General Signal Corporation

General Railway Signal Corporation

Samuel J Macano

William A Petit

James R Hoelscher

George G Maderer

A signaling and traffic control system which is capable of a vehicle determining its own absolute position along a guideway based on information received from the wayside using an inductive loop or beacon system in conjunction with the distance traveled according to the onboard tach generator(s), and report its position to a wayside control device, whereby the wayside control device reports to the vehicle, as part of its communications message, the location of the closest forward obstacle. Based upon this information, the vehicle controls itself safely based upon its characteristics as contained in a topographicla database and a vehicle database.

Automatic vehicle control and location system

An automatic vehicle operation system which responds to a plurality of speed commands and a plurality of stopping commands. The vehicle is controlled to travel at one of a plurality of speeds in response to one of a plurality of speed commands. The vehicle can also be controlled to stop a predetermined distance after receipt of one of the two stopping commands. Which of the two stopping commands is received determines the distance over which the vehicle travels between receipt of the stopping command and the point at which the vehicle comes to rest. Regardless of which of the commands is received the vehicle is controlled so as to respect predetermined acceleration and jerk limits during periods of acceleration and deceleration. The acceleration control circuit is responsive not only to velocity rate of change but also to the grade over which the vehicle is traveling so as to limit the total acceleration of deceleration forces to a predetermined maximum. The jerk limit control circuit is responsive to the vehicle load and limits the rate of change of tractive effort to in light of the particular loading of the vehicle so as to limit jerk to a predetermined maximum. The receipt of a stop command initiates the operation of a digital circuit to generate a stopping pattern which controls the subsequent velocity and position of the vehicle.

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Macedon, NY, United States of America

Samuel J Macano