CA2511278A1 - Advancing simulation capture and reporting tools - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of processing and displaying train performance including analyzing train data received from the train or train simulator real time or from a data storage and preparing display data of the results of the analysis. Computer graphic images are created from the display data; and the computer graphic images are provided for display. A
display may be a drive with the display data and displayed portions of the display data may be selected to be created into computer graphic images. The computer graphic images may be transmitted over the internet or stored on a portable store and ultimately displayed on a video player.
The computer graphic images may be viewed and edited or enhanced.

Description

-I-ADVANCING SIMULATION CAPTURE AND REPORTING TOOLS
(0001] The present disclosure relates generally to simulators and more specifically with capturing and displaying images on a simulator.

[0002] The TDS Simulator product and LEADER prod~ct from New York Air Brake (NYAB) produce tremendous amounts of data and info~nation from both training and analysis sessions. The presentation of such infonmatior~ can take many forms for audiences of varying expertise in the subject matter.

[0003] Further capability was added to investigate accide~ts by playing back the event recorder data through the TDA, monitoring critical physi parameters. Through the years, data was collected from instrumented trains and laborato experiments, allowing the models used by the TDA to be refined. On board data collection ~or off loading is shown in U.S.
Patents 4,561,057 and 4,794,548.

(0004] As more Locomotive Engineers became familiar ~ ith the TDA display through training sessions, it became apparent that a real-time versi n of the TDA in the cab of a locomotive would offer substantial benefits in improved gain handling. Earlier designs for on board computer controllers are shown in U.S. Patent 4042,810 with a description of math models. A Locomotive Engineer Assist Display and Eve~t Recorder (LEADER) system, as described in U.S. Patent 6,144,901, is a real-time, enhanc~d version of the Train Dynamics Analyzer ('TDA).

[0005] The LEADER system has the ability to display a tjeal-time or "live"
representation of a train on the current track, the trackage ahead, the dyna~ic interaction of the cars and locomotives (both head end and remote), and the current Mate of the pneumatic brake system.
As a tool for the Locomotive Engineer, the LEADER sys~ em allows insight into the effect of throttle changes and brake applications throughout the tr~in providing feedback and information to the Locomotive Engineer not currently av~ilable. The information offered by the LEADER system provides an opportunity for both sa~er and more efficient train handling leading to enormous potential economic benefits.

(0006] The LEADER system has all the necessary information to predict the future state of the train given a range of future command changes (wha~ if scenarios). With this ability, LEADER can assist the railroads in identifying and implementing a desired operating goal;
minimize time to destination, maximize fuel effciency, ~ inimize in train forces, (etc.) or a weighted combination thereof. LEADER will perform c lculations based on the operational goal and the current state of the train to make recommen ations to the Locomotive Crew on what operating changes will best achieve these goals.

[0007 The LEADER system also has the capability of ana~yzing train handling by setting a standard for the run, collecting train operating and handlin~ data from the run and determining operating constraints during the run which are~not included in the standard run.
The determination of operating constraints during a run al~o includes determining differences between the operating constraints during the run of those i~tcluded in the standard. The train handling data is compared to the standard and the comparison is adjusted for the operating constraints. A report is created from the standard and the ~andling data correlating the energy usage for specific categories. These capabilities ark described in U.
S. Patent 6,332,106.
[0006] A method of analyzing train operational data recorded during each run of a train and transferred to a processing station to create a variable exc~ption report is described in U. S.
Patent 6,748,303. Operational and informational paramet rs are derived from the recorded operational data for each run. The operational and identi ration parameters and the corresponding operational data are stored as a standard d abase record for each run. The operational parameters are compared to selected exceptio~ values and the variance of the comparison are stored with the standard operational database record for each run. A search is then performed of the stored standard database records based on one or more of operational parameter, identification parameter, operational data and ~ariance.
(0009 TDAs are usually available at a training site and are not typically mobile or portable.
Also, LEADER systems are available on the train and ar~ also generally not portable. There is a need in the industry for a truly portable simulator anc~ playback station.
[00010 This disclosure describes a method by which tl~e graphical results of the simulation session or actual train runs can be captured into a timd sequenced graphical format (computer graphic images) which can be sequentially flayed on a standard media device on most any computer or video player. This would all~viate the need to provide a complete playback station to any potential user of the data. The presentation can be further enhanced to emphasize various aspects of the ~raphics using the suite of analysis tools available from the LEADER and Simulator Pro~ucts.
[00011] In summary, the present disclosure is a meth ~ of processing and displaying train performance including analyzing train data received m the train or train simulator real time or from a data storage and preparing display dat~ of the results of the analysis.
Computer graphic images are created from the displa~ data; and the computer graphic images are provided for display. A display may be a drive with the display data and displayed portions of the display data may be selecte~ to be created into computer graphic images. The computer graphic images may be transmitted over the Internet or stored on a portable store and ultimately displayed on a video playe~. The computer graphic images may be viewed and edited or enhanced.
[00012] Other objects, advantages and novel features of the~present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE TjRAWINGS
T
[00013) Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portable simulatbr and playback station, according to the principles of the present disclosure.
[00014] Figure 2 is an illustration of a display of a virtual control stand.
[00015) Figure 3 illustrates a display including a strip chart according to the principles of the present disclosure.
[00016) Figure 4 is a block diagram of the method of the present disclosure (00017) A portable simulator and/or playback device 10 is [llustrated in Figure 1. It is illustrated as a portable, personal computer. It includes a ~tticroproccssor and an integral display I2. It includes an input device for the microprocessor. The input devices include a keyboard 14, a mouse 16 or the touch screen of display 1~. The program for simulation or playback is included in the microprocessor or may lie in aj remote microprocessor 18. The portable simulator 10 may be connected to the remote microprocessor 18 by a network 19.
The network may be, for example, the Internet.
[00018) The display 12 may be a split display, as illustrated, with a virtual control stand 11 and a depiction of a track to be traversed 13. One detaile~ embodiment of the virtual control stand 11 is illustrated in Figure 2, and one example of thd track to be traversed with other information is illustrated in Figure 3. Alternatively, the displays 1 l and 13 may be full-screen displays with the ability to switch there between. jAs with many other software-based systems, multiple screens may be displayed side-by-side,j staggered or full-screen reduced and restored.
(00019) An example of a virtual control stand that allows the simulator and playback station to be truly portable is illustrated in Figure 2. Virtual control stand 11 includes a throttle portion 20 having a throttle position indicator and controller 22 extending between throttle run positions 1 and 8 and idle. It also includes a direction se~ection indicator 24 between forward, reverse and neutral. The window 26 indicates t~e speed of the vehicle. The dynamic brake portion indicator and controller 28 is pard of the brake control, and the -4_ opposite position of the throttle is provided. A window 30 fo display the amperes of the dynamic brake and traction motor current (both for DC locomotives) is also provided. An enable power reduction button 32 is provided, as well as anj adjustment 36 for the amount of power reduction in window 34. Window 38 illustrates the fir flow rate in the brake pipe.
(00020] The brake portion 40 of the virtual control 1 I includes an automatic brake indicia and controller 42 and an automatic brake cut-out button 44. 'fh~is is to control the brake pipe for train braking. 1fie independent brake for the locomotive includes an independent brake indicia and controller 46 and a bail-off or actuate button 48~. The bail-off button 48 allows release of the independent brakes of the locomotive. Window 50 shows the feed valve value, which is adjusted by button 52. Window 54 illustrates a bake pipe pressure, window 56 the brake cylinder pressure and window 58 the equalization re~ervoir pressure.
[00021] Section 60 indicates the value of the controls for a demote locomotive unit. Slide 62 provides an indication and control of the throttle position, ~nd slide 64 indicates and controls the amount of dynamic brake. Window 66 displays the amperes of both the traction motors and dynamic brake system (for DC locomotives). Button ~8 controls the remote feed valve.
Window 70 indicates the brake pipe pressure at the remot~ locomotive unit.
(00022] Section 72 illustrates pneumatic brake controls for~trains with the remote power. It includes a control 74 for an emergency brake at the remot~ unit. Buttons 76 and 78 apply and release the automatic brakes, and buttons 80 and 82 apply~and release the independent brakes for the remotely controlled locomotives.
(00023] Panel 84 depicts the auxiliary functions of the locomotive. These functions both control the function and indicate their status. This includ~s horn, bell, sand, call bell, remote sand and lead sand. Panel 86 provides indicia depicting t~e status or warnings. It includes power cutout switch open, wheel slip, sand, alerter alann,j overspeed alarm and remote wheel slip. Window 90 is a clock illustrating the date and time. ~ Window 92 is a screen for miscellaneous messages to the engineer.
[00024] The majority of the depicted indicia and controls ~re those available on a standard control stand. The position of the indicia for the throttle dynamic brake, independent brake, automatic brake and those elements on the remote unit controlled by an input device. As previously discussed, this may be the keyboard 14, the m use 16 or a touch screen control.
One or more software programs may be provided to driv the display to depict the various elements of the virtual control stand 11, as well as the changing of the controls in response to control inputs from the input device. Other control deviqes may also be implemented with the virtual control stand 11. These may include combinedlthrottle and dynamic brake and other distributed power interfaces.
[00025] The depiction of the track 13 may be a video of theltrack or computer generated images, as illustrated in Figure 1, which shows a track plug a crossing and a signal light. A
second program in the portable simulator 10 has data file o~'the track and provides it as the train moves along the track. This second program is also responsive to the inputs from the first program or control stand to appropriately progress along the track based upon the stored conditions of the track from the data file, as well as inputs from the throttle and brakes from the control stand 11.
[00026] Alternatively, the track display 13 may be that illustrated in Figure 3. The track display portion 100 includes the track profile in three viev~s. The train may be represented on the track in these views. The horizontal view of the track ~ 02 shows the grade in which the i train is currently positioned and the grade of the track pro~ile for a number of miles. It shows i the geographic shape as a vertical slice of the track profiled An overhead or vertical view 106 incorporates symbols that represent track structure, such a~ crossing, signals, overpasses, underpasses and sidings. The track curvature representation 108 is made up of blocks that represent track curvature. A block above the dividing lin~ represents a curvature to the right, and a block below the dividing line represents a curvature~to the left. The longer the block, the longer the curvature. The higher the block, the more severe the curve.
This example of a TDA display or a LEADER display is shown in U.S. Patent 6,144,901.
[0002TJ The track view 100 may also be provided in the same software for, and be an alternative to, the graphic or video display of Figure 1. Iflthe LEADER system is available on the locomotives for that railroad, the LEADER displa~ would be preferable for training purposes. It should also be noted that a full LEADER display, as shown in Figure 5 of U.S.
Patent 6,144,901, may also be provided in the portable simulator 10.
[00028] The display of operating parameters may be on th ~ virtual control stand 11, as shown in Figure 2, or part of the track display 13, as shown in F~gure 3. Whereas the control stand display of operating parameters is for the present operating parameter, the display in the track portion 13 is correlated to the track position and represents a history of the operating conditions as the lead locomotive traverses the track. Bo~h may also be displayed. If a standard LEADER-type display is used, the present conditions of the operating parameters would be illustrated as part ofthe track display 13.
[00029] Section 120 of the display 13 of Figure 3 is a stri , chart representation of operating parameters. It illustrates the history of the parameter co elated to the location of the track.

-(_ Even though the representation 120 in Figure 3 shows the i~istory of a portion of where the train has not reached yet, in a simulator mode it will displa~ only that portion which the train has traversed. The illustration Figure 3 is a playback mode wherein the data file includes the depiction of the track and its correlated operating parameters. The operating parameter display may also be configured to show values ahead of th~ train if so desired by the user in the playback mode.
[00030] It should be noted that display 13 of Figure 3 may be used on any simulator or playback station whether it is portable or not. It may be u~ed with or without a control stand for playback analysis of data collected from a train on a particular run with the operating parameters correlated to the track information.
[00031] The Strip Chart Display 120 includes a plurality o~graphics 122 illustrating the value of the operating parameter. Window 124 indicates the na'~e of the value, and 126 would display the actual numerical value at the position selected ~by pointer 130.
Controls 132 move the pointer to the position on the track display. The positibn in miles is indicated in Window 134. A row of buttons 136 provides the standard control ~f the track display 100. This allows moving of the track display and the correlated ope#ating parameters by time, location or other operational parameters. The zoom in and out co~trol provides the amount oftrack shown. The movement of the playback may be accelerated, real time or for actual playback speed control.
(00032] The operating parameters 124 to be displayed ma~ be selected. These may include, but not be limited to, tractive effort, dynamic brake efforts end of train brake pipe pressure, run in/out (RIO) forces, brake system pressures, Lateral over vertical(L/V) force ratio, traction motor current, traction motor voltage, speed, speed limit,~acceleration, heading, buff/draft forces, minimum safe brake pipe reduction, actual brake ~ipe reduction, fuel consumed, horn i use, bell use, throttle setting and dynamic brake setting. ''his system may also automatically identify exceptions, such as over-speed, and highlight th~se events on the display.
[00033] The control section 140 includes the time factor 142, the time and date for the run 144, the file and path number 146 and a miscellaneous status information message window I48. The controls 150 provide control of the time factor X142, the run selection and the select parameter button. It also provides control of a run by a s~art and stop button, as well as an exit from the program. Display 1 S2 provides the propulsion controller position of each locomotive in the train, as well as provides the fuel usag~ 154. As previously discussed, the whole history section 120 is displayed in a playback station and only that which has transpired would be displayed in a simulator. The playback system will allow the operator to _7_ select a location by track position in either the strip chart representation or the LEADER
system representation and be able to flip back and forth between the two. All presented data would be accurate for each screen with the position of the ijrain in the playback being preserved.
(00034] The present process by which dynamic information displayed on a simulator or LEADER display on a train or playback unit of is capt~red (as individual frames) and converted to a format suitable for visual playback (vide) on other user equipment. The dynamic information displays include the LEADER screen, the entire LEADER
playback window, the simulator profile display, and the brake plat of Figures 1-3.
[0003'S~ The visual playback on user equipment includes! Windows Media Players on Windows, Quicktime on Windows and Apple compute, and video (whether in regular or high-definition format). Thus, the output to be played c~n be in a digital format for computers, one of the modern digital video formats, or ~n analog scanline image as in television video. On the computer side, there are numerous codices, some of which are more suitable than others for this type of image, and sole of which are more common and available on a particular type of computer as in the differences between PC
and Macintosh computers. Particularly on the computers, the playbackjcan be stand-alone or embedded in some other presentation package (like PowerPoint). ~t can also be streamed over the Internet using suitable formats and players.
(00036 In a suitable standard format, the video can be edited, annotated, or otherwise enhanced with detailed or summary results from any of ~VYAB's analysis and monitoring tools in order to emphasize the desired information. Cojmputer generated images clips can be synchronized to the playback to further enhance the presentation of results. The final output of the toolset is highly portable to most modern >~C's and can be packaged to meet a variety of demonstration needs.
[00037] In the present method, a simulation analysis (for; example variable exception reporting as described in U. S. Patent 6,748,303) can u$e various trigger levels to visually/audibly mark or highlight areas of exceptions daring initial analysis for display.
Such marking are intended to draw the user's attention ~o areas of interest as arbitrarily defined by the user. For example, the user may ask the system to identify excessive in-train forces over 200k1bs. The system would mark such] events on the graphic in advance, during, and after the actual event to allow the user to set what led to the event, the event itself, and how the train operator recovered from the event. Reaching the point of interest in the playback may be accompanied by an audible alar~.

_8_ [00038] The graphics could be played back at accelerated or fractional real-time speed. A
feature to jump to the next marked exception event in thje viewing assists the user in finding areas of interest.
[00039] The creator of the graphics will be able to annotate the playback with multimedia information such as graphics (bookmarks), audio files, pr video files. For example, if the creator identified what they thought was the point of derailment for a train, they might drop a mark in the file and record a message that would play when that point in the playback was reached. The creator may pause the play~ack for the audio or even suspend the playback in favor of a video clip. The playback cold resume when the video clip was complete.
[00040] In summary, the present disclosure is a method jof processing and displaying train performance as illustrated in Figure 4. The method inc.~udes analyzing train data received from the train or train simulator real time or from a dat~ storage and preparing display data of the results of the analysis. Computer graphic image are created from the display data;
and the computer graphic images are provided for disp~ay. A display may be a drive with the display data and displayed portions of the display ~ata may be selected to be created into computer graphic images. The computer graphic images may be transmitted over the Internet or stored on a portable store and ultimately disjplayed on a video player. The computer graphic images may be viewed and edited o~j enhanced.
(00041] All or parts of the display of the simulator or tl~e onboard display may be selected for creating the computer generated images. Portions pf the time history of the display may also be selected. Other displays or display data o~others displays may be used in the present method. All of the time sequenced computer ipnages can be synchronized such that when a reviewer of the data sets the playback in lotion, all images, representing different captured aspects of the simulation, are presented in concert.
j00042] Although the present disclosure has been desc~ibed and illustrated in detail, it is to be clearly understood that this is done by way of illus~tation and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation. The scope of the pr~sent disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Claims (7)

1. A method of processing and displaying train performance comprising:
analyzing train data received from the train or train simulator real time or from a data storage;
preparing display data of the results of the analysis;
creating computer graphic images from the display data; and providing the computer graphic images for display.

2. The method according to Claim 1, including driving a display with the display data.

3. The method according to Claim 2, including selecting from the display data being displayed the portions of the display data to be created into computer graphic images.

4. The method according to Claim 1, including displaying the computer graphic images on a video player.

5. The method according to Claim 1, wherein the providing includes transmission over the internet.

6. The method according to Claim 1, wherein the providing includes storing the computer graphic images on a portable store.

7. The method according to Claim 1, including viewing and editing or enhancing the computer graphic images.