Route Optimization System Using Railroad Crossing Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current navigation systems fail to consider railroad crossing blockages when calculating optimal routes, leading to inaccurate travel time estimates and delays, particularly affecting first responders who rely on precise routing during emergencies.
Innovation Solution
A system integrating Positive Train Control (PTC) data, real-time communication, and stochastic optimization into a cloud computing platform to identify optimal travel routes by accounting for both street traffic congestion and potential railroad crossing blockages, using a method that dynamically updates shortest paths to avoid blocked railroad crossings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If current navigation systems calculate routes based only on street traffic information, then the routing calculation is simple and fast, but the travel time estimation becomes inaccurate when railroad crossings are blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines street traffic information from GPS devices with railroad crossing blockage information from Positive Train Control (PTC) systems into a unified routing calculation. The server integrates both data sources to compute optimal routes that consider both street congestion and railroad blockages, resolving the contradiction by merging multiple information sources rather than using either alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary calculations of expected delay times at railroad crossings before final route determination. By pre-computing delay expectations based on train schedules and crossing locations, the system prepares advance information that speeds up the final routing decision, addressing the complexity-accuracy tradeoff through pre-processing.
2Reliability
If the system integrates both PTC data and real-time communication for optimal routing, then the routing accuracy improves, but the computational complexity and data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary that receives and processes both PTC railroad data and GPS street traffic data. This intermediary component centralizes the complex integration logic, allowing mobile devices to remain relatively simple while the server handles the sophisticated data fusion and routing optimization, thus improving reliability without excessively increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the routing problem into separate components: railroad crossing delay calculation, street traffic condition analysis, and optimal path determination. By dividing the complex integration task into modular segments that can be processed independently and then combined, the system manages computational complexity while maintaining high routing reliability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the shortest path algorithm is dynamically updated in real-time, then the routing adapts to current conditions, but the computational load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs partial dynamic updates by focusing computational efforts only on affected route segments when conditions change, rather than recalculating entire routes. This selective updating approach maintains adaptability to current conditions while reducing overall computational energy consumption by avoiding unnecessary full-route recalculations.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are systems and methods for identifying an optimal travel route for first travelers, such as commuters, first responders, etc., that considers both potential railroad crossing blockages in addition to street traffic congestion conditions to provide real-time optimal vehicle routing based on real-time street and railroad crossing conditions.