Programmable digital vehicle control system

The programmable digital vehicle control system or PDVCS is based upon the Intel 8080A microprocessor and is designed to replace the hardwired discrete components traditionally used in the on-board control of automated rapid transit vehicles. Although designed specifically for the advanced group rapid transit (AGRT) system under development by the Boeing Company, with funding by the Department of Transportation, the PDVCS can easily be adapted for use in any automated transit system. A breadboard PDVCS has been programmed to perform the basic AGRT longitudinal control system functions, including closed-loop emergency braking, and has been subjected to closed-loop laboratory testing. Prototype tachometers and a seventh-order nonlinear analog computer simulation of motor, brake, and vehicle dynamics were used to close the control loop for test purposes; command scenarios were input manually. The test results demonstrate the feasibility of microcomputers in on-board vehicle control and show their capability to meet the performance requirements associated with a short headway (3 s) system.