The FBI/CIA and I are on 'observation only' terms.
I'll buy a university and put them on to it immediately!
Err, twenty odd trains hidden in staging, all merrily chuffing away, is going to take some soundproofing! My exhibition shunting layout has an 8 loco capacity fiddle yard - I need to see the tracks - everyones going to be looking at the hidden bit rather than my industrial yard!
Greg.P.
Regards, Greg.
Webcam for the fiddle yard ?
Cheers, Simon
I can live with the computer remembering and advancing train data until something positive comes along.
Greg.P.
On most layouts, RFID can only be used in conjunction with some other route setting and tracking mechanism (e.g. software) due to the problems in discriminating between nearby tracks and direction of travel.
Once you know where a train was, and it's route from that point, then discriminating between several tracks covered by an RFID reader is a non-issue. The train can only be on one of the tracks (which you now know), travelling in one direction. Trains can be tracked around the rest of the layout by simple block detectors or optical "point of presence" detectors.
If, however, you know where all the trains are and where they are going, then there's no need for RFID! It's only use I can see is to help calibrate the system after a reset (or someone moving all the trains around by hand) by routing all the trains past a reader.
Railcom is slightly better in that it doesn't suffer from the multi- track problem but then you would need a reader for *every* track, which gets expensive. IMHO it is, as someone said, a solution looking for a problem.
MBQ
If you already have separate feed to sections, then I'm fairly sure that can be used for section occupancy detection - In fact, I believe that's what Lenz's one and only detector currently does... They (or another electronics company) need to advance that to connect back through the LI-USB so that it can be read by a computer. I think. :$
Ian J.
I still have nightmares about my first computer controlled layout which relied on sequence update and station departure points - my friend placed his latest and most valued aquisition on the main line while I crawled under the layout to turn the main switch on - computer launched the express from the staging yard at uphill voltage - Ma loco headed downhill at uphill voltage: *#*#*
Sequence works 99.9% of the time, but once it's a step out it stays a step out!
Sorry assumed that you did not have any computer control as DCC does make it easier to control a layout with a computer. Lots of off the shelf bits and pieces to do it and most DCC systems have a feedback system that allows a computer to be easily hooked up control it.
Chris
It's much cheaper to use the printer port! (but a bit more complicated building one's own I/O boards)
OK if you've got the time to do the electronics yourself sounds very interesting what you have done though. I got as far as writing a program for a Commodore 64 to do route setting but did not get as far as actually hooking up the I/O ports.
Chris
The same thing can be done with DCC, but the accessory decoders are quite expensive, particularly as route control etc comes in to it's own for medium size/larger layouts.
USB ?
Cheers, Simon
They'd only just invented printer ports when I started!
I keep meaning to read up on USB, I'm sure it would be much simpler.
Greg.P.
About the time I moved computing. But everything was secretive in those days till Norton brought out his book. No I'm sorry, USB would almost certainly be no use to you whatsoever. Do you use many of the pins in a parralel interface ?
cheers, Simon
All of them! Eight data plus all the switchable lines to multiply those eight.
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