Subject:
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DCC Madness - One Step Beyond
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto
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Date:
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Sat, 28 Jul 2001 20:45:43 GMT
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Viewed:
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424 times
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This thread in trains got me thinking:
http://news.lugnet.com/org/ca/vlc/?n=1218
DCC is really cool for manual control of multiple trains on the same track.
However it doesn't provide any positional feedback so you can't easily have
automatic control of the trains.
In the above thread they where talking about using reed relays to detect
that a train is passing by and to take appropriate action . The problem is,
you don't know which train is passing. You may want to do something
different if its a passenger train or a freight train.
There are also problems with the couplers giving false or extra readings as
the train passes over.
A long time ago (late eighties) in a galaxy far far away (London, ON) I
raced radio control cars a lot. The standard way to count the laps in a
race was to have someone check you off every time you passed start Finnish.
However at the more professional races, which I was never good enough for,
they used a very small transponder device and an antenna wire under the
track at start finish. A transponder was placed in each car in the race.
As they passed start finish a computer would count each car.
So here's the Madness. You could use a similar system with DCC trains, and
implement it in one of two ways:
You could place a transponder in each train, then put antenna wires under
the track at strategic points. As the train passed over that point you
would know which train it was and could react to it presents. The antenna
could be designed as a localized device that ran as a sensor for a RCX. The
RCX could then do something based on passing of a train. Or the antennas
could be brought back to a central location and the DCC computer could used
this data.
The other way is more dependant one how DCC works and I'm not sure if it can
handle this. You could place the antenna in the train, and place
transponders under the track. As the train passes over a transponder it can
encode a message back through the track stating which transponder it just
passed. The DCC computer could then listen to the track as well as
broadcast on it. It would then know which section of track each train was on.
The method you would use is dependent on the relative cost of making
transponders and antennas. And whether you can use the track for network
like messaging. Either method could power the transponders and antennas off
the track. If its not possible to send the return messaging through the
track then placing the antennas under the track would allow you to run leads
back to the controlling computer.
So feel free to smack me up side the head for bringing something like this
up before there is even a working DDC system setup. Also, I don't even have
the electronics skills or know how to even begin setting something like this
up. So feel free to smack me up side the head for that too. I was just
thinking out loud. :-)
Derek
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: DCC Madness - One Step Beyond
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| (...) You *can* use magnets and reed relays to tell which train that passed. A college job I had was at a materials handling company and each vehicle had a different pattern of magnets. Several reed switches were embedded, and as vehicles passed (...) (23 years ago, 29-Jul-01, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
| | | Re: DCC Madness - One Step Beyond
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| (...) The software we're using, TMWDCC 1.33, allows for a "route" mode which can execute timed switch throwing, but that's about the extent of it. Iain Hendry has been thinking about this for a while. One system we thought of was using a Dacta (...) (23 years ago, 30-Jul-01, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
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