US 12,641,432 B2 · Secure train communication techniques

Abstract

A mechanism to communicate in a secure manner between locomotives of a train consist is disclosed. Controllers on locomotives generate data packets and encode them according to one of a plurality of modulation schemes and transmit the encoded data packets according to one of a plurality of frequencies. The frequencies and/or modulation schemes used to transmit data are changed periodically by the transmitting controller in a sequence. The receiving controller is aware of the current frequency and/or modulation scheme being used and can, therefore, decode the transmitted data. Since the transmission frequency and/or modulation scheme is not known by a malicious actor, the data communications between the controllers is secure. The sequence of frequencies and/or modulation schemes may be communicated between the two controllers during a handshaking procedure to set up communications. Clocks of the communicating controllers may be synchronized to enable the frequency and/or modulation hopping scheme.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A locomotive, comprising:

a controller including one or more processors;
and
one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the controller, cause the controller to:
send first data to a second controller, the second controller associated with a second locomotive, the first data including an identifier of the controller;
receive, based at least in part on the first data, an acknowledgement message from the second controller;
send, at a first time, second data to the second controller using a first channel associated with a first frequency and using a first modulation scheme;
send, at a second time, third data to the second controller using a second channel associated with a second frequency and using a second modulation scheme;
and
send, at a third time, fourth data to the second controller using a third channel associated with a third frequency and using a third modulation scheme, wherein the third frequency is different from the first frequency and different from the second frequency, and wherein the third modulation scheme is different from the first modulation scheme and the second modulation scheme.

6 more elements

A locomotive communication system, comprising:

a controller including one or more processors;
and
one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the controller, cause the controller to:
receive identity data from a second controller, the second controller associated with a second locomotive, the identity data including an identifier of the second controller;
determine, based at least in part on the identifier, a modulation scheme sequence;
receive, at a first frequency, a first signal from the second controller;
identify, based at least in part on the modulation scheme sequence, a first demodulation scheme to use to decode the first signal;
decode the first signal using the first demodulation scheme;
receive, at a second frequency different from the first frequency, a second signal from the second controller;
identify, based at least in part on the modulation scheme sequence, a second demodulation scheme to use to decode the second signal, wherein the second demodulation scheme is different from the first demodulation scheme;
decode the second signal using the second demodulation scheme;
receive, at a third frequency, a third signal from the second controller;
identify, based at least in part on the modulation scheme sequence, a third demodulation scheme to use to decode the third signal, wherein the third demodulation scheme is different from the first demodulation scheme and the second demodulation scheme;
and
decode the third signal using the third demodulation scheme.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Secure train communication techniques

Life of this patent

Secure train communication techniques

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17