Method and apparatus for remote control of a locomotive throttle controller

摘要

A protocol is provided for bi-directional communication of control signals between a host unit and a slave unit. The protocol is particularly adapted to the control of a locomotive from a remote host computer. The protocol provides for transmission of digital signals indicative of control commands from the host computer to the slave computer, and simultaneous transmission of digital signals indicative of diagnostic information from the slave computer to the host computer. Information is transmitted in the form of data packets, and means are provided, in the receiving computer, for detecting corruption of transmission, or loss of transmission, and for providing a safe response to either of such conditions.