US20100044333A1 - Contactless data communications coupling - Google Patents
Contactless data communications coupling Download PDFInfo
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- US20100044333A1 US20100044333A1 US11/994,941 US99494106A US2010044333A1 US 20100044333 A1 US20100044333 A1 US 20100044333A1 US 99494106 A US99494106 A US 99494106A US 2010044333 A1 US2010044333 A1 US 2010044333A1
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- 238000002347 injection Methods 0.000 description 2
- 239000007924 injection Substances 0.000 description 2
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B61—RAILWAYS
- B61L—GUIDING RAILWAY TRAFFIC; ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC
- B61L15/00—Indicators provided on the vehicle or vehicle train for signalling purposes ; On-board control or communication systems
- B61L15/0018—Communication with or on the vehicle or vehicle train
- B61L15/0036—Conductor-based, e.g. using CAN-Bus, train-line or optical fibres
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B61—RAILWAYS
- B61G—COUPLINGS; DRAUGHT AND BUFFING APPLIANCES
- B61G5/00—Couplings for special purposes not otherwise provided for
- B61G5/06—Couplings for special purposes not otherwise provided for for, or combined with, couplings or connectors for fluid conduits or electric cables
- B61G5/10—Couplings for special purposes not otherwise provided for for, or combined with, couplings or connectors for fluid conduits or electric cables for electric cables
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- H04B5/266—
Definitions
- This invention generally relates to the field of contactless high-speed data signal coupling and more specifically to the field of contactless high-speed data signal coupling systems and devices optimized for a train coupler environment.
- An electrical coupler head (hereinafter “head”), which comprises a box-like electrical insulator, is mounted to each mechanical coupler.
- the electrical insulator of the head has a plurality of approximately 0.375-inch diameter cylindrical openings for acceptance of metallic pins.
- Known electrical couplings for electrical power or low bandwidth data signals are generally accomplished through the use of ohmic contact between corresponding pins of two heads, each head mounted to a pair of coupled mechanical couplers.
- Such electrical couplings are limited to conveying electrical power or low bandwidth data signals of less than one megabit per second because of a large difference between the impedance of high-speed data cable and the impedance of the pins and of the junction between the pins.
- Such coarse pin connections are also subject to electrical radiation and interference due to the large spacings between adjacent pins of a head.
- An electrical coupling through the use of pins is considered a quick-disconnect coupling, in that the electrical coupling is quickly broken when the mechanical couplers are uncoupled.
- the exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a non-contact data connection that is adaptable to use in a mechanical rail car coupler environment using conventional electrical coupler heads. These embodiments utilize a primarily magnetic field coupling to communicate either baseband data or RF signals through a quick-disconnect electrical coupling device that can be easily mounted in an electrical coupler head.
- FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of two electrical coupler heads incorporating signal coupling units according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention
- FIG. 2 is an inter-car network architecture using baseband inter-car coupling units according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention
- FIG. 3 is an inter-car network architecture using RF based inter-car coupling units according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention
- FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a non-contact Ethernet baseband coupling system according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, including a segment interface unit, a non-contact sending unit, and a non-contact receiving unit;
- FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the segment interface unit of FIG. 4 ;
- FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the non-contact sending unit of FIG. 4 ;
- FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the non-contact receiving unit of FIG. 4 ;
- FIG. 8 is a graph of frequency response for the non-contact Ethernet baseband coupling system of FIG. 4 .
- Exemplary embodiments of the present invention utilize one of two different approaches for transferring high-speed data across two coupled cars using a signal coupling system that neither requires nor uses ohmic contact between the cars.
- Each approach is able to carry, for example, 100-Mbit/sec Ethernet signals from one car to another across signal coupling units that are easily incorporated into a head of a mechanical train coupler.
- the first of these approaches directly couples the Ethernet baseband signal through custom-designed magnetics within each signal coupling unit that are used in combination with specialized active signal conditioning circuitry of the system. This approach is capable of full-duplex Ethernet communication at 100-Mbits/sec.
- the second of these approaches incorporates an intermediate conversion to a radio frequency (RF) signal, such as an IEEE 802.11a wireless format, that operates in the vicinity of 5-GHz.
- RF radio frequency
- the RF signal is transmitted across the signal coupling units through a specially designed short-range, near-field antenna-like coupling arrangement within each signal coupling unit.
- the RF approach is limited to half-duplex operation at 54-Mbits/sec (with standard equipment) or 108-Mbits/sec (with special non-standard equipment) in one direction at a time.
- FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of two heads 101 and 102 .
- Each head, 101 and 102 which includes an electrical insulator 103 and 104 , respectively, is mounted to a mechanical coupler (not shown) of a car.
- At least one signal coupling unit according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention is mounted in each head 101 and 102 .
- Each signal coupling unit includes electrical coupling components contained within a pin-shaped housing 109 .
- the housing 109 is easily mountable within a cylindrical mounting opening in the head 101 and 102 .
- the outer diameter of the housing is 0.7-inch, and because the outer diameter of the housing 109 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of a prior art pin, the diameter of the cylindrical mounting opening assigned to the housing is enlarged appropriately.
- Each signal coupling unit replaces a prior art pin.
- One non-contact sending unit 105 on a car is paired, or mated to, one non-contact receiving unit 106 on an adjacent, coupled car.
- head 101 has one non-contact sending unit 105 and one non-contact receiving unit 107
- head 102 has one non-contact receiving unit 106 and one non-contact sending unit 108 .
- Sending unit 108 mates with receiving unit 107 and they constitute a pair.
- Sending unit 105 mates with receiving unit 106 and they constitute another pair.
- a gap 120 appears between the non-contact sending unit 108 that is mounted in head 102 and the non-contact receiving unit 107 that is mounted in head 101 .
- the gap 120 also appears between the non-contact receiving unit 106 that is mounted in head 102 and the non-contact sending unit 105 that is mounted in head 101 .
- the gap 120 is approximately 50-thousandths of an inch, or less.
- the signal coupling units of the invention unlike prior art pins, do not come into physical contact with its mate on an adjoining car. Only an electromagnetic field bridges the gap 120 between paired signal coupling units. The above statements apply to the baseband coupling approach.
- the top pair of facing signal coupling units carries data from a car 202 on the right to a car 201 on the left, while the bottom pair of signal coupling units carries data in the opposite direction.
- Two pairs of signal coupling units are used in the Ethernet baseband approach, which provides full-duplex communications. Only one pair of signal coupling units is used in the second approach, which converts to RF signal, resulting in half-duplex operations.
- FIG. 2 illustrates a network architecture 200 coupling car 201 with car 202 of a consist, which network architecture incorporates non-contact Ethernet baseband signal coupling, according to a first exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- a segment interface unit 204 is contained in a small box located within each car 201 and 202 , and includes active circuitry that provides the correct signal amplitude and termination impedance for an intra-car Local Area Network (LAN) 206 wired in each car using conventional category-5 (CAT-5) or CAT-5E Ethernet cable.
- the segment unit interface 204 acts as an interface to the Ethernet LAN cable, provides further amplification of transmitted and received signals, and contains the initial stage of the equalization network for transmitted signals.
- the segment interface unit 204 furnishes power to the non-contact receiving unit 106 and the non-contact sending unit 108 at a first end 250 of the car 202 .
- a cable 210 and 212 connects the segment interface unit 204 to the non-contact receiving unit 106 and to the non-contact sending unit 108 , respectively.
- cable 210 and 212 is twinax. There are no other connectors on the segment interface unit 204 in this embodiment other than those required for the cables shown in the diagram.
- the segment interface unit 204 is coupled to a vehicle information controller 220 .
- the vehicle information controller 220 acts as a controlling intelligence behind the subsystems that share data over the LAN 206 .
- the vehicle information controller 220 is coupled to a switching hub 230 and to a second segment interface unit 234 .
- the second segment interface unit 234 is coupled to a second set of non-contact coupling units (not shown) at a second end 252 of the car 202 .
- the switching hub provides a place to couple the various devices that communicate over the LAN 206 , and intelligently routing Ethernet frames according to their source and destination addresses.
- the segment interface unit 204 is part of the LAN 206 , although it is not, strictly speaking, an Ethernet device.
- the segment interface unit 204 carries the Ethernet signal but does not have a media access control address of its own.
- FIG. 3 illustrates a network architecture 300 coupling car 301 with car 302 of a consist, which network architecture incorporates RF signal coupling according to a wireless network standard such as IEEE 802.11.
- the RF-based network architecture 300 includes a LAN 306 .
- the RF-based network architecture 300 has several similarities to the Ethernet baseband network architecture 200 illustrated in FIG. 2 , but the segment interface unit 204 is replaced by a wireless network bridge 304 and the twinax 210 is replaced by a high-frequency coax 310 .
- the wireless network bridge 304 includes an RF transceiver and a network adaptor.
- the RF-based network architecture 300 includes power-over-Ethernet adapters 362 and 364 that are coupled to the vehicle information controller 320 , to the switching hub 330 , and to the wireless network bridge and second wireless network bridge 334 .
- the power-over-Ethernet adapters 362 and 364 place 48V DC on one of the unused twisted pairs in the CAT-5 cable, to deliver power to devices (such as the 802.11 bridge) that communicate over the LAN 306 while drawing their power from the LAN, according to IEEE standard 802.3af.
- devices such as the 802.11 bridge
- a high-frequency, near-field antenna inside each signal coupling unit 311 and 312 is a high-frequency, near-field antenna (not shown).
- a control signal 222 and 322 enables a vehicle information controller 220 and 320 , respectively, to disable the wireless coupling of the system at one or both ends of the car 202 and 302 . This feature prevents unintentional radiation of signals from an uncoupled end of the car 202 and 302 , and also aids in consist enumeration.
- FIG. 4 illustrates block diagrams of components that form a non-contact Ethernet baseband coupling system of the first exemplary embodiment.
- the segment interface unit 204 is typically located inside a car 202 .
- the non-contact sending unit 108 and non-contact receiving unit 106 are located outside the car 202 .
- the non-contact sending unit 108 and non-contact receiving unit 106 include a coil 401 and 402 , respectively.
- the coil 401 and 402 has a diameter of 0.6-inch.
- Coil 401 of the non-contact sending unit 108 (located at car 202 ) and a coil similar to coil 402 but in the non-contact receiving unit 107 (located at the adjacent, coupled car 201 ) form a transformer.
- coil 402 of the non-contact receiving unit 106 (located at car 202 ) and a coil similar to coil 401 but in the non-contact sending unit 105 (located at the adjacent, coupled car 201 ) form a second transformer.
- the non-contact receiving unit 106 and the non-contact sending unit 108 are connected to the segment interface unit 402 through shielded differential signal cables 210 and 212 , respectively.
- the segment interface unit 204 provides connections to power and to the LAN 206 routed throughout the car 202 .
- Equalization circuits 411 , 412 and 413 (the first located in the segment interface unit 402 and the second two in the non-contact sending unit 108 ) together perform frequency equalization for the transmit path, compensating for the high-pass response of the transformer.
- the line matching and power injection circuits 421 and 422 provide line termination (impedance matching) and power injection for the non-contact sending unit 108 and for the non-contact receiving unit 106 .
- the line matching and power extraction circuits 431 and 432 provide line termination (impedance matching) and power extraction for the non-contact sending unit 108 and for the non-contact receiving unit 106 .
- a send amplifier 442 located in the non-contact sending unit 108 , boosts the power of the transmitted Ethernet signal for the purpose of driving the primary winding, coil 401 , of the transformer.
- a receive amplifier 451 located in the non-contact receiving unit 106 , amplifies the attenuated Ethernet signal picked up by the secondary, coil 402 , of the transformer, boosting the Ethernet signal for transmission back to the segment interface unit 402 .
- a transformer load 404 is connected between the receive amplifier 451 and the coil 402 .
- Voltage regulator circuits 461 and 462 (one in the non-contact sending unit 108 and one in the non-contact receiving unit 106 ) take unregulated power from the line matching and power extraction circuits 431 and 432 , and present a constant voltage to the power terminals of the send amplifier 442 and of the receive amplifier 451 , respectively.
- the send amplifier 471 located in the segment interface unit 402 , provides the proper source impedance and signal voltage levels for driving the differential shielded cable 212 that connects the non-contact sending unit 108 to the segment interface unit.
- Receive amplifiers 472 and 473 located in the segment interface unit 402 , boost the receive signal to a 2V peak-to-peak level required for driving the Ethernet LAN (CAT-5) cable connection.
- Isolation transformers 474 and 476 located in the segment interface unit 402 , are standard printed-circuit-mounting Ethernet transformers similar to those used on network interface cards in personal computers.
- the isolation transformers 474 and 476 provide protection from stray voltages picked up on the CAT-5 cable through misconnection, static discharge, or electromagnetic interference.
- a voltage regulator circuit 477 provides regulated voltages to the other circuits in the segment interface unit 402 , and provides an intermediate power bus for delivering power to the non-contact sending unit 108 and the non-contact receiving unit 106 .
- the segment interface unit 204 uses Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) transmit and receive connections.
- DTE Data Terminal Equipment
- FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic 500 of the segment interface unit 402 .
- the segment interface unit 402 connects to 100-baseT Ethernet routed through the car 202 and connects to power. These connections are illustrated on the right side of schematic 500 .
- the segment interface unit 402 connects to the non-contact receiving unit 106 and to the non-contact sending unit 108 through the twinax connectors 210 and 212 , respectively, as illustrated on the left side of schematic 500 .
- the segment interface unit 402 acts as an interface to the Ethernet LAN cable 208 ; provides further amplification of transmitted and received signals; performs the initial stage of equalization for transmitted signals; and furnishes power to the non-contact sending unit 108 and the non-contact receiving unit 106 .
- FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic 600 of the non-contact sending unit 108 .
- the non-contact sending unit 108 connects to the segment interface unit 402 through a twinax connector 212 shown on the left side of schematic 600 , and includes a transformer primary, the coil 401 , shown on the right side of the schematic. This loosely coupled transformer is formed across the two heads 101 and 102 , each head attached to a different mechanical coupler.
- FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic 700 of the non-contact receiving unit 106 .
- the non-contact receiving unit 106 includes a connection to an “Xfmr”, as illustrated on the left side of schematic 700 .
- the “Xfmr” is a transformer secondary, i.e., coil 402 , that forms the loosely coupled transformer with the transformer primary, as discussed above.
- the non-contact receiving unit 106 provides an output, as shown on the right side of schematic 700 , through the shielded twinax 212 to the segment interface unit 402 .
- FIG. 8 is a graph 800 of a frequency domain transfer function for a signal coupled through the Ethernet baseband coupling of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
- the x-axis signifies frequency.
- the left y-axis signifies magnitude.
- the right y-axis signifies phase.
- four curves are shown.
- V(out), magnitude” 801 which is a simulated magnitude of the output of the receive amplifier 473 in the segment interface unit 204
- V(out), phase” 802 which is a simulated phase of the output of the receive amplifier 473 in the segment interface unit 204
- V(x4s+), phase which is a simulated phase of the output of a cascaded pair of packaged commercial Ethernet transformers
- V(x4s+), magnitude which is a simulated magnitude of output of a cascaded pair of packaged commercial Ethernet transformers.
- the simulated outputs of the packaged commercial Ethernet transformer are shown for comparison purposes.
- the contactless data communications coupling system of the invention has successfully coupled an Ethernet baseband signal through an air gap of up to 50-thousandths of an inch, and it may be possible to couple an Ethernet baseband signal through an air gap of up to 150-thousandths of an inch.
- FIG. 8 illustrates that the frequency response 801 and 802 for the contactless data communications coupling system of the invention advantageously closely approximates the coupling characteristics of a prior art Ethernet transformer pair. It should be noted that the size of the gap 120 across which the contactless data communications coupling system of the invention can successfully couple an Ethernet signal is dependent, in part, to the diameter of the coil 401 and 402 , and increases as the diameter increases. The transmission distance can also be increased by adding gain to the receive amplifier chain in the segment interface unit 402 and by adding an automatic gain control.
Abstract
Description
- The present application is related to and claims priority of a provisional application entitled CONTACTLESS DATA COMMUNICATIONS COUPLER IN A TRAIN COUPLING ENVIRONMENT METHOD AND SYSTEM, filed Jul. 7, 2005, and assigned Ser. No. 60/697,317, which application is assigned to the present assignee, and which application is hereby fully incorporated by reference herein.
- 1. Field of the Invention
- This invention generally relates to the field of contactless high-speed data signal coupling and more specifically to the field of contactless high-speed data signal coupling systems and devices optimized for a train coupler environment.
- 2. Description of the Related Art
- Railroad cars, including trams, streetcars and light rail cars (hereinafter “cars”), are generally connected together by mechanical couplers. An electrical coupler head (hereinafter “head”), which comprises a box-like electrical insulator, is mounted to each mechanical coupler. The electrical insulator of the head has a plurality of approximately 0.375-inch diameter cylindrical openings for acceptance of metallic pins. Known electrical couplings for electrical power or low bandwidth data signals are generally accomplished through the use of ohmic contact between corresponding pins of two heads, each head mounted to a pair of coupled mechanical couplers. Without intensive signal conditioning, such electrical couplings are limited to conveying electrical power or low bandwidth data signals of less than one megabit per second because of a large difference between the impedance of high-speed data cable and the impedance of the pins and of the junction between the pins. Such coarse pin connections are also subject to electrical radiation and interference due to the large spacings between adjacent pins of a head. An electrical coupling through the use of pins is considered a quick-disconnect coupling, in that the electrical coupling is quickly broken when the mechanical couplers are uncoupled.
- There is a need to provide higher bandwidth data communications between cars that are connected together to form a train, i.e., a “consist”. Providing, for example, real time video observation of the interior of one or more cars, real time observation of a multitude of system monitoring data values and other data communications among cars requires a data rate for data transmissions between cars greater than 50-Mbit/sec and sometimes greater than 90-Mbit/sec. The physical size, structure and environment of railroad couplers generally limit the ability to achieve such high data rate transfers through quick-disconnect pin couplings.
- Other known methods of achieving high bandwidth data transfer between cars include using conventional RF communication. Conventional RF communication, however, is subject to interference and cross-talk between different consists because of the use of a common carrier frequency (e.g., 2.4-GHz in the case of 802.11g), especially when conventional antenna systems are used.
- The exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a non-contact data connection that is adaptable to use in a mechanical rail car coupler environment using conventional electrical coupler heads. These embodiments utilize a primarily magnetic field coupling to communicate either baseband data or RF signals through a quick-disconnect electrical coupling device that can be easily mounted in an electrical coupler head.
- The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
-
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of two electrical coupler heads incorporating signal coupling units according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention; -
FIG. 2 is an inter-car network architecture using baseband inter-car coupling units according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention; -
FIG. 3 is an inter-car network architecture using RF based inter-car coupling units according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention; -
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a non-contact Ethernet baseband coupling system according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, including a segment interface unit, a non-contact sending unit, and a non-contact receiving unit; -
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the segment interface unit ofFIG. 4 ; -
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the non-contact sending unit ofFIG. 4 ; and -
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the non-contact receiving unit ofFIG. 4 ; and -
FIG. 8 is a graph of frequency response for the non-contact Ethernet baseband coupling system ofFIG. 4 . - Exemplary embodiments of the present invention utilize one of two different approaches for transferring high-speed data across two coupled cars using a signal coupling system that neither requires nor uses ohmic contact between the cars. Each approach is able to carry, for example, 100-Mbit/sec Ethernet signals from one car to another across signal coupling units that are easily incorporated into a head of a mechanical train coupler. The first of these approaches directly couples the Ethernet baseband signal through custom-designed magnetics within each signal coupling unit that are used in combination with specialized active signal conditioning circuitry of the system. This approach is capable of full-duplex Ethernet communication at 100-Mbits/sec. The second of these approaches incorporates an intermediate conversion to a radio frequency (RF) signal, such as an IEEE 802.11a wireless format, that operates in the vicinity of 5-GHz. The RF signal is transmitted across the signal coupling units through a specially designed short-range, near-field antenna-like coupling arrangement within each signal coupling unit. The RF approach is limited to half-duplex operation at 54-Mbits/sec (with standard equipment) or 108-Mbits/sec (with special non-standard equipment) in one direction at a time.
-
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of twoheads electrical insulator head non-contact sending units non-contact receiving units shaped housing 109. Thehousing 109 is easily mountable within a cylindrical mounting opening in thehead housing 109 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of a prior art pin, the diameter of the cylindrical mounting opening assigned to the housing is enlarged appropriately. Each signal coupling unit replaces a prior art pin. One non-contact sendingunit 105 on a car is paired, or mated to, one non-contact receivingunit 106 on an adjacent, coupled car. InFIG. 1 ,head 101 has one non-contact sendingunit 105 and one non-contact receivingunit 107, andhead 102 has one non-contact receivingunit 106 and one non-contact sendingunit 108. Sendingunit 108 mates with receivingunit 107 and they constitute a pair. Sendingunit 105 mates with receivingunit 106 and they constitute another pair. Agap 120 appears between thenon-contact sending unit 108 that is mounted inhead 102 and the non-contact receivingunit 107 that is mounted inhead 101. Thegap 120 also appears between thenon-contact receiving unit 106 that is mounted inhead 102 and thenon-contact sending unit 105 that is mounted inhead 101. Thegap 120 is approximately 50-thousandths of an inch, or less. The signal coupling units of the invention, unlike prior art pins, do not come into physical contact with its mate on an adjoining car. Only an electromagnetic field bridges thegap 120 between paired signal coupling units. The above statements apply to the baseband coupling approach. With the RF coupling approach, the distinction between sender and receiver vanishes, and only one pair of special pins (e.g., 105 and 106) is required to carry the signal. This distinction comes about because of the half-duplex nature of any single radio channel. - Referring now to
FIGS. 1 and 2 , the top pair of facing signal coupling units, non-contact sendingunit 108 and non-contact receivingunit 107, carries data from acar 202 on the right to acar 201 on the left, while the bottom pair of signal coupling units carries data in the opposite direction. Two pairs of signal coupling units are used in the Ethernet baseband approach, which provides full-duplex communications. Only one pair of signal coupling units is used in the second approach, which converts to RF signal, resulting in half-duplex operations. -
FIG. 2 illustrates anetwork architecture 200coupling car 201 withcar 202 of a consist, which network architecture incorporates non-contact Ethernet baseband signal coupling, according to a first exemplary embodiment of the invention. Asegment interface unit 204 is contained in a small box located within eachcar segment unit interface 204 acts as an interface to the Ethernet LAN cable, provides further amplification of transmitted and received signals, and contains the initial stage of the equalization network for transmitted signals. Power is furnished to thesegment interface unit 204 by means of surplus twisted wire pairs contained inside a CAT-5cable 208. Thesegment interface unit 204 furnishes power to thenon-contact receiving unit 106 and thenon-contact sending unit 108 at afirst end 250 of thecar 202. Acable segment interface unit 204 to thenon-contact receiving unit 106 and to thenon-contact sending unit 108, respectively. Preferably,cable segment interface unit 204 in this embodiment other than those required for the cables shown in the diagram. Thesegment interface unit 204 is coupled to avehicle information controller 220. Thevehicle information controller 220 acts as a controlling intelligence behind the subsystems that share data over theLAN 206. Thevehicle information controller 220 is coupled to aswitching hub 230 and to a secondsegment interface unit 234. The secondsegment interface unit 234 is coupled to a second set of non-contact coupling units (not shown) at asecond end 252 of thecar 202. The switching hub provides a place to couple the various devices that communicate over theLAN 206, and intelligently routing Ethernet frames according to their source and destination addresses. Thesegment interface unit 204 is part of theLAN 206, although it is not, strictly speaking, an Ethernet device. Thesegment interface unit 204 carries the Ethernet signal but does not have a media access control address of its own. -
FIG. 3 illustrates anetwork architecture 300coupling car 301 withcar 302 of a consist, which network architecture incorporates RF signal coupling according to a wireless network standard such as IEEE 802.11. The RF-basednetwork architecture 300 includes aLAN 306. The RF-basednetwork architecture 300 has several similarities to the Ethernetbaseband network architecture 200 illustrated inFIG. 2 , but thesegment interface unit 204 is replaced by awireless network bridge 304 and thetwinax 210 is replaced by a high-frequency coax 310. Thewireless network bridge 304 includes an RF transceiver and a network adaptor. Another difference is that the RF-basednetwork architecture 300 includes power-over-Ethernet adapters vehicle information controller 320, to theswitching hub 330, and to the wireless network bridge and second wireless network bridge 334. The power-over-Ethernet adapters LAN 306 while drawing their power from the LAN, according to IEEE standard 802.3af. Inside eachsignal coupling unit - In both the Ethernet
baseband network architecture 200 and RF-basednetwork architecture 300, acontrol signal vehicle information controller car car -
FIG. 4 illustrates block diagrams of components that form a non-contact Ethernet baseband coupling system of the first exemplary embodiment. Thesegment interface unit 204 is typically located inside acar 202. Thenon-contact sending unit 108 andnon-contact receiving unit 106 are located outside thecar 202. Thenon-contact sending unit 108 andnon-contact receiving unit 106 include acoil coil Coil 401 of the non-contact sending unit 108 (located at car 202) and a coil similar tocoil 402 but in the non-contact receiving unit 107 (located at the adjacent, coupled car 201) form a transformer. Likewise,coil 402 of the non-contact receiving unit 106 (located at car 202) and a coil similar tocoil 401 but in the non-contact sending unit 105 (located at the adjacent, coupled car 201) form a second transformer. Thenon-contact receiving unit 106 and thenon-contact sending unit 108 are connected to thesegment interface unit 402 through shieldeddifferential signal cables segment interface unit 204 provides connections to power and to theLAN 206 routed throughout thecar 202. -
Equalization circuits segment interface unit 402 and the second two in the non-contact sending unit 108) together perform frequency equalization for the transmit path, compensating for the high-pass response of the transformer. The line matching andpower injection circuits non-contact sending unit 108 and for thenon-contact receiving unit 106. The line matching andpower extraction circuits non-contact sending unit 108 and for thenon-contact receiving unit 106. A send amplifier 442, located in thenon-contact sending unit 108, boosts the power of the transmitted Ethernet signal for the purpose of driving the primary winding,coil 401, of the transformer. A receiveamplifier 451, located in thenon-contact receiving unit 106, amplifies the attenuated Ethernet signal picked up by the secondary,coil 402, of the transformer, boosting the Ethernet signal for transmission back to thesegment interface unit 402. Atransformer load 404 is connected between the receiveamplifier 451 and thecoil 402.Voltage regulator circuits 461 and 462 (one in thenon-contact sending unit 108 and one in the non-contact receiving unit 106) take unregulated power from the line matching andpower extraction circuits amplifier 451, respectively. Thesend amplifier 471, located in thesegment interface unit 402, provides the proper source impedance and signal voltage levels for driving the differential shieldedcable 212 that connects thenon-contact sending unit 108 to the segment interface unit. Receiveamplifiers segment interface unit 402, boost the receive signal to a 2V peak-to-peak level required for driving the Ethernet LAN (CAT-5) cable connection.Isolation transformers segment interface unit 402, are standard printed-circuit-mounting Ethernet transformers similar to those used on network interface cards in personal computers. Theisolation transformers voltage regulator circuit 477 provides regulated voltages to the other circuits in thesegment interface unit 402, and provides an intermediate power bus for delivering power to thenon-contact sending unit 108 and thenon-contact receiving unit 106. Thesegment interface unit 204 uses Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) transmit and receive connections. -
FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic 500 of thesegment interface unit 402. Thesegment interface unit 402 connects to 100-baseT Ethernet routed through thecar 202 and connects to power. These connections are illustrated on the right side ofschematic 500. Thesegment interface unit 402 connects to thenon-contact receiving unit 106 and to thenon-contact sending unit 108 through thetwinax connectors schematic 500. Thesegment interface unit 402 acts as an interface to theEthernet LAN cable 208; provides further amplification of transmitted and received signals; performs the initial stage of equalization for transmitted signals; and furnishes power to thenon-contact sending unit 108 and thenon-contact receiving unit 106. -
FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic 600 of thenon-contact sending unit 108. Thenon-contact sending unit 108 connects to thesegment interface unit 402 through atwinax connector 212 shown on the left side of schematic 600, and includes a transformer primary, thecoil 401, shown on the right side of the schematic. This loosely coupled transformer is formed across the twoheads -
FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic 700 of thenon-contact receiving unit 106. Thenon-contact receiving unit 106 includes a connection to an “Xfmr”, as illustrated on the left side ofschematic 700. The “Xfmr” is a transformer secondary, i.e.,coil 402, that forms the loosely coupled transformer with the transformer primary, as discussed above. Thenon-contact receiving unit 106 provides an output, as shown on the right side of schematic 700, through the shieldedtwinax 212 to thesegment interface unit 402. -
FIG. 8 is agraph 800 of a frequency domain transfer function for a signal coupled through the Ethernet baseband coupling of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The x-axis signifies frequency. The left y-axis signifies magnitude. The right y-axis signifies phase. InFIG. 8 , four curves are shown. They are: a “V(out), magnitude” 801, which is a simulated magnitude of the output of the receiveamplifier 473 in thesegment interface unit 204; a “V(out), phase” 802, which is a simulated phase of the output of the receiveamplifier 473 in thesegment interface unit 204; a “V(x4s+), phase”, which is a simulated phase of the output of a cascaded pair of packaged commercial Ethernet transformers; and a “V(x4s+), magnitude”, which is a simulated magnitude of output of a cascaded pair of packaged commercial Ethernet transformers. The simulated outputs of the packaged commercial Ethernet transformer are shown for comparison purposes. The contactless data communications coupling system of the invention has successfully coupled an Ethernet baseband signal through an air gap of up to 50-thousandths of an inch, and it may be possible to couple an Ethernet baseband signal through an air gap of up to 150-thousandths of an inch.FIG. 8 illustrates that thefrequency response gap 120 across which the contactless data communications coupling system of the invention can successfully couple an Ethernet signal is dependent, in part, to the diameter of thecoil segment interface unit 402 and by adding an automatic gain control. - Advantageously, once the cars of a consist, such as
cars - It is important to note, that these embodiments are only examples of the many advantageous uses of the innovative teachings herein. In general, statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily limit any of the various claimed inventions. Moreover, some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others. In general, unless otherwise indicated, singular elements may be in the plural and vice versa with no loss of generality.
- Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it will be understood by those having skill in the art that changes can be made to this specific embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is not to be restricted, therefore, to the specific embodiment, and it is intended that the appended claims cover any and all such applications, modifications, and embodiments within the scope of the present invention.
Claims (5)
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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US11/994,941 US20100044333A1 (en) | 2005-07-07 | 2006-07-07 | Contactless data communications coupling |
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US69731705P | 2005-07-07 | 2005-07-07 | |
US11/994,941 US20100044333A1 (en) | 2005-07-07 | 2006-07-07 | Contactless data communications coupling |
PCT/US2006/026672 WO2007008756A1 (en) | 2005-07-07 | 2006-07-07 | Contactless data communications coupling |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US20100044333A1 true US20100044333A1 (en) | 2010-02-25 |
Family
ID=37247923
Family Applications (1)
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US11/994,941 Abandoned US20100044333A1 (en) | 2005-07-07 | 2006-07-07 | Contactless data communications coupling |
Country Status (5)
Country | Link |
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US (1) | US20100044333A1 (en) |
EP (1) | EP1899208A1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2009500237A (en) |
CA (1) | CA2632830A1 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2007008756A1 (en) |
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US20090214051A1 (en) * | 2008-02-25 | 2009-08-27 | Lockett David A | Stackable communications system |
US20100322267A1 (en) * | 2007-11-30 | 2010-12-23 | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | Time synchronization system and time synchronization method in train |
US20100326942A1 (en) * | 2007-02-15 | 2010-12-30 | Dellner Couplers Ab | Connector and connection block in a train coupler arranged for connection of a rail vehicles |
US20110174755A1 (en) * | 2008-09-23 | 2011-07-21 | Era-Contact Gmbh | Middle buffer coupling for rail-bound vehicles |
WO2012007454A1 (en) * | 2010-07-16 | 2012-01-19 | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft | Means of transport and method for wired data transmission between two vehicles which are detachably connected to one another |
US20120286584A1 (en) * | 2009-11-04 | 2012-11-15 | Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute | Space-adaptive wireless power transfer system and method using evanescent field resonance |
US20130320154A1 (en) * | 2012-05-31 | 2013-12-05 | Dale A. Brown | Consist communication system having bearing temperature input |
US9124020B2 (en) | 2011-10-18 | 2015-09-01 | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | Jumper connector |
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Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
CA2632830A1 (en) | 2007-01-18 |
WO2007008756A1 (en) | 2007-01-18 |
JP2009500237A (en) | 2009-01-08 |
EP1899208A1 (en) | 2008-03-19 |
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