Fuzzy Motion Emulator for a Slave Locomotive

Abstract

Trains are an important mode of transportation of goods and passengers. In many situations a single engine is not capable of dragging long trains, particularly at higher speeds and in hilly areas. Generally an additional slave engine is employed to alleviate this problem. The driver of the slave engine adjusts the engine power depending upon the experience, journey conditions, etc. Such efforts are not quite in accordance with the master engine control and degrades the overall performance. This causes a heuristic burden on the driver and does not provide optimal performance. Communication and signaling between the master and slave engines may prevail in some cases for the management of the problem; however, this deteriorates in electromagnetic interferences. In the present work we propose a methodology for autonomous motion emulation for the slave engine to follow the master engine and present the design of a fuzzy controller. The controller is autonomous to avoid the communication link between the master and slave engines. The approach is investigated using a simulation model.