@Professor Chaos posted:My system is entirely home-brew - I've been evolving it from one based on the Basic Stamp years ago! It relies on identifying engines with RFID readers at designated entry points, and then subsequently tracking the trains with third-rail block occupancy.
If you're interested you can see the code here. But at this point it's probably very hard for anyone else to unravel - the system includes custom SPI and I2C boards for occupancy sensing and controlling hacked MTH signal heads, remote controls for a TMCC crane and sawmill, and a spoofed C/MRI interface with JMRI for a graphic control panel. And I don't think I even understand the block control logic any more...
I just spent a chunk of time looking through your code (You put executables in header files!). Initially I'm most interested in how you interfaced to the JMRI graphic control panel. Do you have images of your control panel that you would/have shared? Do you use any other parts of JMRI? I do think having a package available that easily connects the lower level electronics like we're doing to the visual control interface is important for attracting folks starting out on electronics projects with model trains as an implementation platform (a path I think is critical to keeping our hobby healthy). And into your code I will slowly descend, with this as a warning sign:
debug << F("Block 3 hack in effect") << endl;
But first I'm going to go run the 16 ga 14 VAC bus for my switch modules and think about laying out a design for a PCB for the engine control modules I posted here initially.
Paul
