IO Commander

IO Commander is a subsystem of my Rail Control System (RCS) Rail Control System (RCS) It can be used for DC systems, DCC systems and hybrides. Userinterface is Web, Windows and DOS. In addition handheld devices can be used. I am currently controlling my DC railroad with it (using IOC version 1.5) from a DOS and Windows 3.0 userinterface. Internett connectivity are now available. Next priority is DCC. I am now uppgrading my railroad to ioexec 5.0.8 and replacing Windows interface with the new java Interface

Internet Connectivity are up and running I have decided to temporay stop development of Visual Basic interfaces, because of very good feedback about my new Java Interfaces. The new Java Interface makes it possible to control the system from anywhere on the Internett.

RCS - Rail Control System

IO Commander is designed to make it possible to control a medium to large Model Railway system from a personal Computer, using simple interface hardware. The overall design has been based on the assumption that Hardware are difficult to duplicate and expensive to design and build. Standard PC hardware are a lot easier and less expensive to aquire. An older 8086 or 80286 based computer can replace a lot of custom build hardware for the fraction of time and money. In addition, I am currently integrating DCC support on the system
Graphical Userinterfaces are now beeing added. A software throtle has been implemented in Visual basic running on top of Windows 3.0 3.1 3.11 95 or 98. Running either on the server or remote using RS232 Communication
A Java based Client is also beeing developed. This will be used for dispatchers. Java Client will use Internet for communication.

I do not want to modify all my Engines. Therefore I have decided to use conventional (Analog) control without receivers (in addition to DCC), but keeping everything in the computer or below layout. This has only three drawbacks compared with standard DCC control:

1. This system are not following any official standard, Therefore I have decided to make multiple interfaces at different levels available to hook in software developed by different development projects/individuals.

2. It is necessary to wire the layout with full block control. However everything will be computer controlled minimizing the cost of electric switches and control boards etc.

3. It is not possible to have independent control of more than one engine in each block. However this follows standard practice on full scale railways. In addition, version 1.5 with DCC support will make it possible to have multiple DCC engines or one conventional Engine in each block.

There are several other alternatives to my design, but I have not found any that supports all of my requirements. My most important requirements are :

Support for DC and DCC trains on the same layout - with the same controllers / user interface

This project was started several years ago when DCC and interfaces to computers was very expensive and information was limited. This has changed during the two last years - I currently have two DCC Engines and approx. 30 DC Engines - So I am in a transition face

Support for Scripted train running / Automated scheduling

This was the first part of my project, and It currently runs very well. In the simplest environment, all software are run as a background (TSR) DOS program (ioexec.com). The trains are controlled by a script and a fast clock. This traffic is normally handled by analog engines. Hardware consists of integrated block controller and block detector. The simplest scripts does not even need a detector, but relies only on timing. In addition Switch (turnout) drivers are also supported (currently not DCC support for switches).

Manual running of trains as a Train Engineer

This is finally supported for Analog Engines from version 1.5 (Available now). The new version of the Windows prototype Throttle is also available - and it works. Interface for MB-DCC has been added, but still needs some debugging

Manual Block assignments and Turnout control

A simple Graphical Control panel has been written in Visual Basic. However it still need some development before it will be ready for download. Therefore all block assignments and switching for manually controlled trains must be done from a command interface (DOS or Windows). This is currently the biggest limitation at the moment. And this implies that I normally run my layout with static block assignments for manually controlled trains. Scripted trains however are handled dynamically.

This limitations are beeing removed by version 5 that is currently in testing and available. Version 5 lifts several restrictions in block assignment - that was introdused in version 1.5 to handle reverse loops. Version 5 is available for download as a test version

Design overview

Functionality.

A total control system requires a lot of hardware and software. To make it easier to design and test, I have divided the system into different independent hardware and software modules:

1. Fast Clock
2. Timing - with sample automation
3. Switching
4. Block Control - train control and detection
5. Windows User Interfaces
6. DCC Integration

Dos Windows 3 and Java Userinterfaces

Java Interfaces with Internett Connectivity