This web page is set up to help explain the basis of vehicle management for the ITC Rail.   On this web page you will read an analogous description of how the ITC Rail will provide an International addressing system for all ITC Transports, with the ability to expand the addressing system into other modes of transit external to the ITC Rail network, herein referred to as the ITC Operating System.

This document is entitled "TCP/IP Control System" to imply the architectural similarities between the ITC Operating System and TCP/IP.  The ITC Operating System may or may not include dependency on existing TCP/IP code.

A common term in the public transit industry is Automated Guideway Transit (AGT).  For the Interstate Traveler Project, our unique approach to AGT is designed to serve an unlimited number of transit vehicles and containers. 

Our method of accomplishing the creation of a national AGT system is to employ a nested domain (Dendritic) addressing system running on a built in fiber optic network, similar to the existing telephone network and computer network systems in use all over the world.  

A "Domain" is a segment of a network perhaps best analogized with the branches of a tree so that a single great oak tree may have one primary domain "Trunk" where each of the main branches that grow up and out from the "Trunk" are unique individual "tree-like" structures or "domains" subordinate to the main tree "Trunk" (primary domain).  This is the direct example of how the Internet is managed.  For a more specific description of Internet Domains, please take a look at the following links:

http://www.internic.net/faqs/authoritative-dns.html

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/domainname130.htm

The basic components for the ITC Operating System are:

1. A fiber optic network

2. Radio frequency communications

3.  A dendritic ordinal addressing system, where said dendritic ordinal addressing system serves routing, position control, sensor communications and component control. 

The ITC Operating System will conform to the Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Object Identifier (OID) standard to insure globally unique object identities for all ITC Operating System functions and for all ITC Rail components.  For a more specific description of OIDs please take a look at the following links:

http://middleware.internet2.edu/docs/a-brief-guide-to-OIDs.pdf

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=25774

Ideally the TCP/IP network that makes the Internet possible is an exceptional model of a dynamic network with built in tools for monitoring traffic and routing packets of data from one address to another over a truly global network which makes it possible to have real-time interaction between  computers anywhere in the world.  A national installation of the ITC Rail provides for a nationwide fiber optic network with real-time access to sensors for data of all kinds from weather information to demand on services, from remote control of critical components such as heat and light to the speed of each ITC Transport.   Perhaps another analogy to a less complicated network system called x.10 typical "Smart Home" technology available at your local home remodeling superstore.  http://www.smarthome.com/

Therefore, the comparison with TCP/IP technology with the ITC Operating System protocol is ideal for many reasons.  For a typical definition of what TCP/IP is click here.

Each ITC Transport  will have its own unique object identifier and each section of ITC Rail will have a unique object identifier that will provide position control and routing logic on the network and act as a gateway for each Transport.  The great features of a nested domain system allows for a new IP Domain for each rail sub-network.  For instance, a shopping mall would have it's own "Domain" or "Area Code" with a series of address within that Domain.

A Domain can also be analogized to the "Area Code" used in telephone networks so it becomes obvious that a telephone call with a 212 area code will be a call to New York City. 

All of the existing communication services, tools, monitoring and security programs currently in use on the Internet for the regulation of communications of electronic data, will have a directly analogous component on an ever expanding public network rail system.  From "Fire-walls" for private rail networks in commercial, residential and military districts, to video telephone technology and electronic banking, the Interstate Traveler will provide all of these services, and then some.

The Internet has proven the concept of constantly improving efficiency and speed in completing processes and moving data using the TCP/IP communications protocol and the ITC Operating System will use the same basic ideas to improve the efficiency of public transit for the entire United States.

We intend to capitalize on the principle successes of the Internet and apply them to the mass transit of people, and the raw goods of industry. 

When ever an ITC Transport moves within a public, commercial or private rail network Domain, the system knows the relative position and speed with the ability to calculate a route to get from where it is to any place on the network based on security authorization.

The entire ITC domain system will have master root controllers that monitor forests of domains and sub-networks.  These master root controllers will be protected in the same manner as the Internet Root controllers are protected by the federal government.

Naturally each device on the system will have full access to outside network resources as part of the service, but private networks can still exclude access from outside.

As an example, the following table lays our the basic scheme for addressing for ITC Rail Transports.  As described above, each Transport will operate within network domains allowing the routing logic to determine point of presences at all times which is used to calculate a route to a destination domain such as a shopping mall or sports arena.  The following table demonstrates the simplicity of a substitution table that represents the structure of determining location on the network with a numerical value.  This numerical value much like TCP/IP represents a nested address system where the first ordinal (Country=124=USA) the second ordinal (State=48=California) the third ordinal (County=17=LA County) the fourth ordinal (City=6=LA) and the fifth ordinal (Traveler Station=35) provide a universally resolvable addressing system for the entire network.  With the ability to automatically increase the number of ordinals beyond the 5th as demonstrated here yields the ability to easily manage a network of any size and complexity.

Click here to read my letter to my patent attorney as a technology claim.

The following are some links at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers who are leading the field in Intelligent Transportation Systems as well as links to the ITSA and others:

http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/scc32/ddmins4feb.html

http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/scc32/Attachments.html

http://www.itsa.org/

http://www.ewh.ieee.org/tc/its/trans.html  WhitePaper?

http://www.rtnetworks.com/tcp.htm

http://web27.p15156948.pureserver.info/w2k/adswp.htm  "Nested Domain"