frequency components, and compares the filtered frequency components to predetermined thresholds to detect the presence and intended action of the vehicle.

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Orlando, FL, United States of America

Kevin L Fenno