Development of an inductive communications system for Morgantown People Mover

The Morgantown People Mover (MPM), located at Morgantown, West Virginia, uses low and medium frequency inductive communications for the wayside-to-vehicle (uplink) and vehicle-to-wayside (downlink) communication links. The system has six uplink and one downlink tones in the low frequency (6-50 kHz) range used to communicate speed, switch, calibration, and stop commands and the collision avoidance "safe to proceed" signal, also downlink switch verification. In the medium frequency range (90 - 130 kHz) uplink (command) and downlink (status) digital data are transmitted using two-tone FSK messages. The vehicle interfaces with inductive loops in the guideway surface which range from ten to one thousand feet in length and are driven through feedlines of up to several thousand feed in length. This paper discusses the development of the MPM Inductive Communication System. Included is a brief history of the Morgantown People Mover and an overview of the Inductive Communications System presently in use. Each subsystem is discussed and significant design considerations along with operational data are presented. Emphasis is placed on our experience with this mode of communications.