On a distributed transportation control and safety system with a vehicle-born microcomputer

After considering briefly the physical background of vehicle motion and control options, a distributed control and safety system is outlined. The safety system as the basic module only requires position information of both the real vehicle and the corresponding electronically simulated lead (phantom) vehicle. The latter are "leading" the controlled vehicles by a relative position (distance) control system. The phantom vehicles are also protecting their real vehicles by detecting any obstacles in the guideway in advance. Both linked to each other, may be maintained arbitrarily by the control center without increasing the likelihood of accidents. The outline of the required vehicle-born equipment using an 8080 microcomputer is given.