CNCIS Facilities

General Electric Transportation Systems in Erie delivered one of its three, hand-built operator’s
cabs for the AC6000 diesel locomotive to Penn State Erie in February 2000. It was dedicated to research, testing, and teaching of locomotive systems.
The laboratory has been modified to support a variety of RF antenna suites, wireless communications, navigation devices, and systems integration testing. Its systems include GPS, VHF voice radio, Distributed Power (DP) locomotive remote control, inertial navigation, and voice and data communications via land network (private or cellular) and satellite (stationary and low Earth orbit). All systems can be live-tested for electromagnetic interference (EMI).

CNCIS research and development are in progress on guidance and control in navigation systems as well as wireless applications to communication systems. Complete systems integration and error-state modeling, using data fusion methods such as Kalman filter state-space design, are also in progress.

The facility is equipped with network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, and PC computers. It employs software such as C++, HPIB, Matlab, Labview, and Minitab, as well as Six-Sigma tools. (Six-Sigma tools are used in statistical analyses to locate errors in a process, and are employed in many industries.) The facility has multi-line connections to a TI Ethernet and underground electric power.

Faculty, with students working under their supervision, have completed six research projects sponsored by General Electric Transportation Systems at the Locomotive Systems Research and Test Facility:

	Prototype Communication Evaluation, BER & Environmental Testing;
	RF Material Interference and Link Budget Analysis;
	OEM Board Analysis of a Next Generation Satellite System;
	Evaluation of a New Generation Pin-Point System;
	A New Expert On Alert Remote Monitoring & Diagnostics RF Evaluation;
	High Accuracy GPS Measurements, Test and Evaluation.

General Electric Transportation Systems sponsored the following CNCIS projects along with Penn State Erie:

	Investigation of Remote Sensing for Condition-Based Maintenance;
	Industrial Collaboration for an Interdisciplinary Elective in Applied System Design and Remote Diagnostics;
	Integrating Teaching, Research and Community Outreach in Applied System Design for Locomotives.

As evidenced by the last two projects, the locomotive systems facility was dedicated to teaching and outreach as well as research, activities that fit well with PTI’s efforts to extend its reputation as an internationally recognized center of excellence in transportation research, education, and outreach. Some CNCIS initiatives in transportation education and outreach follow