DESC:FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to data communication system between the wagons of a moving vehicle whether on road or on rails or otherwise wherein effective communication is required between such wagons/coaches. More particularly the invention is such that the communication is wireless with zero to very minimal interference from electromagnetic waves, vibrations, limited misalignment, etc. Further the invention makes the network configuration automatic once such wagons/elements are mechanically connected to form part of a single moving system whether in a line sequence or in a grid pattern irrespective of some level of degree of freedom along their mechanical connection or otherwise. The invention allows automatic detection and network configuration even if wagons/elements are randomly chosen from the lot of millions of such wagons/elements.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
One of the key uses of this invention is to provide with a reliable, robust and immune to interference wireless data communication link between wagons/coaches of a train whether carrying passengers or goods especially in situations where the wagons are regularly interchanged and re-positioned between trains due to operational issues.
Railways are a mass transport system both for passengers as well as goods throughout the world. In India alone it provides 9 billion trips to people every year apart from transporting 1.2 billion tons of cargo annually. However as we are moving towards connected world where data plays a critical role in providing effective service and much needed safety, the communication between railway wagons is still a challenge. Most of the systems used presently are standalone systems where each wagon interacts with the main server on ground directly for example by GSM link or otherwise. This leads to independent systems on wagon level and the train operator is generally unaware of the wagon parameters or has to download the data from the central server on the ground making this process very data intensive. This type of system also disallows any substantial data transfer rate as trains pass through country site with limited network connectivity and therefore only a very minimal/primitive data can be sent or received. Further in areas where network signal is not present the data cannot be received. Costs of transferring the data through a network carrier also proves deterrent as each coach/wagon should have network connectivity.
Another system that is presently used is general purpose wireless system on each of the wagons/coaches/elements to interact with main system on one of the carriage/wagon/engine of the train which then sends the aggregated data to the main server on ground. This type of communication has two major deficiencies. First is that there is significant electromagnetic interference from the high voltage lines present overhead which leads to huge rate of data loss especially if the train has large number of wagons. Second problem with such a system is that since multiple trains can be present in close vicinity especially near/at station area the wireless communication is unable to identify automatically which wagon is part of a particular train and hence cross communication between train wagons happens which lead to random data being sent to the main controller/receiver in the engine/master carriage. In order to solve this problem in the existing systems, another method incorporated is that the coach/wagon code/serial number should be fed to the master controller at time of assembly of the train so that master receiver rejects all the excess data received from wagons of other trains. This leads to huge problem for the train operating organization as wagons are frequently interchanged between the trains based on capacity, maintenance and/or operational requirements and feeding updated code/serial number of each wagon each time require huge amount of resources and is further susceptible to human error.
Further a hard wired data link is difficult to install between the wagons as they are susceptible to damage and wear in harsh environment. Further it will require training of huge manpower for operation and maintenance of the pluggable connectors between the wagons.
Finally there is no such data communications system that can offer solution to above mentioned drawbacks and problem and provide a reliable and effective means of communication between wagons of a moving vehicle whether on road, rail or otherwise.

OBJECT OF INVENTION
The invention here comes up with a reliable, robust and interference immune data communication system between wagons which is wireless in nature and have a directed or very narrow angle beam of transmittance. The invention may be placed on any, many or all sides of the wagon having receiver, transmitter or both capabilities to effectively communicate with matching or complimentary system on the other wagon of the same moving vehicle. The invention allows for configurable range of communication from few centimeters to several hundred meters as may be required for a specific application. The data communication system invented herein will have capability of communication wirelessly any type of data, voice, video or any such signal which can be transmitted wirelessly.
Some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as an example and are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references may indicate similar elements in which:
FIG 1- Figure 1 depicts the system arrangement wherein a plurality of wagons are attached to the master communication node forming a long linear chain like in case of a train
FIG 2- Figure 2 depicts system arrangement wherein a plurality of the wagons are attached to master communication node in both linear and lateral arrangement forming a network of nodes.
FIG 3- Figure 3 depicts a detailed representation of the communication apparatus/equipment where a transmitter and receiver pair is placed on each of one wagon which communicates to the identical or similar apparatus/equipment on the facing wagon.
FIG 4-Figure 4 depicts a sample arrangement of electromagnetic wave generating elements which can be used to transfer high speed data up to several Gigabits per second

STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singular form “a”,”an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well as the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number of techniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these have individual benefits and each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in some cases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possible combination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion. Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with the understanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope of the invention and the claims.
Data communication devices and their techniques and methods of positioning in multi wagon system are described herein. In the following description, for the purpose of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.
The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated by the figures or description below.
The present invention will now be described by referencing the appended figures representing preferred embodiments. FIG. 1 depicts the configuration of a multi wagon system wherein wagons are attached in a linear chain. Each wagon 2 in such configuration will have at least one pair of transmitter and receiver 3 at both the ends of the wagon 2. The data will be transmitted from one wagon to other in both the directions 4. Master node 1 can be at the start of the chain or somewhere in middle of network and will have a transmitter and receiver pair 3. The master node 1 will initiate data request in the network in the immediate wagon(s) 2 and the requests are then sequentially or otherwise propagated in the whole network.
FIG. 2 depicts an example of system wherein the nodes are arranged both linearly as well as laterally. The master node 1 here shown is placed at the start of the network however it can be placed somewhere in between. The master will initiate data request starting from the immediate vicinity and the commands/requests are propagated in the network via many parallel networks. This type of network will ensure redundancy in the network path and will provide a high degree of redundancy in the system.
FIG. 3 depicts a two adjacent communicating transmitter and receiver pair 3 one each placed on the adjacent wagons 2. The signal wave will be in form of pulsated wave train 8 in visible, infrared or longer wavelength region. These pulses 8 sent wirelessly using electromagnetic wave can be inform of any communication protocol like serial communication, or otherwise and could be done in any custom or standard protocol as need demands. These pulsated waves 8 can be generated either by using high speed LEDs, laser, highly direction antennas or any other electromagnetic wave source in the desired wavelength region and will be pulsated as per the predefined protocol. These pulsated source 5 may be formed by the plurality of such wave generating elements and may be formed in such a way so as to make the pulsated wave source 5 sufficiently big enough to compensate for the positional and directional misalignment either between the wagons or the transmitter/receiver themselves. This pulsated wave source 5 may also have tendency to diverge making a signal cone 7 which will further improve the misalignment compensation. The geometry of signal cone 7 may be formed so as to maintain the half angle within a predetermined value so that the receiver 6 used is able to effectively determine the data state. In case of visible or infrared region of operation of the apparatus, daylight blocking filters can be used at the receiver 6 end to minimize the effect of any interference due to erroneous light sources.
Receiver 6 shown in FIG. 3 can be in form of a single or plurality of electromagnetic wave detector which may be formed using photodiodes, phototransistors, electromagnetic wave dependent variable resistors, antenna or any other type of detector suitable for the chosen pulsated source 5. The size of the Receiver 6 can be either smaller, same or larger as compared to the pulsated source 5 based on the specific requirement which will help in misalignment compensation and also to provide redundancy in the system wherein one or multiple wave detector elements can be used to form one or multiple arrays for pulse detection and would provide same data by one or more channels ensure high level of redundancy and reliability.
In FIG 4 the pulsated source 5 can also be in form of multiple electromagnetic wave generating elements 9 in a grid or array or any other pattern of LEDs, Infrared LEDs, antennas, laser beam, or any other source forming an electromagnetic wave generation panel in a predefined pattern. Each or multiple of such elements 9 can then be pulsated as per the predetermined protocol in parallel to form multiple parallel streams of data thereby achieving ultra-high data transfer speed by increasing the bandwidth of operation. This pulsated source 5 which is patterned then can be viewed by the corresponding receiving elements 10 in the receiver 6 which can be in form of high speed image sensors, cameras or any other such elements in visible or infrared region of the spectrum. The pulsated source 5 in Fig 4 can also be formed using a display screen with large number of pixels where each pixel or a group of pixels is taken as an individual pulsated source. The data sent from such a display screen will be in form of patterns formed by changing the display pattern on the screen thereby allowing very high throughput of data which in turn can be interpreted by the high speed image sensors or camera or any other such elements in visible or infrared region of the spectrum.
While preferred materials for the elements have been described, the device is not limited by these materials. Photo diodes, photo transistors, photo resistors, image sensors, cameras, LEDs, Infrared LEDs, lasers, antennas and other materials may comprise some or all of the elements of the data communication system in various embodiments of the present invention.
Although the present invention has been illustrated and described herein with reference to preferred embodiments and specific examples thereof, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skills in the art that other embodiments and examples may perform functions and/or achieve like results. All such equivalent embodiments and examples are within the spirit and scope of the present invention, are contemplated thereby, and are intended to be covered by the invention.
,CLAIMS: