Rail Terminal Dispatch Coordination via Parameter Exchange
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current transportation network systems lack effective coordination between terminal operating systems and line of road dispatch systems, resulting in inefficiencies, such as lack of real-time data sharing and resource availability, which affects the safe, timely, and cost-effective movement of trains between rail yards and terminals.
Innovation Solution
A composite system that integrates a road dispatch system and a terminal operating system to coordinate vehicle operations by exchanging travel and yard parameters, allowing for synchronized scheduling and configuration of movements and operations across planning boundaries, including the use of processors and communication units to manage vehicle systems and yard operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If terminal operating systems and line of road dispatch systems operate independently without information sharing, then each system can function autonomously, but coordination efficiency deteriorates and real-time data availability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the terminal operating system and line of road dispatch system into a unified coordinated planning system. The systems exchange travel parameters and yard parameters through defined interfaces, enabling joint optimization of train movements and yard operations. This integration allows the systems to function as a cohesive unit while maintaining their individual operational capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The coordinated planning system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it schedules train movements on routes, plans yard operations within terminals, exchanges parameter information between systems, and optimizes overall network efficiency. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for separate independent planning processes.
2Loss of information
If real-time data sharing is implemented between dispatch systems and terminal systems, then coordination performance improves, but information infrastructure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces standardized parameter exchange interfaces that act as intermediaries between the line of road dispatch system and terminal operating system. Travel parameters and yard parameters are transmitted through these defined communication channels, enabling real-time data sharing without requiring direct complex point-to-point connections between all system components.
3Reliability
If synchronized scheduling is implemented across planning boundaries, then on-time performance increases, but computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary coordinated planning by exchanging travel parameters and yard parameters before train movements and yard operations commence. This advance coordination allows the systems to pre-schedule activities, allocate resources, and optimize sequences, ensuring on-time performance while distributing computational tasks across both systems rather than requiring simultaneous complex calculations.
Data Source
AI summary
A terminal operating system includes one or more processors configured to obtain one or more parameters of non-propulsion-generating cargo vehicles and to determine which of the non-propulsion-generating cargo vehicles are to be included in a vehicle system assembled in a terminal or yard based on the one or more parameters. The one or more parameters include one or more of an earliest time of availability at which cargo equipment will be available in the terminal or yard, a safety operational characteristic, an efficiency operational characteristic of the one or more non-propulsion-generating cargo vehicles, and/or a priority parameter of the one or more non-propulsion-generating cargo vehicles. The one or more processors are configured to automatically direct equipment within the terminal or yard to assemble the vehicle system based on the one or more parameters.