Vehicle communication system, control system and method

• Main Authors: Kraeling, Mark Bradshaw, Peltonen, Glen Paul, Noffsinger, Joseph Forrest, Cooper, Jared Klineman, Kellner, Steven Andrew, Smith, Eugene, Lawry, Brian Douglas, Dulmage, Scott William, Daum, Wolfgang, Oliveira, Robert Thomas
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 31.05.2022
• Subjects: CONTROLLING; ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC; GUIDING RAILWAY TRAFFIC; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; RAILWAYS; REGULATING; SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES; TRANSPORTING

A vehicle control system includes a controller that communicates between a first vehicle and a second vehicle and/or a monitoring device in a vehicle system. The controller determines a communication loss and, responsive to determining the communication loss, switches to communicating via a different communication path. The controller also determines an operational restriction on movement of the vehicle system based on the communication loss that is determined, obtains a transitional plan that designates operational settings of the vehicle system at one or more different locations along a route being traveled by the vehicle system, different distances along the route being traveled by the vehicle system, and/or different times. The controller automatically changes the movement of the vehicle system according to the operational settings designated by the transitional plan to reduce the movement of the vehicle system to or below the operational restriction.