Rail car tracking system

Abstract

A method and system for tracking a rail car having an on-board communication system including a location determining system and a transceiver for receiving and transmitting rail car data. The communication system including a processor responsive to an executable program for enabling operation of the transceiver to transmit rail car data during a reporting event and having a memory for storing data and instructions. The processor memory includes a remotely addressable software database accessible by the executable program for establishing a reporting event in response to at least one of a selected time, a change in geographical location, an extended time in a geographical location, an approach to a specified geographical location, a coupling / decoupling of the rail car with a particular locomotive and a command to report. The rail car includes an AEI reader attached to the rail car for reading AEI tags on other rail vehicles passing by the reader, the reader being in communication with the rail car message system for transmitting data indicating at least a location of the other rail vehicles.

Description

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 60 / 547,513 filed Feb. 24, 2004.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates generally to the field of rail transportation, and more particularly to tracking locations of rail cars within a rail transportation system. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Railway shippers need to be able to track the location of rail cars within a rail transportation system. Supply chain management improvements and heightened security concerns have increased the need to track and pinpoint rail car locations at all times, whether the rail car is stationary in a rail yard or siding, or being moved through the rail system by a locomotive. Currently, rail cars may be equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags such as Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) tags that may be read by a wayside tag reader positioned at known locations within the rail system and configured to recognize and report when an AEI tag...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, such an AEI system can only provide location information of the rail car at the time when the car passes the reader.

Moreover, with only a relatively limited number of AEI tag readers available, a significant length of track (and thus a large number of possible railcar locations) may exist between adjacent AEI tag readers.

However, as described below, these systems typically transmit a large body of information in long messages so as to fully identify the location of the railcars and do so on regularly scheduled timed intervals, so that battery life has proven to be unacceptably short.

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