Vehicle navigation and control system and method
AssigneeWestinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation
InventorsJames A. Oswald, Jeffrey D. Kernwein, Michael Bratcher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A controller is provided that can receive or determine at least one first location associated with at least a first vehicle belonging to a vehicle group; receive or determine at least one second location associated with at least a second vehicle; and determine a route or lane from a plurality of possible routes or lanes on which the vehicle group is located based at least partly on the at least one first location and on the at least one second location.
Claims18
A controller configured to:
- receive or determine a first location value associated with at least a first vehicle in a vehicle group;
- receive or determine a second location value associated with at least a second vehicle;
- determine a route or lane from a plurality of possible routes or lanes on which the vehicle group is located based at least partly on the first location value and on the second location value;
- determine a level or degree of uncertainty or inaccuracy of at least one of the first location value or the second location value;
- and
- respond to a calculation of the level or degree of uncertainty or inaccuracy that is greater than a determined threshold value by one or more of:
- generating an alert;
- switching an operating mode of one or more vehicles in the vehicle group to a safe stop mode, or requesting additional location information to reduce the level or degree of uncertainty or inaccuracy to less than the determined threshold value.
A system for determining a direction of travel of a vehicle group including at least two control vehicles on a route network having a plurality of routes, the system comprising at least one computer programmed or configured to:
- receive or determine a direction of orientation of at least one of the control vehicles relative to a first route of the routes;
- receive or determine a throttle position of the at least one control vehicle;
- and
- determine a direction of travel of the vehicle group relative to the first route based on the direction of orientation and the throttle position.
A method, comprising:
- receiving or determining an initial first location value associated with a first vehicle belonging to a vehicle group;
- receiving or determining an initial second location value associated with a second vehicle;
- determining a route or lane from a plurality of possible routes or lanes on which the vehicle group is located based at least partly on the first location value and on the second location value;
- determining an amount of skew or drift associated with one or more of the initial first location or the initial second location;
- and
- determining one or more of an adjusted first location of the first vehicle or an adjusted second location of the second vehicle by adjusting the one or more of the first location or the second location based at least in part on the skew or drift that is determined.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.