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Mobile Computing Based Railway Crossing Collision Avoidance System

a collision avoidance system and mobile computing technology, applied in the field of railroad crossing safety, can solve problems such as ineffective methods of preventing collisions

Inactive Publication Date: 2014-07-24
RAISER AARON
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a system that uses a smartphone and GPS technology to detect the location of a train approaching a railway crossing. The smartphone receives a radio signal from the train and compares it with the GPS location of the roadway vehicle. If a radio signal is detected, the system alerts the driver with a visual and / or audio alert. The technical effect of this invention is to improve safety and prevent accidents by providing advanced warnings to drivers approaching240,000 rail crossings each year in the U.S.

Problems solved by technology

Given the average number or collision per year between cars and trains, this method has proved ineffective at preventing collisions.

Method used

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  • Mobile Computing Based Railway Crossing Collision Avoidance System
  • Mobile Computing Based Railway Crossing Collision Avoidance System
  • Mobile Computing Based Railway Crossing Collision Avoidance System

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

embodiment one

Preferred Embodiment One

[0019]Referring to FIG. 1, a train 5 travelling on train tracks 9 (northward in this example) towards a railroad crossing 13 is equipped with an FM radio transmitter 6 that transmits an FM signal 15 at a set frequency at a nominal distance of 1 mile radius 14 in all directions around the train. Any available frequency can be used. Vehicles 1, 2, 3 (travelling eastward in this example) and 4 (travelling northward in this example) are all travelling in the vicinity of the railway crossing or train.

[0020]Each vehicle 1, 2, 3 and 4 are equipped with a mobile computing device 57 of FIG. 3 and an FM receiver 51 of FIG. 3 which can detect the presence of the FM signal 15 transmitting from the FM transmitter 6 of the train 5. Referring to of FIG. 3 the mobile computing device 57 is also equipped with a GPS receiver 52 that can detect the GPS coordinates of the mobile computing device 57.

[0021]The mobile computing device 57 is also equipped with a CPU 53 and a compute...

embodiment two

Preferred Embodiment Two

[0029]An improvement to the previous embodiment would be for the present invention to take into consideration the type and speed of the vehicle approaching the railway crossing 13 of FIG. 1. The type of vehicle information can be stored in an area 59 of FIG. 3 in the mobile computing device. The vehicle speed can be input into the mobile computing device from the vehicle speedometer or be calculated by the mobile computing device using GPS coordinate reading over a period of time. The method of operation for preferred embodiment two is the same as preferred embodiment one, except that the computer program 58 takes into consideration the vehicle type and speed. A semi-trailer, for example, takes longer to come to a stop than a small car, and therefore the area 7 of FIG. 1 would be increased when computing whether a the vehicle is in the danger zone area of the railway crossing and in need of being given an alert when the train 5 of FIG. 1 is also near the rail...

embodiment three

Preferred Embodiment Three

[0030]Referring to FIG. 5, a train 5 travelling on train tracks 9 (northward in this example) towards a railroad crossing 13 is equipped with an FM radio transmitter 6 that transmits an FM signal 14 at a set frequency at a nominal distance of a 4 mile radius 15 in all directions around the train. Any available frequency can be used. Preferred embodiment three functions identically to that of preferred embodiments 1 and 2 with the difference being that the train 5 encodes onto the FM radio signal the trains speed, distance to the railway crossing, and the length of the train. For example, a train traveling 5 MPH that, is 1 mile from the train crossing presents no real danger to vehicles 1, 2 or 3.

[0031]Referring to FIG. 4, preferred embodiment three receives the encoded FM radio signal 14 of FIG. 5 via the FM receiver 51 and the mobile computing device then decodes from the FM radio signal 14 of FIG. 5 the speed, distance from the railway crossing and length...

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Abstract

A device to prevent railway crossing accidents between a roadway vehicle and a train, by comparing the UPS location of a roadway vehicle to the UPS location of the railway crossing by means of a mobile computing device, and alerting the operator of a roadway vehicle when the vehicle is at a railway crossing when an FM radio signal transmitted by the train is also detected by the mobile computing device.

Description

RELATED U.S. APPLICATION DATA[0001]This patent claims the benefit of: Mobile Computing Based Railway Crossing Collision. Avoidance System—provisional patent application 61 / 589,349 filed Jan. 22, 2012.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]This application contains no rights made under federally sponsored research and development.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The present invention pertains to field of railroad crossing safety, specifically the avoidance of collisions between vehicles using a roadway and a train travelling on railway tracks at the location where the tracks and roadway intersect.[0004]Currently, the driver of a vehicle must rely on visual and audible queues to prevent a collision with a train when approaching a railway crossing. Given the average number or collision per year between cars and trains, this method has proved ineffective at preventing collisions.[0005]Common examples of railroad crossing accidents are (1) vehicles travellin...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): B61L23/00
CPCB61L23/007B61L29/246
Inventor RAISER, AARON
Owner RAISER AARON
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