Railway switch management system and/or method
AssigneeParallel Systems, Inc.
InventorsMarc Greenbaum, Andrea Anez, Patrick Dunn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The system can include: a motion planner and a switch management system. The system can optionally include or operate in conjunction with a vehicle controller, a user interface (UI), and a track data system. However, the system 100 can additionally or alternatively include any other suitable set of components. The system functions to facilitate vehicle control and/or manage authority, in the form of exclusive track reservations, within a rail network. Additionally or alternatively, the system can function to manage switch positions (and/or operation based on switch positions) within a rail network.
Claims20
A system for a rail network, the rail network comprising a plurality of switches and defining a track map, the system comprising:
- a switch management system comprising a database storing a switch state for each of the plurality of switches, the switch management system configured to:
- determine and maintain a set of switch reservations, each switch reservation associated with a respective switch of the plurality of switches, wherein the set of switch reservations defines, for the plurality of switches:
- a subset of reserved switches and remainder of unreserved switches, wherein each reserved switch is associated with at least one switch reservation;
- and
- based on track rules for the track map, update switch states for unreserved switches of the plurality of switches in the database;
- a motion planner communicatively coupled to a plurality of rail vehicles and the database, the motion planner configured to, for each rail vehicle of the plurality:
- determine a motion plan associated with a target state of a switch of the plurality;
- based on the switch state of the switch, stored in the database, matching the target state, determine and maintain an exclusive track reservation defined relative to track coordinates of the track map;
- and
- command traversal of the rail vehicle based on the exclusive track reservation and the motion plan.
A method for controlling traversal of an autonomous rail vehicle through an unmonitored switch, the method comprising:
- determining a route for the autonomous rail vehicle, the route comprising a target switch configuration for the unmonitored switch;
- determining satisfaction of a first trigger condition for the unmonitored switch, and, in response, requesting confirmation of the target switch configuration for the unmonitored switch;
- receiving confirmation of the target configuration for the unmonitored switch;
- based on the confirmation of the target configuration, updating a switch database;
- based on the switch database, determining an exclusive track reservation for the autonomous rail vehicle, the exclusive track reservation comprising the unmonitored switch;
- executing Positive Train Control (PTC) for the autonomous rail vehicle based on the exclusive track reservation;
- subsequently, releasing the exclusive track reservation based on a vehicle state of the autonomous rail vehicle;
- and
- based on satisfaction of a second trigger condition, updating the configuration of the unmonitored switch in the switch database.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.