Recognition system for determining a position of a braking control device

A system comprising:

• an arrangement of different symbols disposed on a surface of a vehicle in a multi-vehicle system, wherein the arrangement of different symbols represents encoded information of one or more characteristics of the vehicle;
• and
• one or more optical sensors configured to detect reflection of light off the symbols in the arrangement and communicate the reflection that is detected to a braking control device for operation of the braking control device based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the vehicle as determined from the detected reflection.

A system comprising:

• a braking control device configured to be disposed onboard a first railway vehicle of a train having the first railway vehicle and one or more additional railway vehicles, the braking control device configured to control braking of the first railway vehicle based on a location of the braking control device along a length of the train;
• and
• one or more optical sensors configured to be coupled with the braking control device and to optically detect a coding disposed on a surface in the first railway vehicle, the braking control device configured to determine the location of the braking control device based on the coding that is detected and to control braking of the first railway vehicle based on the location that is determined.