Automatic train serialization with car orientation

摘要

A method of serialization including establishing a parameter along a length of the train between a node on one of the cars and one end of the train. The presence of the parameter at each node is determined and the parameter is removed. The sequence is repeated for each node on the train. Finally, serialization of the cars is determined as a function of the number of determined presences of the parameter for each node. The parameter can be established by providing at the individual node, one at a time, an electric load across an electric line running through the length of the train and measuring an electrical property, either current or voltage, at each node. To determine the orientation of a car, each node include two subnodes. The operability of each node is determined by counting the presence and then the absence of a parameter along the whole train.