International Business Machines Corporation

Systems & Materials Research Corporation

Sean McNeal

Michael Anthony Perez

Michael E Lyons

Alan V Bray

Jesse McDaniel

A non-contact, distance traveled measurement system (DTMS) to calculate speed and distance traveled by a vehicle over rails&#x2014;more specifically, by trains traveling on standard railroad tracks. Preferably, a pair of short range (near field) microwave-based transmitters/sensors (transceivers) are mounted on the underside of the train and used to key on rail-bed features such as cross ties or tie plates. Preferred embodiments also include infrared sensors as a redundant channel that is less sensitive to moisture in the track bed. Data from the sensors is correlated to determine the time delay between the first and second sensors' passage over objects on the rail bed such as cross-ties or tie-plates. From this time delay, nearly instantaneous velocity can be computed at each given target such as a tie plate (metal target) or a tie (dielectric contrast target). Velocity versus time curves can be integrated over time to derive distance traveled.

Method and apparatus using non-contact measuring device to determine rail distance traveled

A method and system for choosing an optimal PCI adapter burst length is disclosed. The optimal burst length is automatically determined by the adapter configuration feature of AIX software using a cache-line size of a PCI bridge and the latency timer value of the target PCI adapter as inputs. The method also provides for a user to be able to override the software-calculated setting.

System for optimally tuning a burst length by setting a maximum burst length based on a latency timer value and adjusting the maximum burst length based on a cache line size

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Sean McNeal